Annual Masses that Recognize Faith and Professions

Host Dr. Brian Reynolds, Chancellor of the Archdiocese of Louisville, welcomes Dr. Karen Shadle, Director of Worship, and Dr. F. DeKarlos Blackmon, Vice Chancellor of Pastoral Services, for a conversation about the annual Masses that recognize faith and professions. They talk about the history of those Masses, their importance, and why you should participate.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:19

Hello everyone. I'm Brian Reynolds, the Chancellor of the Archdiocese of Louisville, and I want to welcome you to our podcast series, What's New in Arch Lou. This show highlights the people and ministries of the Archdiocese, the Catholic Church in Central Kentucky. We ask you to join us each month as we welcome guests to discuss events and experiences and people that make up this local church, and we invite you to get more involved as you deepen your own engagement with the Catholic faith. This program is brought to you by the ArchLou Podcast Network. Well, folks, we've made it to August. I don't know where the summer went, but the summer is ending here this month. It's still hot enough to still be summertime, but schools are going back. The state fairs are about to take off in a few weeks here in later August. So August is a new time of year for all of us. So uh uh thanks for joining us this year. Today we welcome two guests who actually don't need much of an introduction because they've both been veterans of our podcast series. First, we have Dr. F. De Carlos Blackman, who's our Vice Chancellor for Pastoral Services and Director of Diaconal Ministry. He joins us for the third time. Welcome to Carlos.

SPEAKER_02 1:31

Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 1:31

Also with us is Dr. Karen Schadel, who's our director of worship today. She's the first member of the What's Doing Arch Lou Five Timers Club. So you're you're an old veteran here.

SPEAKER_00 1:43

Yeah, thanks for having me back.

SPEAKER_01 1:44

Good to see you again. Well, you always have fun, fun, um, and interesting topics, both of you to help us with, and it's great to have you as our regulars here. Now, we have a kind of a unique topic. I think all of our shows tend to have these unique topics, and here's one that uh you may our listeners may know just a little bit about or maybe a new experience for you. Um we want to discuss a series of annual masses that occur in the Archdiocese each year that recognize faith and professions. But before we get into that topic, um since I didn't tell you a lot about them in case you don't know them, I'm gonna ask our our our guests to hear a little bit more from our our uh to tell our viewers a little bit more about themselves. So DeCarlos, help us a little bit. Tell us a little more about your view.

SPEAKER_02 2:29

Well, I'm just a simple fellow from Mobile, Alabama. It's wonderful here being in central Kentucky. I serve the church. Most of my ministry in the church has been uh ecclesial music much of my ecclesial work has been in music and liturgy, and so now I'm doing other stuff and I'm happy with the other stuff that I'm doing. Maybe Dr. Schadel is also happy that I'm doing other stuff. I don't know. But uh but um I am uh married to uh a wonderful, wonderful woman in the person of our chief communications officer. So I'm just living the life here in Kentucky.

SPEAKER_01 3:04

We're glad you're here. Been it was a couple years now, and that's great to have have your your contributions and gifts to us. Uh Dr. Shadow, Karen, tell us a little more about yourself.

SPEAKER_00 3:13

Yeah, so I'm a Louisville native. I've uh lived here my whole life, grew up here, uh, grew up in the Our Lady of Lourdes parish. I'm now a member of St. Raphael Parish, uh married. I have two children. I've been working at the Archdiocese in the Office of Worship for 10 years now, planning liturgies uh that we do. That's one piece of what I do. So the liturgies we talk about today, that we're talking about today, I've worked on planning those over the many years that we um have developed those, and those have kind of grown into their own special thing.

SPEAKER_01 3:43

So it's been fun over your ten years with us watching your children grow. Your your son is now a foot taller than you, I think. Totally, yes. At least junior in high school. He'll be a senior this year.

SPEAKER_00 3:54

Starting senior year and then a fourth grader at St. Raphael.

