At the Red Mass held on the day before the Supreme Court’s new term, Washington Cardinal Robert W. McElroy emphasized that “men and women of the law are architects of hope by reason of their vocation.”
That hope, he said, is especially needed as the nation faces eroding faith in institutions, a collapse of political dialogue, a growth in political violence, and ongoing needs of the poor and powerless.
Cardinal McElroy, the archbishop of Washington, was the main celebrant and homilist at the 73rd annual Red Mass on Oct. 5, 2025 at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle in the nation’s capital. The Red Mass, sponsored by the John Carroll Society of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington, invokes God’s blessings on those responsible for the administration of justice and on all public officials.
In his homily, Washington’s archbishop highlighted three key areas where people working in law can be architects of hope.
“The first is the crisis of institutional life in our nation. Our age has witnessed a dramatic collapse of faith in institutions of all kinds,” Cardinal McElroy said, noting “a corrosive instinct to attack every major institution.”
Catholic social teaching, he said, “underscores that healthy governmental, cultural, religious and economic institutions are essential for the accomplishment of the common good and the service of all in the world in which we live.”
The cardinal said two elements are vital to establishing healthy attitudes toward institutions.
“The first is the rejection of the hyper-criticism toward institutional life which is undermining the fundamental ability of institutions in government and society to serve the common good. The second is the reinvigoration of the countervailing forces in our government and society that constrain harmful accretions of power and delimit their proper scope,” the cardinal said.
He emphasized that men and women of the law “lie at the heart of this two-fold conversation within our nation. By engaging constructively, dialogically and charitably in this conversation, you can help identify a pathway forward for us all. You can bring hope.”
Cardinal McElroy said a second area where people working in law can be architects of hope involves “the collapse of political dialogue within our nation and the growth of political violence. We have witnessed the assassination of Charlie Kirk and the assault on the Capitol. Both mark the progression from civil dialogue to uncivil dialogue to force and fear.”
Noting “we live at a moment in which politics is tribal, not dialogical, and where party label has become a shorthand for worldview on the most volatile topics in our national life,” the cardinal said, “The result is explosive, within politics, family life, and friendships.”
Whether they are students of the law, judges, legislators, public advocates or legal counsels, men and women working in the law “are by that commitment privileged and obligated to raise the plane of our political and social discussion,” Cardinal McElroy said, adding, “No group in our society has a greater capacity to remold our political discourse. No group has a deeper calling to bring hope.”
A third key area where women and men of the law can be architects of hope, the cardinal said, was highlighted in that day’s reading from the Gospel of Luke, which included the passage, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor…”
“The Scriptures point unswervingly to the need to keep the poor and the powerless at the forefront of our thoughts and actions,” Washington’s archbishop said. He noted, “For in every social and economic system they are disproportionately shut out from the rights and privileges that are vital to their well-being. This includes our legal system. Whether they are those accused of crimes or those who are victims of crimes, or those who have been injured and seek civil redress, systemic inequalities in our legal system cry out for reform.”
Cardinal McElroy then underscored how men and women involved in different aspects of the law can bring hope to the poor and other people in need.
“For you who are law students, commit in your lives to integrating substantive and caring pro-bono work a part of your ongoing career. For you who are prosecutors, often with overwhelming caseloads, see the humanity deeply both in those you are prosecuting and in those who were victimized. For legislators, provide the resources and processes necessary to make the legal rights of the poor and middle class more than theoretical. For defense attorneys, sustain hope in your own lives even when you confront injustice or indifference. For our judges, shapers of the laws that affect so many so profoundly, let the humanity and thirst for justice that led you to the law sustain and guide you, so that hope is reflected and created by your actions. And for you who are teachers of the law, lift the minds and the hearts of your students always to the noble and the compassionate, rather than the easy or the expedient,” the cardinal said.
Closing his homily, Cardinal McElroy said, “As women and men of the law, you participate in the mission of God’s justice that Jesus announces in today’s Gospel. May you take up the challenge to be true architects of hope, in this land, at this moment, in God’s grace.”
The start of the Red Mass was delayed for about 20 minutes due to a security situation outside St. Matthew’s Cathedral. Hundreds of people waited outside before they were allowed to enter the cathedral through a side entrance. The Metropolitan Police Department of Washington, D.C., reported that they had arrested a man who set up a tent on the steps of the cathedral. A police statement noted that during the arrest, “officers observed multiple suspicious items, including vials of liquid and possible fireworks, inside the suspect’s tent.” Members of the department’s Explosive Ordinance Disposal team and the Arson Task Force then searched the suspect’s belongings, and the police reported that “the scene has been secured and there is no threat to public safety,” but the front of the cathedral remained closed as the scene was processed.
