My ninth Red Mass and my last as a serving judge. On 5 November I “shuffle off the ermine coil” into retirement. Since 2018 I have had the honour of being president of the Thomas More Society (TMS). The TMS was established to organise the Red Mass. It does so in style due to the hard work of its committee and particularly its secretary, Stephen Hart.
The Red Mass, more properly the Votive Mass of the Holy Spirit, is celebrated in Westminster Cathedral on 1 October at 9.30am at the beginning of each legal year. The judges in full ceremonial dress gather to call upon the Holy Spirit to guide them in their work. Not for the first time has somebody mischievously but entirely aptly chosen Luke Ch 10 as the Gospel, including: “Jesus said: ‘I praise you, Father… for hiding these things from the wise and intelligent…’”
