'Law and Order' -- Red Mass draws scores of jurists to Monmouth County parish
July 29, 2019 at 12:37 p.m.
By Lois Rogers | Correspondent
For Mary Catherine Cuff, newly retired presiding judge of the NJ Superior Court Appellate Division, the Red Mass that drew scores of jurists to St. Michael Church, West End, Oct. 2, was more than a memorable occasion.
It was, Cuff said, “a career bookend,” a fitting coda to 22 years on the bench in Monmouth County. She recalled how a Red Mass, held especially on her behalf in Freehold’s St. Rose of Lima Church, immediately preceded her swearing in ceremony at the Monmouth County Courthouse just down the road.
Cuff, who retired from the bench Sept. 30, said that for her to be able to close out her career at the first county-wide Red Mass in St. Michael Church was “personally very meaningful.”
She and a number of her black-robed colleagues seemed moved by the sacredness of the liturgy, which upheld a 13th century tradition of a special Mass invoking God’s blessing and the Holy Spirit’s guidance upon those charged with the pursuit of justice.
The poignant event began with the sound of trumpets and organ chords heralding a procession of the Judiciary, which included 12 active duty and retired judges. There were also approximately 100 lawyers from around the county in attendance.
A planning committee of 15 including Cuff, had been polishing the fine points of the Red Mass since early summer. And on this day, their attention to detail showed. The nave, illuminated by the stained glass windows of St. Michael, had many faithful in attendance for the Mass which unfolded at the noon hour.
Trumpets sounding at times throughout the Mass set a regal tone and the brilliant scarlet of the vestments worn by Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M., and concelebrant Father John K. Butler, the pastor and an attorney, enhanced the prayerful liturgy. The Deacon of the Mass was Robert Cerefice of Holy Innocents Parish, Neptune, an attorney.
According to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, the color of the vestments worn for the Red Mass represents tongues of fire symbolizing the presence of the Holy Spirit. The color is also connected with the English tradition of red as as the color of the academic robe or hood for those in the law.
Meaning of Red Mass
Bishop O’Connell, a canon lawyer, reflected the sense of gravitas that is a hallmark of the Red Masses held the first weekend of October around the United States heralding the annual convening of the U.S. Supreme Court.
The Bishop, in brief opening remarks, recalled how for the 13 years he resided in Washington, D.C. as president of The Catholic University of America, he concelebrated the Red Mass on the first weekend in October in St. Matthew the Apostle Cathedral.
The Bishop said he was pleased to see the “great tradition” unfold in Monmouth County and in the future, hoped a St. Thomas More Guild or Society – named for the patron of lawyers – might be established in the Diocese.
Words of wisdom
In his homily, the Bishop said that the link between God and the law is inextricable. “If,” he began, “you believe in God, you will have no difficulty understanding the existence of law. If you believe that God created the world, you will have no difficulty understanding the significance of the law.”
And, he said, “if you believe that God has redeemed the world, you will have no difficulty understanding the purpose of the law.”
It was God, the Bishop said, who created “something out of nothing. It was God who brought order to chaos and that order became law. … Without God, law lacks foundation. We believe that.”
The Bishop charged the judges, lawyers and officials present to consider their own relation to the practice of law within the whole framework of the universe which is “God’s idea, God’s creation, God’s action, God himself.”
While acknowledging their calling to “a noble profession, a noble task” and the profound responsibility of administering the law, he urged the men and women assembled to consider that “we live in a world where belief in God cannot always be presumed” and where people of faith are often met with the “powerful enemies” of closed minds and hearts.
In such a world, he said, it is easy “for law, for justice to lose its place,” said Bishop O’Connell, still, the law “can be, should be and must be the means that moves us from how we currently live to how we ought to live.”
A poignant moment came after the Prayers of the Faithful when the names for eight recently deceased members of the Monmouth County Bar Association were read and, after the Mass, Judge Lawrence Lawson said it was very meaningful to hold the deceased jurists in prayer.
The retired Monmouth County assignment judge said he had participated in the Red Mass in the Newark Archdiocese. “I was happy to see a Red Mass started in Monmouth County,” said Judge Lawson, who shared that as a Baptist, faith is very important to him.
“It’s a great event,” he said of the Red Mass. “Prayers and faith matter a lot.” Judge Lawson said it was important to him to experience this time of prayer and reflection with his colleagues and the community at large.
His sentiments were echoed by attorney Thomas J. Viggiano III, a member of the Monmouth County Steering Committee for the Red Mass, and Jack Brignola, an extraordinary minister of Holy Communion and catechist in St. Michael Parish.
“In a world where faith is disappearing,” Viggiano said, “it’s important to remember the role faith plays,” in the community at large. The Red Mass, he said, gives Catholic lawyers the chance to come together and celebrate those ideals.
Father Butler, a corporate lawyer for nearly 25 years before entering the seminary in 2009, said such sentiments indicate why upholding the Red Mass tradition is important.
He explained that as an attorney, he had attended the Red Mass in the Archdiocese of Newark several times and also a 2006 Red Mass which had been held in Trenton’s St. Mary of the Assumption Cathedral.
“I had found those Masses to be prayerful and uplifting experiences and I knew that many of my friends and colleagues in the legal profession felt the same way,” said Father Butler. He also shared that the Masses might have had a “quiet, early influence” on his priestly vocation.
When he became pastor in July, it occurred to him that St. Michael’s – known throughout the shore as “the Red Church” because of it’s distinctive exterior paint, might be a good venue for a Red Mass.
“The Red Mass makes the point very clearly, visibly and powerfully that the Church and State (faith and law), can and should work together,” said Father Butler. “As the Bishop stated in his homily, law comes from God, it is good, and it helps us to keep our lives orderly and directed toward fulfillment of the Great Commandment of Jesus: love thy neighbor.”
