PORTLAND, Maine — The bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland sought God’s blessing for those who work in the legal profession as they serve the common good and pursue justice at the annual Red Mass celebrated Friday at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception.
“Our coming together is an acknowledgement of something very important for us as Catholics and people dedicated to the administration of justice in the many ways in which we pursue that profession,” Bishop Robert P. Deeley said in his homily. “By our presence here this morning, we acknowledge our dependence on the goodness and guidance of a loving God to fulfill our responsibilities.”
Deeley has an extensive background as a canon lawyer, including more than 20 years serving in the Tribunal of the Archdiocese of Boston and eight years serving the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in Rome, according to the diocese.
Members of the state’s legal community have participated in the Red Mass since it was reinstated in 1998 by Bishop Joseph Gerry, who is now retired. After the Mass each year, a luncheon featuring a guest speaker is held in Portland.
After Friday’s Mass, Maine Supreme Judicial Court Justice Joseph Jabar, who worships at the St. Joseph Maronite Church in Waterville, shared with luncheon attendees the history of the Maronite Catholic Church, which has roots in the Middle Eastern country of Lebanon and his hometown of Waterville.
“Our Maronite church has maintained many of the rituals the Maronites have been exercising for centuries,” Jabar said. “Although portions of the Mass have been changed to English as has the traditional Latin Mass, many parts of the Mass, especially the consecration, use the Syriac language — the same language used by Christ. The Mass and many of the other rituals make use of incense. The Maronites share the same doctrine as other Catholics but they retain their own liturgy, theology and spirituality.”
The justice attends the only Maronite church in Maine, according to the diocese. The Maronite Catholic Church is the largest of the Eastern Rite Catholic Churches in the Middle East with around 3 million members, including nearly 1 million in Lebanon. It traces back to a community formed around Saint Maron, a fourth century monk, who received papal recognition in A.D. 518.
“At the turn of the [20th] century, many Maronites migrated to Waterville, Maine, to get jobs at the woolen mills, as did my father and his mother,” Jabar said Friday. “Some became merchants and many of the second-generation Maronites, thanks to an emphasis on education by these new Americans, became professionals — doctors, lawyers, dentists and teachers.”
The Waterville parish was founded by 33 families in 1927, according to the diocese. Today, 135 people belong to St. Joseph Maronite Church, according to Jabar. It is one of 43 Maronite parishes in the U.S., with the head of the American Maronite Church located in Detroit, Michigan.
“In Maronite communities, it simply wasn’t enough to believe in your religion,” the justice said. “There was loyalty in these communities, centered on religion. Through centuries of turmoil, the Maronite Church has remained loyal to the Pope. I’m proud and happy to report that the Maronite Church remains as it did centuries ago: a vital part of the one holy, Catholic and apostolic church.”
Jabar, 68, said that he and his wife and his children and their spouses were married in the church. His children and his seven grandchildren were baptized there. The judge said that he was baptized before the church was built in the late 1940s.
The name “Red Mass” is derived from the red vestments worn by the celebrants of the Mass. The vestments symbolize the tongues of fire that indicate the presence of the Holy Spirit and recall the traditional bright scarlet robes worn by attending royal judges many centuries ago, according to Bishop Deeley.