SPEAKER_01 3:58

Very good. Well, we're glad to have both of you good colleagues in the Archdiocese, gifted people, and and let's let's take apart this unique um series of events that happen in the diocese that people may know about one or two of them, but I don't know if they know all of them. We're gonna find out here. So thank you for sharing a little bit about yourselves. As I said in the opening, these masses uh recognize and honor uh people um of different professions. They invite people, Catholic or not, to come to these celebrations. Um and and they each have the unique theme, uh focus. The history of these masses started with what's called the Red Mass in Washington, D.C. This goes back a long time. It's uh each fall when the Supreme Court goes back into session, as they begin, they gather in prayer um to uh as the court to entrust the work of the court. Remember, even even in our our our Constitution, our our our our money says, in God we trust. So the work of the court, they entrust the work of the court to God. So um the Red Mass is where a lot of people have some familiarity. It was for the justices, is now taking a new life of its own beyond that. So uh Dr. Blackman, help me a little bit about the Red Mass. What's what do you what do you know about that?

SPEAKER_02 5:18

Oh wow, what do I know about the Red Mass? Well, as you've stated, the Red Mass uh is a liturgy whereby uh we bring together jurists, uh, we bring attorneys, those who are working in the law profession. But I think also it's important that even public officials come because this is the opportunity for us to come together and invoke the Holy Spirit to give wisdom and wise judgment uh to those who are making decisions to affect the common good.

SPEAKER_01 5:47

So, with that as the backdrop, then we've expanded to a whole series of masses. So tell us about why do we have masses like this?

SPEAKER_02 5:55

I think one of the things we got to take into consideration is that uh the arduous work of people, uh the arduous work of their human hands, helps to participate in the work of the Lord. So I think throughout history, Catholics have recognized that the work of human hands, when ordered towards truth, justice, healing, and the common good, participates in God's own providential care for his people. And so having these masses for particular professions and particular apostolates is very good, not just for the people themselves, because it's not for their own sake, but also for those who are being served to envelop them with God's love, uh God's understanding, but also support for the needed service they provide for the whole people of God.

SPEAKER_01 6:47

So as as we start with the with the history, I I wanted to start there because this idea of praying for the work of a particular profession and a significance in our country has grown beyond that. Uh Karen, can you help us? Why why does the church use masses to have these celebrations rather than just a prayer service? Because often these are not always Catholics. This is we have these experiences for for the profession, not just the members.

SPEAKER_00 7:15

Yeah, that's a great question. Um, you know, we we want to make sure that we separate what we're talking about here from some kind of awards ceremony or or recognition banquet or something like that. This is this is a very different animal. This is the way that we come together as a Christian community is mass. That's the primary way that we gather. And mass honors God and and nothing else, God and only God. And every mass is for everyone. And so it would be wrong to think of these as sort of honorary uh ceremonies. When we all come together as a Christian community, we're reminded that Jesus calls all of us to the work of bringing peace and justice to the world. We are all called to share the gospel. We are all called to be the compassion of Christ and the healing hands of Christ. We are all called to teach. And so what these masses, what's special about them is that they point us to particular exemplars of these uh charisms in our life. Look, here's a nurse who is being the compassion of Christ to others. Look, here is a jurist who is working for peace and justice. And in pointing to them, we're not setting them aside and saying, you know, that's your lane, you do that work. What they do is they remind us of our common call, all of us, to be the hands and feet of Christ in the world. So it really is a reminder to all of us that we all have a peace in this salvific work. It's not like a nurse, we say to a nurse, okay, you go be the compassion of Christ, thank you so much, so that I don't have to do that. That's your job. You know, it's no, it's their reminder to all of us that we have a piece, large or small, in this salvific work.

SPEAKER_01 8:59

Very good. Um, that's a really important point, I think, to as we get into this. These are not honoring events, these are prayerful events.

SPEAKER_00 9:08

Correct, for all of us and for all of us. And so even if you are not a member of one of these professions, please come and help us pray together that we all do this work together. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:18

So our our local Red Mass, which again, the history started in the U.S. and Washington and so far, our local red mass, we recognize the legal profession um and including those working in canon law. So we'll have uh uh j judges and lawyers, um uh canon lawyers, different people in the profession. Karen, what else can you tell us about our local red mass?