Normally several Supreme Court justices attend the annual Red Mass, but as the security situation unfolded, none of the justices attended this year’s Mass.
The congregation filling the cathedral was welcomed by Msgr. Peter Vaghi, the longtime chaplain of the John Carroll Society. The society is named for Archbishop John Carroll, who in 1789 became the nation’s first Catholic bishop, leading the new Diocese of Baltimore which then included the territory of all 13 original states. The John Carroll Society includes nearly 900 men and women from all areas of professional and business life in the metropolitan Washington area, and its members are dedicated to the service of the archbishop of Washington, including as volunteers in pro bono legal and healthcare networks of Catholic Charities. They also participate in spiritual, educational and social activities during the year.
The Mass began with a color guard of Fourth Degree Knights of Columbus marching to the front of the cathedral bearing flags of the United States and of the Vatican, and people in the congregation sang the National Anthem.
Joining Cardinal McElroy in celebrating the Mass were Cardinal Christophe Pierre, the apostolic nuncio to the United States; Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA, who also serves as the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops; Arlington Bishop Michael F. Burbidge and Arlington Bishop Emeritus Paul S. Loverde; Washington Auxiliary Bishops Roy E. Campbell Jr. and Juan Esposito; and 12 priests including Msgr. W. Ronald Jameson, the rector of St. Matthew’s Cathedral. The bishops and priests wore red vestments, representing the tongues of fire symbolizing the Holy Spirit.
Cardinal McElroy began his homily on a personal note, pointing out, “My own respect and love for the legal profession arose from observing my father serve in private practice for almost 40 years with integrity, wisdom and compassion. Through his eyes I witnessed the beauty, the struggles, the transformative grace and the hard moral dilemmas that come with a lifelong devotion to the law that never loses sight of the men and women who are affected by it.”
Then addressing the men and women working in law who were attending the Red Mass, the cardinal said, “It is with prayer for each of you that I begin this reflection – prayer that God will constantly raise your eyes to wisdom, compassion and judgment; that you may be consoled when you feel torn or adrift, that in the deepest moments of achievement and satisfaction you might understand that God is at work in you; and that the nobility of your calling will sustain you through every adversity.”
After the Mass ended, the congregation sang “America the Beautiful,” and then a recessional hymn seeking the Holy Spirit’s help and guidance, “O Spirit, All Embracing.”
At the Red Mass brunch afterward, some guests in interviews reflected on the cardinal’s homily and his encouragement for men and women of the law to be “architects of hope.”
Lourdes Robles-Torres, a former judge in Puerto Rico who now works in the law firm of McConnell Valdés LLC there, said, “I started as a municipal judge. I was the first encounter people had with the judicial system.” She said in that role, she tried to look at the humanity of the people before her. “For me, that’s part of our job as judges. Sometimes the law is very strict. Sometimes we have to look harder, to look at the person as a human being, and what that person has experienced and is going through.”
Judge Stefanie Martinez, a District Court judge serving in an area outside Omaha, Nebraska, said the cardinal’s homily “was a poignant reminder of the power we have in our hands when we have people come before us, who want that opportunity to be heard and to be granted hope.”
Sarah Webster, a third-year law student at the Columbus School of Law at The Catholic University of America who is from Birmingham, Alabama, was among law students who brought up the offertory gifts at the Red Mass. During an interview at the Red Mass brunch, Webster said, “In the legal profession, you’re very near people in their struggles, and you’re close to them in deep challenging times of their lives. So it’s our job to walk alongside people who are struggling. We use the law as our tool and the gifts and talents the Lord has given us.”
At the Red Mass brunch, John Carroll Society 2025 Pro Bono Legal Service Awards were presented to Andrea Halverson Harper, Esq.; Kristine Dunne Maher, Esq.; Nicholas Mowbray; and to the Crowell & Moring, LLP law firm for their service to the Catholic Charities Legal Network of the Archdiocese of Washington. In the Fiscal Year 2025, the Legal Network assisted 1,525 individuals, providing 3,386 pro bono hours of service valued at nearly $2.4 million.
Text of Cardinal McElroy’s Red Mass homily:
Link to livestream of Mass:
