Lawyers reflect on pandemic, political upheaval

By Tom Tracy - Florida Catholic

KEY WEST | Members of the Monroe County legal and law enforcement community gathered for their annual Red Mass recently in what became a moment to reflect on the previous year’s pandemic and national political upheaval. 

Held March 5, 2021 at the Basilica of St. Mary Star of the Sea, regional lawyers, judges, public officials and other law professionals joined Archbishop Thomas Wenski for the noon celebration, almost a year after the COVID-19 pandemic thrust the U.S. and the world into an ongoing crisis. 

“These past 12 months of a global pandemic, great economic upheaval, social unrest and political divisiveness have reminded us of the fragility of our lives – and that, despite our technologies, we are not as in control of our lives as we sometimes pretend to be,” Archbishop Wenski told the group during his homily. “Hopefully, when we emerge on the far side of this pandemic, we will be humbler. In the meantime, we do need to grow in patience.”

The archbishop also referenced the national political crises and frustration of 2020 which took the form of street protests, racial tensions, media and social media-driven group identity tensions. 

“A sense of belonging – of being attached to particular people and places – gives shape to our identity and provides security in which to grow. As human beings we long to belong – to a family, to a community, and to a nation,” Archbishop Wenski pointed out. “And so as Catholics but also as members of the Bar, you can make an important contribution to the arguments that lie beneath the social unrest the besets our society today as it faces the challenges of enduring racism, growing inequality and the intolerance of a ‘cancel culture.’”

The Red Mass is a historical tradition with the Catholic Church dating back to the 13th century when it officially opened the term of the court for most European countries. The celebrants — government officials, lawyers and judges — would proceed into church clothed in red vestments or red garments, signifying the fire of the Holy Spirit’s guidance to all who pursue justice in their daily vocations. 

On hand for the Mass was Federal Magistrate Judge Lurana Snow of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida in Fort Lauderdale. She told the Florida Catholic that over the years she makes a point to attend the Red Mass events both in Fort Lauderdale and in Monroe Country. 

Judge Snow said she affirms Archbishop Wenski’s comments that there is too much emphasis today on belonging to one group at the exclusion of others. “That has been troubling me, and we should be looking more toward our similarities and what makes us unique.”

“There is too much exclusion and exclusivity,” the judge said of the cultural divides. “I think it is a general thing: ‘I belong to this tribe and you don’t,’ and the antagonism that forms likes cliques in high school with too much emphasis on identification with one group to the exclusion of others.”

Judge Snow lives both in Big Pine Key, where she is a parishioner and volunteer church organist at St. Peter Parish, and in Fort Lauderdale, home of U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida and where she was the 2011 recipient of the Archbishop Edward A. McCarthy Award from the St. Thomas More Society of Broward County. 

She said St. Thomas More — King Henry VIII’s Lord Chancellor — is a noteworthy Catholic figure and father who made sure his daughters received the same classical education as his sons in 16th century England, and who also adopted a child. 

The Red Mass tradition was introduced into the U.S. in 1928 in the Church of St. Andrew in New York City, and is currently celebrated in dioceses throughout the country, including many dioceses in Florida, to invoke a blessing upon the members of the bench, legislature, law enforcement and government agencies, and all protectors and administrators of the law. 

“Anything that brings people together who don’t normally get together is a good thing,” Judge Snow said of the Red Mass traditions, which welcome Jewish and Protestant guests to attend. 

“Especially in Lauderdale but also in Monroe, it is a way of bringing people of all faiths together, and of bringing together all our priests from the area,” said Judge Snow, who is also active in local nonprofits looking after the uninsured and underinsured. 

Also on hand was Monroe County Attorney Bob Shillinger, who has offices in Key West, Marathon and Key Largo and who is a past Grand Knight at the Knights of Columbus Council serving the Basilica in Key West. 

The Red Mass has been an annual tradition in Key West only for the past 14 years and is a comparatively small event but one welcomed by the wider community, Shillinger said. The Mass is organized through the Monroe County Bar Association. 

“We are a fairly small legal community and we generally know each other, and this is an opportunity to break spiritual bread with each other as we set aside our (professional) differences and come together," Shillinger said. “The archbishop always brings a good message to our community.”

Shillinger said that the pandemic’s economic impact on the Florida Keys was significant in 2020 but that all indications are that tourism is making a robust return to the area, which presents both safety challenges but welcome news for the business community. 

“Many people are trying to come here to not only get in warm weather but because so many activities are outdoors and on the water, so it is seen as a safer place to vacation than other places,” he said.