Atlanta judges parade to traditional blessing ceremony

AP via the AJC ^ | 9/28/06 | Greg Bluestein

[AnAmericanMother]

Clad in black robes, judges of all stripes paraded through a downtown Atlanta church Thursday to receive a blessing of peace and justice.

Federal bankruptcy magistrates strode alongside Superior Court judges at the annual "Red Mass" ceremony, an ancient service that dates to the Middle Ages.

The service was billed as an interfaith celebration, and afterward the Catholic hosts gave awards to a Jewish judge and Protestant attorney for their work. But the ceremony was not without a heavy political undertone.

judges to re-examine the death penalty and called for a ban on embryonic stem cell research. Of abortion, he said that "evil remains evil even when declared legal."

"The issue of abortion, partial birth abortion, euthanasia, assisted suicide can never be divorced from the principle of human solidarity," Rigali said.

[AnAmericanMother]

Justin Cardinal Rigali minced no words with the Federal, state and local judges.

You could see some in the crowd stiffen. Some judges were offended that His Eminence brought up such a controversial topic at what was billed as an "ecumenical" service.

But I don't see how you can divorce Catholic religious and moral teachings from a homily delivered by a cardinal!

Ask yourself, WWSTMD? What would St. Thomas More do? He didn't just risk social disapproval to tell home truths to King Henry VIII -- he risked (and lost) his head.

"I am the King's good servant, but God's first."

[AnAmericanMother]

One section of one paragraph did not copy:

Cardinal Justin Rigali, the archbishop of Philadelphia and the event's guest speaker, urged the judges to re-examine the death penalty and called for a ban on embryonic stem cell research. Of abortion, he said that "evil remains evil even when declared legal."

AP doesn't even get his title right.

The Red Mass was put on by the St. Thomas More Society of Atlanta, BTW.

[AnAmericanMother]

Who's got the Catholic Ping List?

This was an amazing service in Sacred Heart, a beautiful historic church in downtown Atlanta.

(This is an old pic of a different Mass celebrated by our former Archbishop Donoghue)

I can't find a complete pic of the high altar (with baldacchino and splendid corpus), or of the pre-Raphaelite-inspired circa 1900 stained glass windows (which show the Mysteries of the Rosary). Or the wonderful (also pre-Raphaelite) painting in the dome of the apse -- of Christ amid clouds standing on the globe, displaying his Sacred Heart and flanked by cherubim.

It is a jewel-box of a church, perfectly restored and preserved, almost a time capsule of the turn of the last century.

No optional ceremony was omitted - lots of chanting, psalms sung, long version of the Gospel acclamation, Mozart and di Lasso, brass quintet and very competent schola, good organist, enthusiastic singing from all the Catholic lawyers in the back rows. The concelebrants were a who's-who of Atlanta priests.

Good pics of the ceremony at http://www.ajc.com.

[Mrs. Don-o]

To me, this hits every note right. It's a Catholic Mass. Its theme is justice under law. Sermon time? You'll hear something on the Catholic vision of justice. Is that so hard to understand?

[Tax-chick]

Cool! They used to hold a "Red Mass" at St. Thomas More in Norman, OK, when we were there. It wasn't as impressive, though, and the Archbishop wasn't a Cardinal, and he just gave a blessing instead of presiding.

[Salvation]

Thanks for ping. Will ping the discussion group!

[Salvation]

Catholic Discussion Ping!

Please notify me via FReepmail if you would like to be added to or taken off the Catholic Discussion Ping List.

[Mad Dawg]

As a former LEO, I hope you all will remember Law Enforcement Officers tomorrow at Mass. We need all the Grace God has to give.

[SuziQ]

AP doesn't even get his title right.

Actually the AP did get the title right, they just didn't say he was Archbishop of Philly. I don't know why it is, but the proper way to write a Cardinal's name is not Cardinal first, but his Christian name first, then Cardinal, then his family name. Like Josef Cardinal Ratzinger, or Christope Cardinal Schonborn.

[SuziQ]

It is a jewel-box of a church, perfectly restored and preserved, almost a time capsule of the turn of the last century.

I'm so glad they haven't modernized it. I love the way they arranged the pipes for the organ so they didn't completely block the Rose Window at the back of the Church.

[Coleus]

Thank you Cardinal Rigali

http://www.stm-atlanta.org/

OFFICE OF CARDINAL RIGALI
222 North 17th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19103-1299
215-587-3800
archbish@adphila.org

http://archdiocese-phl.org/rigali/indexrigali.htm

[SuziQ]

Most Catholic Cathedral in large cities will have several Masses each year for professional groups. The legal profession has the Red Mass, LEO's have the Blue Mass, and the medical profession has the White Mass.

[Kolokotronis]

Our Red Mass will be in a couple of weeks. The Orthodox attorneys always attend.

[Frank Sheed]

May God bless the Cardinal for speaking the Truth! It would be the same reaction as that obtained by Mother Teresa at the famous "Prayer Breakfast" she attended.

Check out Rocco Palma's blog, Whispers in the Loggia. He gives the line-up for the huge Red Mass coming up in D.C. It should be a "good 'un" as they say in Western, PA.

Francis

[Tax-chick]

Somebody needs to give lawyers some tough talk!

[AnAmericanMother]

Actually that was me doing it right, in the comments section (I peeked). The AP did it wrong in the original article (the bold face part that was omitted because it didn't copy from the AJC website.)

[Gerish]

"evil remains evil even when declared legal."

Boy, ain't that the truth.

[SuziQ]

Oops! Sorry! I was wondering why you thought it was wrong. I would have sworn you'd know the correct way to write it, and I was right!

[Larry Lucido]

What would St. Thomas More do?

We could ask William Tyndale.

[Convert from ECUSA]

Beautiful church!!!!!!!