Let me start by inviting all of you to the annual Red Mass, which will be celebrated by Bishop Fernandes at 5:15 p.m., October 29, 2026, at St. Joseph Cathedral. All are welcome at this very special Mass.
One of my roles as Chancellor of the Diocese is serving on the board of the Thomas More Society and functioning as a liaison between them and the diocesan curial offices. As part of this, I work with the Society’s members on the annual Red Mass.
The Catholic Red Mass is a liturgical tradition that goes back centuries. It started as a way to mark of the judicial year by praying for the guidance of the Holy Spirit upon judges, lawyers, lawmakers, and all who serve in the administration of justice.
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The Red Mass originated in 13th-century Europe and is believed to have been instituted by Pope Innocent IV in the 1240s for the advocates of the Sacred Roman Rota, the Church’s highest court, marking the opening of the judicial term. That practice then spread to other European countries, particularly France and England.
Multiple sources note that the first Red Mass celebrated in the United States was October 6, 1928 at St. Andrew Church in New York City. Patrick Cardinal Hayes, then Archbishop of New York, was the celebrant of that Mass. From there it spread rapidly across American dioceses.
It is not clear these days when or where the first Red Mass was celebrated in the Diocese of Columbus. However, under the Most Reverend James A. Griffin, then Bishop of Columbus, in collaboration with the Thomas More Society of Columbus, the Red Mass was brought back to our Diocese in 1985 and has been celebrated every year since then.
Red vestments are worn at the Red Mass, emphasizing the importance of the Holy Spirit’s gifts of wisdom, understanding, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and respect for God’s will as guidance for those who serve in the justice professions. Red vestments symbolize the fire of the Holy Spirit, particularly at Pentecost, as well as the blood of martyrs who gave their lives courageously for the cause of God’s truth and justice in the face of tyranny and persecution.
Today, in our diocese, the Red Mass stands as a prayer for integrity in the practice of the law, for the Lord’s moral clarity in judicial decisions, for divine guidance for legislators, for the safety of those who serve the common good, and for protection for the least and the marginalized in society. It is in this spirit that all are invited to the Red Mass, reflecting a universal need for justice grounded in God’s wisdom.
For more than 20 years now, I have worked with members of the Thomas More Society, serving as a member of the team organizing the Mass, inviting people in the justice professions to be present, and getting the word out about this special opportunity.
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Today, more than ever, the world needs the gift of God’s wisdom so that peace and justice rather than incivility, fear, and even war and terror permeate all societies of our world. All any of us need to do is turn on the news, visit a news website, or pick up a news publication to see how much the world is struggling to live out the ideals I just mentioned.
The best way to start fostering God’s true and real justice in the world is to start with prayer, not just prayer that others may have a change of heart but that we ourselves may experience changes within our own minds and hearts, that we ourselves may find the courage to make more room in our minds and hearts for God’s grace. Attending to that within our own lives strengthens each of us to be more and more effective agents of peace and justice through our deeper understanding of God’s will.
The Red Mass is also a special opportunity for all of us, no matter what our situations, jobs, and responsibilities are to pause and reflect on the duty we each bear to build God’s Kingdom in the world and strive through our prayers and actions to be part of solutions inspired by God’s wisdom rather than. All of us share in that duty and are called by God live actively in order to fulfill that to which He calls us.
Another aspect of our journey toward salvation is the fact that our faith and work are meant to be integrated together rather than compartmentalized. Now, this definitely means going against the predominant flow of the currents of societal convention, but this understanding comes to us from Jesus Christ Himself, who said, “I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing! (Lk 12:49).”
That fire to which Jesus referred is the cleansing of minds, hearts, and souls so that all may be opened to the truth of God’s will. The two disciples who walked the road to Emmaus with the resurrected Jesus experienced exactly that after their time with Him and the explanations of scripture He offered them. Afterward, they exclaimed, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he spoke to us on the way and opened the scriptures to us?”
With all that in mind, I repeat the invitation I offered at the beginning of this column: join together with others at the Red Mass on October 29 so that through God’s Word, the Eucharist, and the preaching of Bishop Fernandes, your heart will be burning within you and you will be strengthened to be an agent of justice and peace who inspired by the eternal wisdom of God.