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By Lois Rogers | Correspondent
For Mary Catherine Cuff, newly retired presiding judge of the NJ Superior Court Appellate Division, the Red Mass that drew scores of jurists to St. Michael Church, West End, Oct. 2, was more than a memorable occasion.
It was, Cuff said, “a career bookend,” a fitting coda to 22 years on the bench in Monmouth County. She recalled how a Red Mass, held especially on her behalf in Freehold’s St. Rose of Lima Church, immediately preceded her swearing in ceremony at the Monmouth County Courthouse just down the road.
Cuff, who retired from the bench Sept. 30, said that for her to be able to close out her career at the first county-wide Red Mass in St. Michael Church was “personally very meaningful.”
She and a number of her black-robed colleagues seemed moved by the sacredness of the liturgy, which upheld a 13th century tradition of a special Mass invoking God’s blessing and the Holy Spirit’s guidance upon those charged with the pursuit of justice.
The poignant event began with the sound of trumpets and organ chords heralding a procession of the Judiciary, which included 12 active duty and retired judges. There were also approximately 100 lawyers from around the county in attendance.
A planning committee of 15 including Cuff, had been polishing the fine points of the Red Mass since early summer. And on this day, their attention to detail showed. The nave, illuminated by the stained glass windows of St. Michael, had many faithful in attendance for the Mass which unfolded at the noon hour.
Trumpets sounding at times throughout the Mass set a regal tone and the brilliant scarlet of the vestments worn by Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M., and concelebrant Father John K. Butler, the pastor and an attorney, enhanced the prayerful liturgy. The Deacon of the Mass was Robert Cerefice of Holy Innocents Parish, Neptune, an attorney.
According to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, the color of the vestments worn for the Red Mass represents tongues of fire symbolizing the presence of the Holy Spirit. The color is also connected with the English tradition of red as as the color of the academic robe or hood for those in the law.
Meaning of Red Mass
Bishop O’Connell, a canon lawyer, reflected the sense of gravitas that is a hallmark of the Red Masses held the first weekend of October around the United States heralding the annual convening of the U.S. Supreme Court.
The Bishop, in brief opening remarks, recalled how for the 13 years he resided in Washington, D.C. as president of The Catholic University of America, he concelebrated the Red Mass on the first weekend in October in St. Matthew the Apostle Cathedral.
The Bishop said he was pleased to see the “great tradition” unfold in Monmouth County and in the future, hoped a St. Thomas More Guild or Society – named for the patron of lawyers – might be established in the Diocese.
Words of wisdom
In his homily, the Bishop said that the link between God and the law is inextricable. “If,” he began, “you believe in God, you will have no difficulty understanding the existence of law. If you believe that God created the world, you will have no difficulty understanding the significance of the law.”
And, he said, “if you believe that God has redeemed the world, you will have no difficulty understanding the purpose of the law.”
It was God, the Bishop said, who created “something out of nothing. It was God who brought order to chaos and that order became law. … Without God, law lacks foundation. We believe that.”
The Bishop charged the judges, lawyers and officials present to consider their own relation to the practice of law within the whole framework of the universe which is “God’s idea, God’s creation, God’s action, God himself.”
While acknowledging their calling to “a noble profession, a noble task” and the profound responsibility of administering the law, he urged the men and women assembled to consider that “we live in a world where belief in God cannot always be presumed” and where people of faith are often met with the “powerful enemies” of closed minds and hearts.
In such a world, he said, it is easy “for law, for justice to lose its place,” said Bishop O’Connell, still, the law “can be, should be and must be the means that moves us from how we currently live to how we ought to live.”
A poignant moment came after the Prayers of the Faithful when the names for eight recently deceased members of the Monmouth County Bar Association were read and, after the Mass, Judge Lawrence Lawson said it was very meaningful to hold the deceased jurists in prayer.
The retired Monmouth County assignment judge said he had participated in the Red Mass in the Newark Archdiocese. “I was happy to see a Red Mass started in Monmouth County,” said Judge Lawson, who shared that as a Baptist, faith is very important to him.
“It’s a great event,” he said of the Red Mass. “Prayers and faith matter a lot.” Judge Lawson said it was important to him to experience this time of prayer and reflection with his colleagues and the community at large.
His sentiments were echoed by attorney Thomas J. Viggiano III, a member of the Monmouth County Steering Committee for the Red Mass, and Jack Brignola, an extraordinary minister of Holy Communion and catechist in St. Michael Parish.
“In a world where faith is disappearing,” Viggiano said, “it’s important to remember the role faith plays,” in the community at large. The Red Mass, he said, gives Catholic lawyers the chance to come together and celebrate those ideals.
Father Butler, a corporate lawyer for nearly 25 years before entering the seminary in 2009, said such sentiments indicate why upholding the Red Mass tradition is important.
He explained that as an attorney, he had attended the Red Mass in the Archdiocese of Newark several times and also a 2006 Red Mass which had been held in Trenton’s St. Mary of the Assumption Cathedral.
“I had found those Masses to be prayerful and uplifting experiences and I knew that many of my friends and colleagues in the legal profession felt the same way,” said Father Butler. He also shared that the Masses might have had a “quiet, early influence” on his priestly vocation.
When he became pastor in July, it occurred to him that St. Michael’s – known throughout the shore as “the Red Church” because of it’s distinctive exterior paint, might be a good venue for a Red Mass.
“The Red Mass makes the point very clearly, visibly and powerfully that the Church and State (faith and law), can and should work together,” said Father Butler. “As the Bishop stated in his homily, law comes from God, it is good, and it helps us to keep our lives orderly and directed toward fulfillment of the Great Commandment of Jesus: love thy neighbor.”
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