C.J. Queenan, Jr., Esq., will be the keynote speaker at the Thirty-Fourth Annual Red Mass in honor of the Bench and Bar, sponsored by the Diocese of Greensburg and Saint Vincent Archabbey, College and Seminary. Bishop Anthony G. Bosco of Greensburg and Archabbot Douglas Nowicki, O.S.B. of Saint Vincent will host the Red Mass and dinner, which will be held at noon Friday, Sept. 28 at the Saint Vincent Archabbey Basilica in Latrobe.

Mr. Queenan, a native of the Pittsburgh area, was graduated from Dartmouth College, its graduate schools of Engineering and Business Administration, and from The Harvard Law School. He also serves on the Saint Vincent College Board of Directors.

A practicing attorney specializing in the areas of tax, corporate, international and transactional law, Mr. Queenan (formerly a Partner and Chairman of the Management Committee) is currently Senior Counsel in the law firm of Kirkpatrick & Lockhart LLP and Chairman of its Audit Committee; and is a member of the American Law Institute, the Pennsylvania and Allegheny County Bar Associations (and their respective Tax Sections), the Fellows of the American Bar Foundation, The Federalist Society, and the Dartmouth Society of Engineers. He has also served as past Chairman of The Pittsburgh Tax Club and the Annual Penn State Tax Conference.

Mr. Queenan has frequently lectured on a wide variety of topics in the tax, international, merger, “sensitive payments,” Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, Arab Boycott and other areas at conferences sponsored by the Practicing Law Institute, Tax Executives Institute, New York Law Journal, Washington Legal Times, Pennsylvania Bar Institute, Southeastern Corporate Law Institute, Financial Executives Institute, American Society of Corporate Secretaries, ABA National Institute, Deutscher Anwaltverein, Young President’s Organization, The World Trade Institute, and others.

Some of the boards on which he currently serves include: Allegheny Technologies Incorporated, Boy Scouts of America, Allegheny Conference on Community Development (Chairman), Extra Mile Education Foundation, Harvard Law School: Dean’s Advisory Board and Carnegie Mellon University (former Chairman).

He is recipient of the Distinguished Pennsylvanian Award; is listed in America’s Best Lawyers; and Who’s Who in America; received the Silver Beaver Award (BSA); is a Knight: Sovereign Military Order of Malta; received the 1999 Distinguished Service Award, Tax Executives Institute, Inc.; and was named to Pittsburgh’s Top 50 Business Leaders – 2001 Pittsburgh Post Gazette.

The Red Mass has a long history within the Catholic Church dating back to the thirteenth century when it marked the official opening of the new term for courts in most European countries.

The participants in the celebration of the Red Mass – clergy, government officials, lawyers and judges – would process into the church clothed in red vestments, signifying their plea for the Holy Spirit’s guidance in pursuing justice in their daily lives.

This important tradition was introduced in the United States at the Church of Saint Andrew in New York City in 1928. It was presided over by His Eminence Patrick Cardinal Hayes, who strongly encouraged the members of the entire legal community to give witness to the Word of God through their commitment to justice for all.

The Red Mass is currently celebrated throughout the United States to invoke God’s blessing upon the members of the bench, bar, legislature, law enforcement and governmental agencies – all protectors and administrators of the Law. The Diocese of Greensburg and Saint Vincent Archabbey, College and Seminary have jointly sponsored the Red Mass in this Diocese since 1968.

The Red Mass is attended by judges, lawyers, political leaders, and officials of all faiths who come together to ask God to bless, strengthen and enlighten them as servants of the Law so that, in cooperation and mutual trust, they may more effectively pursue justice and freedom for all.