6 Supreme Court Justices Attend Catholic Service Red Mass; Cardinal Pleads For Rights Of Unborn

WASHINGTON — An American cardinal on Sunday issued a plea for the rights of the unborn at a church service that included Vice President Joe Biden, six members of the Supreme Court and hundreds of members of the legal community.

Five of the six Roman Catholics on the high court – Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy and Samuel Alito – heard the homily by Cardinal Daniel DiNardo; the sixth, Justice Clarence Thomas, did not attend. Justice Stephen Breyer, who is Jewish, was there as well.

Speaking at the annual Red Mass the day before the opening of the Supreme Court term, DiNardo said that people represented by lawyers are "more than clients. ... In some cases the clients are voiceless for they lack influence; in others they are literally voiceless, not yet with tongues and even without names, and require our most careful attention and radical support."

As DiNardo spoke, protesters opposed to abortion demonstrated in front of the church.

DiNardo did not elaborate on the rights of the unborn, focusing instead on how the complexity of the law can have a dehumanizing effect on those who practice it.

Increasing specialization within the law is "dizzying" and such formal knowledge "frequently becomes semi-mechanical, even distancing," DiNardo said at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle. "The law and lawyers are around because justice among human beings will always be an issue."

"Even sophisticated knowledgeable human lawyers need reminding, need a divine fire ... both in their personal lives and in their profession itself."

The Red Mass has been held since 1953 at the cathedral by the John Carroll Society, a group of Washington professionals who are Catholic.

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The name of the service, which dates to the 13th century and is conducted to ask for guidance for those who seek justice, comes from the red vestments worn by the celebrants.

DiNardo is the newest U.S. cardinal and is the archbishop of Galveston-Houston.

The Supreme Court's caseload this term involves an important challenge to gun control at the state and local level. A separate case deals with whether the presence of a cross in the Mojave National Preserve violates First Amendment religious protections.

Also attending Sunday's Mass were Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.

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On the Net:

John Carroll Society: http://www.johncarrollsociety.org/

Comments

[me again]

Perhaps the Carinal's dioscese needs to pay taxes, as he is preaching on political issues.

[Insightful]

For centuries women have been denied their basic rights by such as the cardinal and the Catholic church. What gives them the right to decree that a woman must carry a child regardless of the
circumstances in which it was conceived?? An unborn fetus is just that. Unborn until it breathes, What Is so noble about bringing a baby into a hostile environment to suffer.

Why do we permit these self apppointed authoritarians to exercise such power? It is high time to end their long reign of oppression against women. A living human being should not be subjected to the skewered ideas of such as the Cardinal and all the other so called moralists, some of whom have actually condoned the murder of innocent doctors who are acting legally when they perform safe abortions.

How dare they deny women their legal rights to a safe removal of an unborn fetus. They should be denied any further legal interference in women's civil rights.

[BIGBADBUTTER]

suffering in a hostile environment?? wow...you must really be in pain..how bout now?? is it that bad?? I just had to drop my daughter off at kindergarten..oh yeah your right..it was TORTURE!! Yes, I agree..we all have our bad days, but...could you REALLY say that your life is a insufferably hostile and miserable to where you should have never been allowed to live? Surely, you dont have to rack your mind THAT hard to find some memory, that you cherish? How nice to be able to have that...I imagine summers at my grandmas house (out of the city, where I grew up and lost 3 friends by 17 to gang violence and/or drugs) and I remember climbing trees and just being, well, a kid...having my daughter..as a single mom...isnt as hard as the stereotype is made out to be..You know...Obama's mom was a single mom...Just think if she was weakminded enough to feed into that...

[tazdelaney]

i sure wish huffpost would allow enough room to make a comment adequate to express a complete thought with data... guess that's too much to ask?

about the church and abortion... this is the first century in which the churches, catholic or protestant, have been against abortion in the least. as reported by panati in his remarkable origins and endings of all things, for centuries it went like this...

young lady goes to the priest and says, 'father, i know i have sinned but the nobleman xxxxx took me aside some time ago and had his way with me. now i am in the family way and am unmarried. i dare not even tell the prince (or rich merchant, etc.), about it or he may have me stoned or killed or driven from town as a sinner and liar for defaming him. i fear for my family, myself and my child. father, what am i to do?'

the priest says to the crying, frightened woman, 'my child, i understand how you couldn't deny the prince and the predicament in which you now find yourself, but do you not know there are potions which will rid you of your unwanted burden? here, let me give you the name of a woman nearby who will know what to do for you. tell her that i have sent you and to maintain complete discretion in this matter.'

