[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 134 (Friday, October 11, 2002)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1821-E1823]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    RECOGNIZING THE MOST REVEREND WILTON D. GREGORY AND THE RED MASS

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. JERRY F. COSTELLO

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, October 10, 2002

  Mr. COSTELLO. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to submit the homily given by 
the Most Reverend Wilton D. Gregory at the Red Mass to the 
Congressional Record.
  Bishop Gregory is a constituent of mine from Belleville, Illinois and 
serves as the President of the United States Conference of Catholic 
Bishops. He delivered the Red Mass homily on October 6 at the Basilica 
of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C.
  The Red Mass is sponsored by the John Carroll Society. This group was 
created in 1951 to encourage educational, religious and charitable 
activities in the community. To achieve this, the organization is 
involved with many projects in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, 
including the Red Mass.
  The Red Mass was first introduced in the United States in 1928 at 
Saint Andrew's Church in New York City. Since 1953, the John Carroll 
Society has sponsored the Red Mass annually in Washington D.C. This 
mass takes place on the Sunday before the first Monday in October, just 
before the Supreme Court begins its new term to bless those that 
administer justice in our society.
  Bishop Gregory's homily was an eloquent message about the importance 
of responsibility and fairness in the administration of justice. 
Furthermore, while some believe there have been signs of darkness in 
our society in the past year, Bishop Gregory reminds us that we cannot 
afford to give up our hope and our faith.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in honoring Bishop 
Gregory and to commend him for his message of hope and his dedicated 
leadership.

   Homily of Bishop Wilton Gregory, Red Mass, Sunday 6 October, 2002

       It is a pleasure and an honor to be able to add to the 
     words of greeting of Cardinal

[[Page E1822]]

