25.1.2007

Red Mass Celebration

The Catholic Lawyers' Society of Kuala Lumpur celebrated the Red Mass last Saturday, 20.1.2007 at St John's Cathedral, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. This event marks the beginning of the Society's calendar of events.

The Red Mass, a colourful religious ceremony of the Catholic Church, was celebrated by Rt. Rev. Anthony Lee Kok Hin, the Bishop of Miri and Most Reverend Murphy Nicholas Xavier Pakiam, the Archbishop of Kuala Lumpur together with Catholic members of the Judiciary, Attorney General Chambers, Malaysian Bar, law students and other embassy officials. This Mass is not only the occasion of the sectarian cultural event involving the legal profession, but has become the only institution in which the Church has an exclusive oppurtunity to meet Judges, lawyers and other officials.

The Red Mass that was celebrated last 20.1.2007, saw some 78 lawyers from Kuala Lumpur and other states in Malaysia such as Penang, Johor and Sarawak coming in unison to mark this significant event with a Mass. The main presider of the Mass, Rt. Rev. Anthony Lee Kok Hin (pic) celebrated this glorious event. During homily about lawyers, His Grace stated that "...whilst you are Catholics by nature, you are only lawyers by accident...".

The Patron Saint of the Catholic Lawyers’ Society, St. Thomas More (1478-1535), once stated, “The duty of a Catholic lawyer is to remain faithful to Jesus Christ, His Church and its teaching at all times [emphasis added] despite the personal consequences” . The purpose of the Red Mass and the Catholic Lawyers’ Society is not only to promote the Red Mass as a Catholic event in Kuala Lumpur, but also make papal decisions influence the law of the land and promote justice and peace whilst doing work God’s work.

(c) Catholic Lawyers' Society 2007 AX.

In our neighbouring country, Singapore, Archbishop Nicholas Chia celebrated this year’s Red Mass for the members of the Singapore Catholic Lawyers Guild and the Order of Malta at the Cathedral of the Good Shepherd on Jan 5.

In his homily, Archbishop Chia reminded the faithful about the need for law and authority to maintain order and to help a society to develop. However, he stressed that the law must always be seen in its correct perspective. “Jesus is the end of the law and only he and he alone can dispense God’s justice,” Archbishop Chia said.

He reminded the congregation that “no one can give what he or she does not have”, hence in order for them to have integrity and to show compassion, they must first have it within themselves. Archbishop Chia warned those present to always be on theirguard against relativism. “Not for anything must you compromise truth and justice,” he emphasized.