America needs ‘a new sense of our common humanity,’ @ 65th annual Red Mass homilist says

Kelly Sankowski


Sunday, October 01, 2017 6:27 PM




CS PHOTOS BY JACLYN LIPPELMANN

Los Angeles Archbishop José Gomez delivers the homily at the 65th annual Red Mass Oct. 1 at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle in northwest Washington.

CS PHOTO BY JACLYN LIPPELMANN

Cardinal Donald Wuerl talks with John G. Roberts Jr., the Chief Justice of the United States and one of five members of the Supreme Court to attend the Red Mass, as they leave the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle in Washington.


During the 65th annual Red Mass in the nation’s capital, Los Angeles Archbishop José Gomez asked the Supreme Court justices, government officials, lawyers and other members of the judiciary gathered at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle in Washington to renew a commitment to a government that “serves the human person.”

The annual Mass, which is held the Sunday before the opening of the Supreme Court’s term, invokes the Holy Spirit upon those who are responsible for the administration of justice. The Mass is sponsored by the John Carroll Society, a network that aims to enhance fellowship among Catholic leaders in the Washington area and serve the archbishop of Washington.

Cardinal Donald Wuerl was the main celebrant at the Oct. 1 Mass, and the concelebrants included Washington Auxiliary Bishops Barry Knestout, Mario Dorsonville and Roy Campbell Jr.; Archbishop Gómez; Arlington Bishop Michael Burbidge; Bishop Richard Higgins, Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese for the Military Services USA; and Cardinal John Olorunfemi Onaiyekan, archbishop of Abuja, Nigeria.

The distinguished guests at the Mass included five members of the Supreme Court: John G. Roberts Jr., the Chief Justice of the United States; and Associate Justices Anthony M. Kennedy, Clarence Thomas, Stephen G. Breyer, and Samuel A. Alito Jr.; and also U.S. Solicitor General Noel Francisco.

In his homily, Archbishop Gomez spoke about St. Junípero Serra, the newest American saint who was one of the founding missionaries of Los Angeles and was canonized by Pope Francis during the pontiff’s 2015 visit to Washington. By doing so, Archbishop Gomez said Pope Francis was making a point that “we should honor St. Junípero Serra as one of the founding fathers of the United States,” since the missionaries came here before the pilgrims and began their outreach before the nation’s first president was inaugurated.

62nd Annual Red Mass

Sun., October 5, 2014 10:00am ·

The 62nd Annual Red Mass will be held at the Cathedral on Sunday, October 5 at 10am. The John Carroll Society hosts the Red Mass for its members and guests, including many government officials with attendant security. It is open to the public, but attendance is very high. If you normally attend the 10am Mass, you may wish to consider attending another Mass that weekend. Please note that the 8:30am Mass is cancelled that day. If you plan to attend the Red Mass, please arrive early as the fire marshal will not allow entry once the Cathedral is filled to capacity. Thank you for helping us extend the Cathedral’s hospitality to the John Carroll Society for this celebration.





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The Cathedral is located at 1725 Rhode Island Ave., N.W., just off the intersection of Connecticut Avenue, Rhode Island Avenue, and M Street. It is near the Farragut North and Dupont Circle Metrorail stations and about four blocks from the White House.

http://www.stmatthewscathedral.org/contact/location
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No excuses for priestly child abuse

Photo (Courtesy) http://www.expressnews.com/news/religion/article/U-N-report-accuses-Vatican-of-protecting-priests-5209266.php


By James Carroll | Globe Columnist


February 10, 2014


ON THE QUESTION of how far papal authority extends, the canon law of the Catholic Church could not be clearer: “The vicar of Christ. . . possesses full, immediate, and universal ordinary power in the Church, which he is always able to exercise freely.” (Can. 331) Note that canon law does not say, “except in cases of priestly sex abuse of children.” Canon law does not say that priests and bishops are independent contractors. Canon law does not say that what happens in Catholic parishes and dioceses around the world has nothing to do with Rome. In fact, another canon reads, “By virtue of his office, the Roman pontiff not only possesses power over the universal church, but also obtains the primacy of ordinary power over all particular churches and groups of them.” (Can. 333)

How to square that sweeping papal power with the shameless dodge put forward by the Holy See in this era of church disgrace — the claim that, when it comes to protecting children from abuse, the Roman Catholic Church is legally responsible only to safeguard those living in the confines of Vatican City, a tiny city-state that would fit inside New York’s Central Park eight times? Washing the Vatican’s hands of broader responsibility for the staggering transnational accumulation of rapes by priests, and systematic enabling of those rapes by bishops, a Vatican spokesman said, “When individual institutions of national churches are implicated, that does not regard the competence of the Holy See . . . The competence of the Holy See is at the level of the Holy See.”

Last week, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child mocked that claim by issuing a scathing indictment of Catholic child abuse, laying full responsibility at the feet of the pope himself. The committee, investigating priestly abuse under the authority of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which the Vatican is a signatory, reminded the Holy See that “by ratifying the convention it has committed itself to implementing the convention not only on the territory of the Vatican City state, but also as the supreme power of the Catholic Church through individuals and institutions placed under its authority.” The UN committee, that is, upholds canon law better than the Vatican does.

The pope’s men, including squads of lawyers who deny that offending priests and bishops are “employees” and insist that the pope as a sovereign head of state is immune from lawsuits, are obviously seeking to fend off the threat of multinational litigation that could saddle the Vatican with billions of dollars in liabilities. So far, courts have mostly sided with the Holy See.

But the Vatican strategy has come at a terrible moral cost. Once again, protection of church power and possessions is trumping the profound moral obligation to reckon with the truth of what is still happening in the Catholic Church. And now comes this next lie — the ridiculous assertion that the pope does not exercise full and complete authority over priests and bishops. When parishioners fight the closure of beloved churches, they appeal to Rome. When English-speaking Catholics are directed to say at Mass that Jesus died for “many” instead of for “all,” the fiat comes from Rome. “The competence of the Holy See” is exercised at every level of church life everywhere.

Protection of church power is trumping the obligation to reckon with the truth of what is still happening.

The UN report is so blistering because the committee clearly concludes that, despite a Vatican official’s assertion that the church “gets it,” the hierarchy still does not understand the urgency of protecting children. The Holy See hides behind reporting law loopholes that exist in many nations. It still does not hold to account the abuse-enabling bishops, a failure permanently on display in the honors accorded to cover-up icon Cardinal Bernard Law. And the UN commission, surprisingly impolitic, properly calls attention to the broader culture of Catholic sexual repressiveness — “barriers and taboos” — because it is the source of what endangers children. Vatican push-back in the name of “religious freedom” misses the point, and deflects the core UN indictment.

Pope Francis has appointed a Commission for the Protection of Minors, and the UN urges that it be independently empowered and fully transparent. Francis has generated enormous hope for a new day in the Catholic Church, but on the abuse question he has miles to go. The message from the United Nations is that the world is more appalled by Catholic crimes than defensive church officials are. If the church does not address those crimes, others will. James Carroll writes regularly for the Globe.


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