Archbishop celebrates annual Red Mass for Broward legal community

By Tom Tracy - Florida Catholic

FORT LAUDERDALE | At the recent celebration of the annual Red Mass for Broward County’s legal community, Archbishop Thomas Wenski said, in “God’s eyes, every human being is of valuable and indispensable,” regardless of their station in life.

“In other words, on this feast day of the Guardian Angels and at this annual Red Mass here in Broward County, we invoke the Holy Spirit so that, with the help of the Holy Spirit, you in the legal profession, men and women of the bar, officers of court, that all of you will listen to your “better angels” as you carry out your duties to provide the citizens of this nation “equal justice under the law,” the archbishop said.

The Mass was celebrated at St. Anthony Church in Fort Lauderdale, Oct. 2, 2024.

The archbishop also referenced Florida’s Amendment 4, a proposed pro-abortion amendment on the Florida ballot, which the Church opposes as an extreme proposal that would legalize full term abortion with no protections for the preborn child, including when the child is capable of feeling pain.

“Catholic teaching proclaims the dignity of every human being, but it also acknowledges the reality of sin. Our police forces, our social service agencies, our schools, and our courtrooms deal with the consequences of sin every day,” the archbishop said at the 32nd annual Red Mass, Reception and Dinner of the St. Thomas More Society of South Florida.

Founded in 1989, the St. Thomas More Society of South Florida is a Catholic association of the region’s legal community, including lawyers, judges, public officials and other law professionals dedicated to the advancement of the principles of St. Thomas More.

In addition, The Florida Catholic Conference and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops regularly engage in public policy issues and attempt to shape legislation that promotes the common good and protects the poor and the most vulnerable.

This year, the St. Thomas More Society selected the Honorable Elijah H. Williams, who is Juvenile Delinquency Chairperson Division, 17th Judicial Circuit Court of Broward County, as the recipient of the Archbishop Edward McCarthy Annual Award.

Judge Williams spoke about his life and work during a reception and dinner at the Dalmar Hotel in Fort Lauderdale following the Red Mass.

The Society’s keynote speaker was Robert James "Bob" Conrad Jr., a United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of North Carolina and author of a 2021 book, “John Fisher and Thomas More: Keeping Their Souls While Losing Their Heads.”

The Red Mass is a historic tradition within the Catholic Church dating back to the thirteenth century when it officially opened the term of the court for most European countries. The celebrants —government officials, lawyers and judges — would process into a church dressed in red vestments or garments, signifying the fire of the Holy Spirit’s guidance to all who pursue justice in their daily lives.

The St. Thomas More Society of South Florida was officially founded on December 14, 1989. A Red Mass was first celebrated in Fort Lauderdale, Broward County, by Archbishop Edward A. McCarthy on February 10, 1990, at St. Anthony Catholic Church.

Since that time, the Red Mass has been celebrated annually, with few exceptions, and it, as well as the reception that follows, is now one of the premier and largest-attended annual events for lawyers and the judiciary in South Florida.

Past speakers at the St. Thomas More Society event included four university presidents, a former Florida governor, a U.S. Senator, a cardinal, three federal appellate judges and U.S. Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas and the late Antonin Scalia.