     McCarrick, my own personal recognition to all of the 
     dignitaries who have gathered to pray with us this Sunday 
     morning. You are here, as are we all, to invoke God's 
     blessings upon all those responsible for the administration 
     of justice and upon all our public officials. In doing so, we 
     are recognizing that the exercise of civic authority, the 
     responsibility for the well-being of our citizens, and often 
     of many who are not our citizens, is not merely a work of our 
     own human resources. Rather, it is a cooperative venture with 
     the plan and the will of God Himself.
       Everyone who holds a title of civil office is not simply 
     the beneficiary of honor or privilege, although that may 
     accompany the office. More importantly, they carry the 
     responsibility to exercise wisely, fairly, and in a 
     personally disinterested fashion the call for justice and 
     solidarity that God intends for us during our lives on this 
     earth. Indeed, Christ Himself, in His hour of trial reminded 
     His earthly judge that the power, which was given to be 
     exercised over Him, had been given by Heaven itself For that 
     reason, it is indeed good that we gather at this year's Red 
     Mass to offer our prayers that God give to every civic and 
     public official the wisdom to recognize His influence in 
     their lives and the grace to carry out well the obligations 
     they have accepted.
       The Second Vatican Council, which is one of the essential 
     guides for our Catholic thought at this turn of the 
     millennium, has reminded us to ``read the signs of the 
     times'' (GS, 4) so that we might seek to carry out God's plan 
     in the circumstances in which we find ourselves. As we read 
     the signs of our times, we cannot fail to see how demanding 
     they are, to us as individuals and to those who lead us. In 
     fct, in our time these signs have raised questions about our 
     leadership itself, in many aspects of society.
       We are all living daily with the memory of 9/11 as well as 
     with the future responses to that attack. Questions are 
     rightly raised about changes in our personal lives, and about 
     how to react as a people in a manner that is just and moral. 
     We continue, almost on a daily basis, to read the signs about 
     leadership in business and our County's economy. What is the 
     meaning of the failures of leadership summed up by names like 
     Enron and World Com? And I would be injudicious if I did not 
     mention the doubts about leadership that have arisen in our 
     counuy as a result of the sex abuse scandal that has plagued 
     the Catholic Church in the United States in recent months, 
     and the terrible personal suffering which it has exposed. 
     From a certain point of view, many of the signs of this time 
     in which we live seem to be those of darkness, like endless 
     clouds from storms that seem unwilling to pass.
       But we cannot allow matters to remain that way. It is 
     neither our history as Americans, nor our nature as men and 
     women of faith, to give in to pessimism or resignation, 
     somehow burying our heads in the sand, wringing our hands, or 
     doubting the power of God to guide us as we respond to the 
     world in which we live. Because we are people of faith, we 
     must also live as people of hope. We trust that God is not 
     somehow looking away but even in our difficult moments, He is 
     the reason we look confidently to the future.
       Do not the signs of this time call for us proudly to 
     acknowledge our roots in faith and to renew our commitment to 
     God in a moment of trial? Moreover, in so doing, we fulfill 
     not only our own personal quest for faith, but we are 
     consistent with the very values upon which this beloved 
     nation was founded. In fact, from the very beginning of our 
     democratic experiment, it was understood that justice, 
     morality and good governance, indeed the essence of 
     leadership, are not the arbitrary re-creations of each 
     generation. Rather they are based in the will of God Himself.
       George Washington, in his farewell address, described his 
     Presidency as a time of ``passions, agitated in every 
     direction, . . . liable to mislead; appearances sometimes 
     dubious, vicissitudes of fortune often discouraging, [and] 
     situations in which not unfrequently want of success has 
     countenanced the spirit of criticism''. Yet following this 
     somber description, which could easily be applied to our own 
     day, Washington observed that in leading the nation through 
     these obstacles, his path had been lighted by the twin 
     torches of religious faith and moral convictions stating: 
     ``Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political 
     prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. 
     . . . Let it simply be asked, Where is the security for 
     property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious 
     obligation desert the oaths which are the instruments of . . 
     . justice?''
       Our first great President continued, ``And let us with 
     caution indulge the supposition that morality can be 
     maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the 
     influence of refined education, . . . reason and experience 
     both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail 
     in exclusion of religious principle.''
       It is the world's experience that true greatness in 
     leadership, be it religious or secular, is a rare commodity. 
     The combination of spirit, intellect, courage and the gift of 
     being able to motivate fellow travelers in this world are 
     often diminished by sin and the human limitations that each 
     of us knows only too well, both in ourselves and in others.
       It is for that reason that we are gathered here today, and 
     gathered in hope as we pray for our public officials and 
     administrators of justice. We do so at this Mass in which we 
     call upon the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God Himself, and we 
     ask that that Spirit be given to those entrusted with our 
     welfare to strengthen them, purify their vision and guide 
     them. Moreover, that Holy Spirit is ready to help us both to 
     understand and to respond to the signs of our times.
       As Isaiah tells us in the reading this morning, this Spirit 
     of the Lord is ``a spirit of wisdom and understanding''. He 
     therefore assists those who must wrestle with the most 
