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Annual Red Mass Planned

  Most. Rev. Daniel E. Pilarczyk, Archbishop of Cincinnati, Ohio, will be the homilist at the Thirty-Second Annual Red Mass in honor of the Bench and Bar, hosted by The Diocese of Greensburg and Saint Vincent Archabbey, College and Seminary. Most. Rev. Anthony G. Bosco, Bishop of Greensburg, will be principal celebrant at the Mass, which will be held at noon Friday, Oct. 15 at the Saint Joseph Center, Greensburg.

The Red Mass is celebrated annually in over 25 cities across the United States to invoke God’s blessing on members of the bench and bar at the start of the legal year. The Red Mass takes its name from the fact that celebrants of the 13th century in Europe were vested in red, and the lord high justices of the day dressed in scarlet.

Serving the Archdiocese of Cincinnati since 1982, Archbishop Pilarczyk is the author of numerous articles appearing in a wide range of publications, including Our Sunday Visitor, The Catholic Telegraph, America, Saint Anthony Messenger and Paulist Press. He has received honorary doctorates from Xavier University, Calumet College, Marquette University, the University of Dayton, Thomas More College, the College of Mount Saint Joseph and the Hebrew Union College/Jewish Institute of Religion. He studied at Saint Gregory Seminary in Cincinnati, and earned the Ph. B., Ph. L., S.T.B., S.T.L. and S.T.D. degrees from Pontifical Urban University, Rome, Italy. He also earned a master of arts degree in classics from Xavier and a doctorate in classics from the University of Cincinnati.

Archbishop Pilarczyk was ordained a priest in 1959, and has served as Assistant Chancellor of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati (1961-63), faculty member of Athenaeum of Ohio (Saint Gregory Seminary, (1963-1974), vice president of Athenaeum of Ohio (1968-1974), Rector of Saint Gregory Seminary (1968-1974), Synodal Judge of the Archdiocesan Tribunal (1971-1982), Director of Educational Services (1974-1982), Auxiliary Bishop of Cincinnati (Titular Bishop of Hodelm, 1974-1982), Vicar General (1974-1982), Chairman of the Archdiocesan Commission on Education (1974-1982), Trustee of Athenaeum of Ohio (1974-present), member of the Senate of Priests and the Pastoral Council (1974-present), and Chairman of the Governing Board of Saint Rita School for the Deaf (1977-1982). He is a member of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, serving as President from 1989-1992, Vice President from 1986-1989, and chairing numerous committees of the organization since 1975. Archbishop PIlarczyk has also served on the Board of Directors of the Pope John Center (1978-1985), Board of Trustees and committee member of the Catholic Health Association (1981-1985), Chairman (1991-1997) and member (1987-1997) of the International Commission of English in the Liturgy, Board of Trustees member of Pontifical College Josephinum (1983-1992) and Catholic University of America (1983-1992, 1997-present), where he is presently Chairman of the Board.

Saint Thomas More is the inspiration for the Red Mass. The leading English intellectual and statesman was a prominent jurist whose love and loyalties for the principals of law eventually led to his beheading in 1535, when he could not in conscience serve a government that was interfering with the church. More was canonized in 1935.

Saint Vincent Archabbey, Seminary and College and the Diocese of Greensburg have hosted the Red Mass for the past 32 years.