SPEAKER_00 9:38

Yeah. So this this mass, uh as De Carlos mentioned, as as you mentioned, it goes back a long way. This one has a deep, deep history. It goes back even to the 13th century in Europe. Um, and that tradition came over here. I think the most famous one, the biggest one probably is in Westminster Cathedral every year. It's called the Red Mass because that color red we associate with the Holy Spirit. And if you think back to confirmation and the gifts of the Holy Spirit that are imparted imparted on us in confirmation, wisdom, fortitude, or courage, understanding or right judgment. These are things that obviously we would hope that jurists and those who are working in our criminal justice system and attorneys and and paralegals and all those people would be infused with those gifts. And so our local red mass sort of mirrors that tradition every year. It's a long tradition. Um, you know, it's not something we've done, you know, through our entire history as an archdiocese. At some point, we sort of picked up this tradition. Um, usually in the fall around the opening of the term, um, the patron saint kind of that inspires this is Saint Matthew, who was an accountant and and tax collector, and so he was involved in the law, and his feast day is September 21st. So it kind of usually falls around the beginning of this the uh legal term around September.

SPEAKER_01 11:00

Very good. The next of our masses I want to talk about, uh Nicaragua, you can help me, is has to do with w what it has become commonly known these days as first responders. These masses actually locally uh date back to the uh horrific events of nine-eleven uh where hundreds of first responders risked their lives and many were killed trying to serve and save others. Um we appreciate the brave men and women in our own community who risk their lives every day. Um so we always need to keep them in prayer. This is it's a it's a key part of our communities that there's people who give their lives for this. Um the the first responders mass has its own unique gift to our community. De Carlos, help us more about the first responders.

SPEAKER_02 11:44

So the mass for first responders is probably most appropriately around the country referred to as the Blue Mass, and it got that name because of the color of the uniforms that were worn by firefighters, uh, police officers, and uh emergency medical uh technicians. This mass actually goes back to Washington, D.C. in 1934 here in the United States. While it was popularized here in the Louisville area after September 11th, it's been commonly celebrated around the country even before that. One of the things we got to take into consideration is that uh first responders really put their lives on the line. From time to time, we hear of people who may not like the police or they may not like this, that, or the other. But you know, when we are in need of help, that is indeed who we reach out to uh uh the police uh and first responders. But I think also this particular liturgy recognizes the noble service, not just of police, firefighters, and emergency medical personnel, but also those 911 operators. You know, we remember them, we thank them for their service, we lift them up in prayer, because we cannot imagine the different calls that those in the 911 center take on a daily basis, call after call, of situations that are clearly um just uh difficult uh to hear and then to have to go on to the next, but also correctional officers, uh parole officers, so all of them would be a part of this particular liturgy. Um after many years of celebrating uh the Blue Mass at the Cathedral here in the Archdiocese, we now have two Blue Masses in the Archdiocese, one in the Jefferson County area, the Louisville metropolitan area, but also in Barstown to recognize, you know, emergency personnel all throughout our 24 county diocese, and those liturgies have really, really increased in attendance. So I think it's also a testimony to the need for prayer for those who are protecting and serving.

SPEAKER_01 14:06

I know in in recent years uh children have even come to this mass. Um I don't think children are as quick to recognize the legal profession and in the previous one. But this is one children recognize uh fire trucks and police and ambulances and the sirens and the noises, but they honor they they see their profession as something they're taught in early years. If you're in trouble, ask them. So the helping professional. You know, um right on the heels of that group are um the the world of health care. Um uh we have a mass that we refer to as the health care heroes mass. Okay. The work of health care in many ways relates back to Jesus' uh own healing ministry. In fact, Jesus' healing ministry is as some suggest uh is uh the first ministry of Jesus because he uh we the healing miracles, the stories of of throughout all four gospels where Jesus um was present in people's lives and and they regained strength and health or composure. And and their his message um to the first apostles was go out and continue that. So we have the whole world of of health care um heroes. What can we hear about that?