[tazdelaney]

some separation of church and state, eh? i was surprised at the terrific imbalance on the supreme court. while i would've expected it to be loaded with christians, the predominance of catholics was not anticipated. considering the long-term catholic resistance to anything other than monarchy, which they claimed for centuries was the reflection of the KINGdom of god and hence the only righteous way for things to be... the catholics opposed the american revolution and virutally all other revolutions since. they probably dread the point where the gold hats are removed prior to the guilotine for that 'let them eat cake' crowd at the vatican.

yesterday, i read that the vatican recently announced a list of the 7 new social sins. these included such god-forbidden things as 'drug abuse' and 'bioethical heresy' (abortion, stem cell research, etc.) but also the 'accumulation of massive wealth' and the 'creation of poverty.' these are specialties of american capitalism run amok and, last i heard, the catholic church is by far the world's largest landowner; imensely wealthy including hundreds of billions in banks and has for a thousand years supported precisely those entities which exploit workers and create massive poverty!

[tazdelaney]

having grown up in the bible belt with half my family catholic and half baptist... i have some things to say about their 'moral altitude... near our town was a railroad center where, in 1897, the train companyhad cash flow problems and didn't pay its workers for weeks. when it got some money, it paid only the white workers. when the black workers marched on the depot, they were met by a sherrif-led lynch mob and 14 mostly young black men were lynched on one large old oak tree. this tree was then cut down and the pieces had brass plaques put on the backs of these saying that they were pieces of that particular lynching tree... when i was 12, i saw one of these 'souvenirs' on a mantlepiece right underneath the lying painting of a white jesus with blonde and blue and presumed the family saw no conflict about that. they of course didn't know that jesus, born to aramaic jews, would've been black as an 8-ball with hair like brillo. was this protested by any priests or preachers, at least in the white side of apartheid-town? not on your life and the state did nothing.

[RevBookburn]

Dear Lord,

We pray for the victims of pedophilia perpetrated by priests and covered up by cardinals of the Catholic Church. The knowingly transferred perps for decades and were willing accomplices to the most horrifying crimes in modern history.

Please help these holdouts from the dark ages to stop defying nature and creating such horrifying monsters and pathologies. Please help Cardinal DiNardo overcome his sick obsession with the fetus and opposition to the rights of women.

Please help the Supreme Court remember that we're not quite a theocratic dictatorship so far. Please help them remember that they are responsible to interpret law and uphold the Constitution.

We shall do our part and continue our program to rehabilitate priests and cardinals. We seek to introduce them to adult sexuality and adult erotica. Please guide Cardinal DiNardo to our show so we can help him become a stable and balanced person again.

Amen

Rev. Bookburn - Radio Volta

[grasyknol]

Anyone watch the C-Span series on the Supreme Court tonite? I watched and was surprised to learn many things I hadn't known. In some ways, I was somewhat dismayed.

Does anyone else get the impression that these men and woman on our highest court are very distant from the reality that you and I face on a daily basis? Certainly, I understand the argument made by Justice Scalia that he views his job as interpreting the laws passed by Congress, wise or unwise, based on the Constitution.

Yet, I see a real disconnect with Justices whose careers were devoid from answering to anyone let alone the public at large. Court cases are reduced to an academic exercise and the enormous impact of their decisions on our lives is removed from the discussion.

I looked up to the Court with reference but it began to wane after Bush V. Gore. The C-Span show solidified my emerging skepticism over the highest judicial body in the United States. If you care to comment or help set me straight, feel free to do so.

[Liberal Angel]

I watched it too. It seems to me that the conservative justices don't get that their decisions impact real human lives. The liberal justices I think are also a little detatched from the rest of us, but I honestly think they at least give a damn about their rulings.

[JIzin]

They are professionals. They are judges to uphold the constitution, not the bible. They wont be swayed by a dry thirty min sermon. Although it would be nice if they had to become non religious to hold office (every politician) its better to know where they go than not know as in C street. How many yrs did that shadowy alternative government stuff go on before it came to light? It all will eventually.
Back to the point, its pointless to get all up in arms because they attended a religious service that espoused views we dont agree with.