     complex and conflicting legal arguments and proofs, helping 
     them not to be rnisled by what is superficial, beguiling or 
     false. Isaiah tells us that this is ``a spirit of counsel and 
     of strength'', guiding the vision of legislators and 
     administrators to look to the greater good, not responsive 
     merely to momentary influences or transient majorities, but 
     seeking to make us a people in solidarity, brought together 
     by the values and the bonds of truth which God has written on 
     the heart of each one of us. This is, as Isaiah says, ``a 
     spirit of knowledge and of fear of the Lord. And that Spirit 
     ``shall judge the poor with justice and decide aright for the 
     land's afflicted. He shall strike the ruthless with the rod 
     of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall slay 
     the wicked.''
       We must not forget that the Spirit of the Lord for whose 
     presence we pray this morning, that same Spirit, was given to 
     Christ, as we read in the Gospel. And that Spirit brings 
     about a special care, attention and love for those who are in 
     need among us. Christ told His listeners that in their 
     hearing was fulfilled His anointing with the Spirit, so that 
     He might ``bring glad tidings to the poor ... proclaim 
     liberty to captives ... recovery of sight to the blind ... 
     and let the oppressed go free''. obviously no small agenda, 
     but it is one that we too must embrace as part of the work of 
     our time. And we should not be bashful in proclaiming from 
     the housetops, that in many places, and under many 
     circumstances, it is precisely churches, synagogues, mosques 
     and temples, in short it is religious faith, that has 
     answered the cry of those who are most in need.
       While there is much more still to do, we can be justly 
     proud of the way religion has shaped our response as 
     individuals and as a society in the United States when 
     confronting the needs of the poor. We also know of the 
     importance of members of different religions developing 
     deeper respect for one another, so as to collaborate in 
     shaping the common good. And as President of the United 
     States Conference of Catholic Bishops, while apologizing once 
     more for the cleansing needed within our own house, I would 
     argue most powerfully that those scandals must not silence 
     nor limit the excellent influence that religious voices have 
     in the formation of our governmental and societal policies, 
     whether they be war and peace, the death penalty, stem cell 
     research or questions of poverty. The truth that underlies 
     faith is not diminished because its messengers are human 
     beings with all their faults and failings. The miracle of 
     faith is that truth is proclaimed in spite of ourselves.
       All too often in recent years, it has been a sign of our 
     time that some urge that the role of religion in public life 
     be marginalized and even suppressed. And too frequently, men 
     and women of faith have not challenged the assertion that 
     religion is a strictly private matter and that faith in God, 
     and its accompanying moral and social values, have no role to 
     play in our national life. We are even told that our children 
     should not utter God's name when reciting the Pledge of 
     Allegiance, as if that would do them harm or make them less 
     fully Americans. Instead of accepting this claim, our faith 
     in God leads us to another conclusion. As we face the signs 
     of our times--the moral decline in society, the threats 
     against life both from abroad and from within, and the lack 
     of trust in our leaders--we recognize that this time, our 
     time, is a time for religious renewal. It is a time for us to 
     recover our sense of God, of the sacredness of human life and 
     of doing what is right, whatever the cost and whatever the 
     circumstance. It is a time for us to be not more reticent, 
     but more courageous in professing our faith in God and acting 
     upon it.
       Pope John Paul II, the outstanding religious and moral 
     leader in the world today, had this to say to visiting 
     Bishops from the United States in 1998, ``The survival of a . 
     . . democracy depends not only on its institutions, but to an 
     even greater extent on the spirit which inspires and 
     permeates its procedures for legislating, administering, and 
     judging. The future of democracy, in fact, depends on a 
     culture capable of forming men and women who are prepared to 
     defend certain truths and values. it is imperiled when 
     politics and law are sundered from any connection to the 
     moral law written on the human heart.''--(Address of Pope 
     John Paul II to the Bishops of Region X, June 27, 1998).
       In gathering today and offering Mass to invoke the Holy 
     Spirit upon those public servants who bear responsibility for 
     the health and well being of our nation, we are inspired by 
     St. Paul who told Timothy that he urged ``supplications, 
     prayer, intercessions and thanksgivings ... for kings and all 
     who are in high positions so that we may lead a quiet and 
     peaceable life in all godliness and dignity'' (I Tim. 2:1). 
     In doing so, let us highlight one thing more: our gratitude.
       The burden of public service, when rightly lived, is indeed 
     a heavy burden. Not all agree to take it up. We need to pray 
     for the Holy Spirit's guidance for our judges, administrators 
     and governmental officials. But as well,

[[Page E1823]]

     we must pray in gratitude for those who have given a life of 
     service to us. That service is a sacred trust and no small 
     contribution to our ability to live the quiet and peaceable 
     life that St. Paul mentioned.
       In gathering this morning for this sacrifice of the Mass, 
     as we place before the altar our very selves, our many needs 
     and our petitions, we must also thank God. We thank Him 
     especially for His providence in the history of our country, 
     raising up in difficult moments leaders, such as Presidents 
     Washington and Lincoln, to help us through our trials. 
     Moreover, we thank God for the leaders and public servants of 
     our own time, who truly strive to protect our country's 
     justice and peace, ensure for us the opportunity to work for 
     the fulfillment of God's plan in our lives and in society.

     

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