SPEAKER_02 15:24

Well, here in the Archdiocese of Louisville, that liturgy ordinarily takes place in October. And while traditionally there was a physician's guild, that liturgy is more about all health care professionals. So we're talking not just physicians and surgeons, but we're talking about the nurses. It would be very much important to invite the health care administrators, uh, the people who may be perceived to just be counting the beans, and you gotta get people out after this amount of time or that amount of time. But I think it's really, really important that the physical therapist, the dentist, everyone in the healthcare profession is included in this liturgy because this is indeed work that is done to participate in the Lord's healing ministry. We are so blessed in the Archdiocese to have many of our permanent deacons who are physicians and surgeons, and so to see their active involvement in the local guild of the Catholic Medical Association is very, very beautiful. As I'd mentioned, this liturgy is celebrated ordinarily in October because it's around the time of the feast of St. Luke, the physician evangelist. And uh it's interesting that when it's celebrated on that day, as Karen knows, the vestments are ordinarily red. You know, this is traditionally referred to as the white mask, in part because of the lab coats that are worn by those in the medical profession when you go to the doctor. But I think it's very, very important that we invite the whole people of God to participate in this particular liturgy, but especially the families of those medical personnel. I think it's very, very important for the families of those healthcare professionals to participate in this particular liturgy, to lift up those who are working in the particular profession, but also to remember that they are not alone because there are heavy things that even healthcare professionals have to deal with day in and day out. And moving from one difficult situation to another, sometimes there's not the opportunity for people to um to kind of deal with that. So I think working in community and moving in community is very, very important.

SPEAKER_01 17:53

I'm reminded that many uh religious orders, particularly of women in our country and around the world, um, some of their work they're often in the more recent years are uh uh religious orders have been seen as educators. But even before that, many uh religious communities were involved in in hospitals and orphanages and care for those who are ill in our our own local hero heroic woman who founded the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth. Um she was uh a caregiver first that whole world of of uh Catherine Spaulding. So this whole world of health care is part of our long history in the church. Okay, another one. Uh you know, w a group that exists in the diocese is called the Faith and Science Dialogue Group. Um this is a newer group in our diocese who d has helped us understand how there's a connection between faith and science. And lots of people used to say science exists to disprove faith or faith exists to disprove to as opposed to what the dialogue group has taught us and continues to teach us is the two inform each other, faith and science. So they now have a mass. Um uh Karen, can you tell us about the the the the mass that focuses on faith and science?

SPEAKER_00 19:07

Sure. So this we call the gold mass, and unlike the red mass, this one has a very shallow history. This one's uh rather new, um, which, you know, is a wonderful thing. So this is about 10 years old. The Society for Catholic Scientists were the first uh that's a that's a national group that sort of came together and initiated this gold mass around the feast of St. Albert the Great. St. Albert is the patron saint of scientists. He was an alchemist, he worked with metals, hence the name the gold mass. That's kind of how it got that uh that name as the gold mass. And as you said, you know, this is a mass that not only celebrates uh St. Albert as that patron, but also the idea that reason and faith are harmonious concepts. They are not in conflict with one another. And the more that we know about the world around us, that increases our faith in God who created it all and gave us the wisdom and the knowledge and the ability to learn. And so this is a very recent. Um, and and these are things that are not part of the liturgical calendar per se. They are not things we're required to do. I think that's one thing people should understand. These are optional things. You may have them in one diocese and not another, or you know, you may have never heard of them before, and it might be the first time you've been to one such mass. But the gold mass is is rather new.

SPEAKER_01 20:32

Okay, you taught me a new word there. I'm gonna go back to St. Albert the Great. Was that what was the word you called it? Alchemist. An alchemist. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 20:40

And don't ask me what that is. I think he like played it means you play with metals and mix them and try to make other metals. I don't agree with that.

SPEAKER_01 20:47

Okay, well, you gave me more information than I knew, so that's great. Okay. All right. That's that's really exciting. Okay, we have one more I want to talk about. Um uh and it's it's it's not really tied to a profession, this one. Uh um, but we have an annual mass recognizing the care for creation. Um, this uh uh uh I I think has its roots. Um again, the church has talked about creation for its whole history, but I think it has its roots with uh Pope Francis with his encyclical Ladato C. Um but we now have a local mass that focuses on for the care for creation. Tell us about that, Karen.