[eweqo]

The unborn need more advocates.

[angryliberal]

Maybe the unborn support Women's rights. Did you ever think of that?

[Liberal Angel]

What about the advocates for the already born?

[somsoc]

A fetus is not a person until it can breath and feed on its own. Until then it is a p@rasitic life form. by definition.

[ProudMilVet]

Instead of telling Clergy to be quiet about Politics, how about for a change we tell Politicians to be quiet about Religion !

[somsoc]

Proud, you fought for our nation and I salute you. Now you need to do a bit of study and find out that religious groups were not favored by the founding fathers when it came to such groups getting involved, on any level, in political discourse or policy.

[beherenow54]

This country was founded on the principle of separation of church and state. All you have to do is look at England of that time to see why. Clergy have no right to be attempting to dictate or persuade, either through their outward speech or sermons in church, what politicians and supreme court justices, should do.

The simple fact is that no religion has the right to dictate what others do. It amounts to religious persecution of others. Therefore, justices do not have the right, religious states do not have the right, the federal government does not have the right to dictate what women do or do not do with their own bodies. That decision must be up to them, their doctor, and their own personal religious beliefs whatever those are, or are not. This country is a melting pot of religions and cultures. Christians cannot dictate what others do.

Politicians have to speak up about this, and keep the separation of church and state in mind at all times.

[ProudMilVet]

So Sarah Palin can talk about her beliefs while campaigning & that's OK , but a Catholic Priest talking about his beliefs inside his own Church, that's not OK?

[j0hnwi11iams]

If he wants to espouse political opinions in church, he can pay TAXES. Religion is the biggest loophole for charlatans.

[hoobit]

The thing of it is, the Cardinal *was* espousing a religious opinion...NOT a political one.

Abortion is NOT a "political opinion" - it is a medical issue. It only becomes a political issue when a person (or people) insists *their* religion's views/opinions on the issue (and/or on any *other* issue) are the ONLY ones that must be heard and must be heeded.

[beherenow54]

Sarah Palin is playing to her base, the far right. When a catholic priest pleads for the life of the "unborn" to 6 supreme court justices he is attempting political persuasion of the most disgusting kind. And yes, when they do that they are meddling in political affairs, violating the separation of church and state, and should lose their exempt status.

[escribacat]

I had no idea we had six Roman Catholics on the Supreme Court. Considering the church's views on reproductive rights, that does not sound good at all. When are we going to get religion out of our friggin government?

[Mikeeee]

Indeed!

[hoobit]

Fortunately we have only *one* US Constitution - equally fortunately, ALL of our laws are based ON that US Constitution. There are, of course, hundreds of different versions of religious texts in the US as are there many, many, many different religions practiced here. Having ONE Constitution allows us to each practice (or not!) our *individual* religion *without* interference *from* the government...and THAT is one of the great strengths of that wonderful document...the selfsame one in which ALL our laws are based.

Can you imagine what a hodgepodge mess we'd have if one religion's texts (tenets/beliefs) were selected for one law, another religion's texts (tenets/beliefs) for another law, etc.? Heck, can you even begin to imagine the brouhaha over *which* version of the bible should be used? The KJV, the NIV, the Teen Boys, the Newly Weds, etc.? Seesh...

Yes, our founders were VERY wise in creating (and placing) the US Constitution as the SOLE measure for debating, enacting, and maintaining the laws of our nation for ALL of our citizens.

[CR46]

Most american catholics are pro-choice.

[somsoc]

Thank godlessness.

[Liberal Angel]

Discrimination based on religion is still discrimination. The Establishment Clause is meant to protect the religious also.

[johnr49]

I have no problem with anyone's religious views; however, I have a real problem with that person trying to ram them down my throat, or make/influence political decisions based on their beliefs.

[duxguts]

Like a lot of other unelected officials, these old people will make our major decisions for us. Oh, and with no input from us whatsoever. 'We the people', what a joke that is.

[cycle3man]

I plead that the woman and her doctor make the decision!

[ProudMilVet]

The Catholic Church is most definitely against unecessary Wars & against the Death Penalty as well as Abortion !

[somsoc]

Abortion is a choice and a right, and up to the woman and he physician, not any religious nut or the government.