Washington D.C., Oct 3, 2017 / 11:06 am
During the annual Red Mass marking a new term of the U.S. Supreme Court, Archbishop Jose Gomez of Los Angeles said that early American missionaries should be honored among the founding fathers of the United States.
"These missionaries – together with the colonists and the statesmen who came later – they laid the spiritual and intellectual groundwork for a nation that remains unique in human history," Gomez told lawyers and judges during his homily at the 65th Red Mass.
"A nation conceived under God and committed to promoting human dignity, freedom and the flourishing of a diversity of peoples, races, ideas and beliefs."
The Red Mass is celebrated on the Sunday before the first Monday in October, which marks the beginning of the Supreme Court's annual term. The liturgy is held at St. Matthew the Apostle Church in Washington D.C., and is meant to invoke God's blessing on elected officials and members of the justice system.