SPEAKER_00 21:22

Yeah, so that mass again is rather new to us in our history. Um we've done it for maybe five or six years going on now here. But as you mentioned, it's rooted in um our common call. Again, like I said at the beginning, this is not something just for environmental scientists or people who consider themselves environmentalists, but we know that um as a result of Catholic social teaching, we are all called to that common ecology of caring for one another and caring for the world around us and preserving that for future generations. And so the church kind of recognizes an unofficial. Season of creation from September 1st, which is the World Day of Care for Creation, through the feast of St. Francis of Assisi, October 4th. So roughly a month there where the church sort of unofficially recognizes this season of creation. So we usually celebrate a green mass, green, the color of ecology, during that, somewhere in that time there. And we have a, again, a local group that's very much into this environmental ecology and faith and environmentalism. And so a lot of these groups, um, we've already sort of mentioned this a couple of times, are really they're powered by local lay people who are very interested in these various confluences of faith and professional life.

SPEAKER_01 22:52

Yeah, they're they're advocates from their own involvement, and and I I love to see them connecting their faith to their advocacy and their profession or their concern. Um when we started the show, I said to our our listeners and there's a lot to learn here. This is a whole new topic for many Catholics. When when these will be coming out, they'll be in the record, there'll be announcements of these things, and everybody's invited to these of you. So, De Carlos, why is it important that we invite the community to have these kinds of celebrations?

SPEAKER_02 23:23

I think it's important to recognize how the whole community accompanies those in these particular professions, particularly these demanding professions. It's important that the church is present to express its solidarity with those who are caring for us. So as uh Dr. Shaider had mentioned, you know, this celebration of the Eucharist is not just for any particular group. It's not an honorific for one group to celebrate them, it's not ceremonial, but it is indeed for the glorification of God and the sanctification of all God's people. So it's very, very important that all of us participate, not just to show our appreciation, but to be with one another, to show that I am with you. We are on this journey together towards salvation in all of our many diverse professions, apostolates, and roles.

SPEAKER_01 24:24

I don't want to a ask a silly question, but I'll just put it out there for myself. I I was wondering when I was preparing for today's show what's the next profession we'll honor by some thing. And it's not just about picking a color, that's part of the fun. We we refer to these. But but I I think the fact that we've taken the time in uh some as Karen said centuries ago to start with the red mass, but over over the course of our more recent history to recognize the work of our hands and how these things um connect. Karen, you you uh as you the c several of these that you uh talked about and and colours talked about, you identified a patron saint. Um uh and I I'm also fascinated to learn that many of these happen all in the same few weeks in the fall.

SPEAKER_00 25:11

Yeah, there's just a weird confluence of all these in the fall. That's not intentional. Um, but that just seems to be how it happens. Yeah, our liturgical year is is so rich, and I've already mentioned many of the patron saints of these various um professions. Um, you know, the communion of saints, we think of that as the named and unnamed. So it's it's the folks who have gone before us, and it's the canonized saints, and it's all of us here today. And so when we look at our liturgical year and these various memorials of saints that we celebrate throughout the year, it's kind of like we're seeing the mystery of Jesus. Uh, a good metaphor for this is to think of uh Jesus as like a jewel and the light shines on the jewel in a different way through the life of a saint or through a particular feast of the year, so that we sort of see Christ the divine healer, you know, through the Feast of St. Luke, or we see, you know, uh Christ the defender in battle, you know, through St. Michael the Archangel or whatever it may be. And so that's a wonderful richness of our Catholic faith that we've got these patron saints. I will also say to people who say, maybe, oh, well, there's not one of these special masses for my profession, um, to explore that richness of the communion of saints, you know, we have so many canonized saints. There is a patron saint of absolutely everything. And so a wonderful practice that you can do in your own life as a way of liturgical living is to find out who the patron saint of your professional field is, whether you are a dancer or a welder or a parent, you know, a stay-at-home parent or an accountant or whatever it is, there is a patron saint, you know, for musicians, myself, you know, the feast of St. Cecilia on November 22nd is an important, I call it a local, like personal solemnity. Like I celebrate that day, you know, I'm gonna go to daily mass on that day. And so I think that's a wonderful way for each of us to sort of live through the liturgical year is to identify our own personal patrons and to celebrate those feasts in a particular way.

