Biden, 5 Supreme Court justices attend controversial 'Red Mass'

[ensho]

http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2010/10/03/biden-5-supreme-court-justices-attend-controversial-red-mass/?hpt=C2


Vice President Joe Biden joined five Supreme Court justices to attend Sunday's annual Red Mass, the Roman Catholic service for the courts that has drawn criticism in recent years.

-snip-

The Mass was started in 1952 by the John Carroll Society, a lay Catholic group of prominent lawyers and professionals, to celebrate the legal profession. But the event has drawn criticism in recent years for what many see as an unhealthy mix of politics, religion and the law.

The mass is a Catholic service, but power brokers of other faiths are asked to attend the invitation-only event. Critics have called the attendance of leading decision-makers, including members of the highest court in the land, inappropriate.

(its beyond 'inappropriate')

Past homilies by individual speakers have lamented the high court's ruling legalizing abortion and the constitutional separation of church and state, although most recent Red Mass ceremonies have avoided hot-button social and political issues to focus on universal themes. Church officials insist they do not attempt to lobby or seek to persuade anyone who attends the service.
-snip-
-------------------------

Ginsberg said in her book that she went once and would never go again because the sermon was outrageously anti-abortion.

thank you Ruth

[BlueIris]

1. Okay.

This entire thing kinda...creeps me out.

[ensho]

16. their red capes creep me out

nt

[harun]

23. Their masks are funny

[joeybee12]

2. Rec and cheers to Ruth!

[Hell Hath No Fury]

3. Supreme Court justices have NO business --

going to something like this. :mad:

[brendan120678]

6. They can't go to Church? (nt)

[Hell Hath No Fury]

11. This isn't "going to Church"...

and you know it.

[LiberalFighter]

28. This is an invite only service.

Nobody in any government related position should attend an invite only religious gathering. Especially when it involves the legal profession.

And to invite others from outside the Catholic faith to attend the mass reeks of influence attempt. Makes me wonder if Catholics in the legal profession are pushed to do everything possible to make others attend.

[CreekDog]

12. Jesus wouldn't have been invited

not sure I'd want to be there.

[n2doc]

4. I thought I would have guessed which 5

Breyer is a shock. No surprise none of the ladies went.

[brendan120678]

5. Attendance certainly isn't mandatory, and...

it isn't government-sponsored, so what's the issue?

[ensho]

7. separation of church and state is the reason

the mass was for them and other govt. people

[brendan120678]

8. The Mass is for the Catholic legal profession in general...

sponsored by a private Catholic legal group.

Saying it's inappropriate because of "separation of church and state" isn't a very strong argument in this case.
Certainly if it was an official Supreme Court function, or even an official government function in general, I'd agree with you.

[ensho]

10. sorry, but, it is a stong argument

they should not have attended.

how happy do you think the pope is to have the american supreme court majority catholic?

[brendan120678]

18. Do you have any issue with...

members of law enforcement attending a Blue Mass?

[CreekDog]

13. it was exclusive and anti-Christian for that reason

:hi:

as a Catholic, Biden should've seen the conflict between his faith and attending that function.

[elleng]

17. No issue, just something to 'fight' about here. Slow news day???

[burning rain]

26. Shorter brendan120678: Theocracy is goodness, so long as it's elected!

.

[brendan120678]

27. Yes, theocracy is goodness...

that's absolutely what I believe.

:eyes:

[denverbill]

9. I think it's odd that there are no Protestants on the Supreme Court.

5 Catholics who represent 25% of Americans. 4 Jews who represent 2% of the population.

The over-representation of those groups would seem to give the court a decided anti-abortion/pro-Israel bias. Not that the court has much to do with Israel. The anti-abortion bias is more disconcerting. It's a bit hard to be impartial when the Pope threatens you with ex-communcation.

[Kolesar]

14. Catholic dogma has useful expressions that translate well into RW arguements

The whole court is designed around fighting the wedge issue of abortion

[Drunken Irishman]

29. You mean like the Catholic justices picked by Democrats?

Do you know a majority of the Catholics serving right now in the Congress are Democrats -- including the current Speaker of the House?

[Kolesar]

31. No, not like that at all

I want a Moslem on the Supreme Court

[Drunken Irishman]

33. Okay...

I don't see how that has to do with your point at all.

[bornskeptic]

15. Actually it's 6 Catholics and 3 Jews.

Breyer, Ginsberg, and Kagan are Jewish. The rest are Catholic.

[Kolesar]

30. ...walk into a bar and order dinner

So the priest asks the Rabbi: "What is this, I hear you can't eat pork?"
The Rabbi says: "Yeah it's against my religion, what's this I hear you can't have sex?"
The Priest says: "Same thing, it's against my religion"
So the Rabbi says: "You ought to try sex, it's much better than pork"

[COLGATE4]

21. Where did you get the idea that a person's religion will

dictate how they will perform professionally? You find that it's Odd that there are no Protestants on the Supreme Court? God, just go back and look at the composition of the court until the 1930's- you wouldn'f find anyone EXCEPT Protestants. What is an "over-representation" of these groups? I was not aware of any statute that said the composition of the Supreme Court had to mirror the overall religious composition of the country. Perhaps you can point me to the law that indicates that. Finally, the coup de grace - "the overrepresentation of those groups would seem to give the court a decided antiabortion/pro-Israel bais. Is it your contention that all American Jews are pro-Israel? The whole argument seems to be more than vaguely anti Catholic and anti Semitic.

[AspenRose]

24. I'm all for protestants...if they're mainstream and not fundamentalist.

That would be bad. Really bad.

[FBaggins]

19. Hey... If it's good enough for Jed Bartlett... It's good enough for me.

:)

[Davis_X_Machina]

20. I wonder what...

...Bob Drinan would say.

I don't think he'd be welcome on DU.

[FBaggins]

22. A shame... since a high percentage (a majority?) of Catholics are Democrats.

Maybe we could wait until after the election to insult them?

[karynnj]

25. I think Drinan would not be unwelcome -

He was a great Congressman and Priest - and a close friend of John Kerry, who after losing an informal "anti-war" primary to him in 1970, volunteered to help Drinan in his campaign. Kerry was his campaign manager. There were many articles when Drinan died and it was clear that he was a fascinating, very good person - whose sense of humor could be shown in the fact that he agreed to campaign signs with the slogan "Father Knows Best".

Drinan might actually be more welcome here than among the Red Mass people.

[Davis_X_Machina]

32. He'd be here approximately 30 seconds....

...before the pedophiles-in-dresses and Vatican-bankers-run-the-world crowds would both show up.

We'd be an embarrassment.

[Hippo_Tron]

34. Jed Bartlet didn't really have a good excuse for it

He said yea it's probably inappropriate but sometimes you look the other way just because.