Archbishop Shelton J. Fabre celebrated the annual Red Mass Oct. 12 for those in the legal profession at the Cathedral of the Assumption.
The focus of the Red Mass is “to invoke, for the coming year, the presence of the Holy Spirit upon all who serve in legal professions, as they seek justice for all,” Archbishop Fabre told the congregation.
The Mass was celebrated at the end of the Catholic Bar Association’s national convention, which drew about 90 participants and took place at the Seelbach Hilton in downtown Louisville.
The association, founded in 2015, is “a lay movement within the Church to build community, nationally and internationally, among Catholic members of the legal profession,” according to its website.
During his homily, Archbishop Fabre noted that the role of the Church and the role of the judicial system intersect in their common goal to defend and promote the common good.
Referencing “The Catechism of the Catholic Church,” Archbishop Fabre said the common good can be defined as “the sum of social conditions that enable individuals to reach their full potential.”
“The legal system and the church strive to achieve the common good standing on the foundation of the impartiality of the law and the objectivity of divine truth,” he explained.
He noted that the Catholic Church and the judicial system face the same challenge in their aim to achieve the common good.
“This challenge that we face together is the ever-growing culture of rampant and unbridled individualism that disregards, and has little-or-no respect for the common good’s concern for what is also advantageous for the larger group or larger society,” he said.
For the legal community, “individualism results in the disregard for the objectivity of the law,” he said. For the Catholic Church, “individualism rejects objective divine truth in favor of a solely subjective approach to spirituality, which relies only on one’s subjective thought and subsequent subjective truth.”
“The legal system and the church strive to achieve the common good standing on the foundation of the impartiality of the law and the objectivity of divine truth”
— Archbishop Fabre
The annual Red Mass serves as a reminder of this mutual focus to advance the common good, said Archbishop Fabre.
Ben Hachten, the co-founder and current president of the Archdiocese of Louisville’s chapter of the Catholic Bar Association, discussed the value of the Red Mass in a recent interview.
The Mass provides the opportunity for those involved in law “to publicly witness to the Catholic faith,” said Hachten, an attorney at Oldfather Law Firm. This is important, he said, because, “The law should guide human affairs to their eternal salvation.”
He noted the story of St. Thomas More, the patron saint of those in the legal profession, who famously said, “I die the king’s good servant, but God’s first.”
St. Thomas More, a martyr, was executed for treason after refusing to affirm King Henry VIII’s claim to be the supreme head of the Church in England, according to the USCCB.
“He was devoted to the law of his country,” said Hachten. But St. Thomas More’s faith directed his course when the law of the country opposed the law of the Catholic Church, he added.
“In some ways, all Catholic lawyers have to navigate a system that doesn’t always align with our faith. That’s why our group exists — to give that support,” he said.
The liturgy concluded with a lawyer’s prayer to St. Thomas More.
Those in the legal profession who are interested in becoming members of the Louisville Catholic Bar Association can contact bhachten@oldfather.com.