SPEAKER_01 27:13

So we can come at this through the lens of the individual patron saints or the professional work that we do. The the patron saint of chancellors is uh St. Thomas More, and they took his head off. So I I think I'm gonna think about that one for a little while before I celebrate that. All right. I I agree with you. Yes, Vice Chancellor. I want to uh finish our discussion by talking about a uh a kind of a broad topic that's related to all of this. Um what what what we think about in our teaching as a church the dignity of work. Um uh we have the encyclical that uh John Paul II wrote in 1981, now St. John Paul II, um called Laborum Exernens. I I don't know how the Latin says that, but it translates on human work, uh, which is a wonderful way to understand it. Um it's it it teaches us that work is about people and professions, it's not about a paycheck. It's about people who have been entrusted with gifts by God and are then entrusted to take those gifts and put them in in in service of the people of the of creation, of people of the world. De Carlos, tell us more about the dignity of work.

SPEAKER_02 28:28

Pope Saint John Paul II and that extensive teaching on human work always grounded it, always grounded it in the incarnation and the work of creation. The principle that work is for the human person, not the human person for work, shapes the church's understanding of the dignity of work. The dignity of labor. So you're right, it's not merely, Brian, about the paycheck. Rather, it's a profound expression of human dignity. It's a profound expression of human dignity. Work is a participation in God's love, God's creative love for all of us. And this is a means of personal growth. So I like the fact that you pointed out that it's not simply about a paycheck, you know. What's behind that? Why are we doing what we are doing? So I think it's important that the whole people of God are compelled to advocate for the dignity, for the for the rights of workers. That's very, very important that we're always advocating for the rights of workers, that we're always advocating to protect them, to honor their contributions, and to contribute and to ensure that every form of labor is a reflection of the inherent dignity of the human person.

SPEAKER_01 30:07

When when children are growing up, people love to ask them, so what do you want to be when you grow up? And people don't think always about their their stewardship of their God-given gifts. They get right into what will the job be and what does it pay? But it's great that we're opening this up. You know, the roots of a lot of this is uh interesting for these days. The roots of a lot of this conversation goes back to Pope Leo the Thirteenth. Now we have Pope Leo the 14th. Um this came this occurred just after their Industrial Revolution when his uh his instacole Rivera Navarro in 1891 proposed the Christian response to the social economic realities of the day of the industrial revolution. All of a sudden there's a whole different world. We went from being a uh many parts of the world was only agricultural work and and it moved into all sorts of industrial work. Um and that and so the Holy Father Leo the Thirteenth talked about the dignity of workers, the rights to form unions, the idea that work our labor is part of what happens because we're created by God, and then we live that out. So as we think about the work now going on, will Pope Leo the Fourteenth, it reminds us back to the same question. And I think uh in in some of the early writings of Paul uh Pope Leo the Fourteenth, it's there's some themes that are going to be reappearing, it seems, on some of these same points. Yeah. Very good. Any else do you want to want to add to that as we wrap up here?

SPEAKER_00 31:36

Yeah, I would just say, you know, I I've written about this a lot. We all live an integrated life of faith. And so our faith does not stop when we, you know, leave the church building. And so we we are Catholics and Christians through our whole life, whether that is clocking into work or uh hanging out at home or you know, going out to dinner or in the church. And so I think these uh these masses that we're talking about today are just wonderful examples of the way that we live our Christian life, you know, from beginning to end, from sunup to sundown.

SPEAKER_01 32:09

Well, thanks, Karen, and and and thanks to Carlos, um, my two good colleagues here, for thanks for being part of our show, and thank you to our listeners for joining us on this edition of What's New in Arch Lou. I hope our discussion today gave you a new awareness about some unique masses and unique celebrations in our community. Watch for them as they get announced in the coming weeks and and join in to any of those that you can do to make it part of your own experience. And we invite you again to join us next month as we look into what's new in Arch Lou.