Fr. Christopher Phillips' homily at the Red Mass

Fr. Phillips is the founder of the first Anglican Use Catholic parish, Our Lady of the Atonement, in San Antonio, Texas. This is an excerpt of his homily at the Red Mass in Munroe, Louisiana. I hope he doesn't mind if I lift some of the great pictures. The rest of the homily is at The Anglo-Catholic. What he says in this excerpt is so important, but alas, so many Canadian lawyers and judges are legal positivists who see the only law as positive law. Here's Fr. Phillips:

Positive law rests on certain principles which reveal our participation in the Divine Law itself. And because of that, any honest pursuit of the common good requires a respect for the natural law; an understanding of the dignity of the human person; an appreciation of the sanctity of marriage; a dedication to the inviolability of innocent human life from conception to natural death; a devotion to justice for the poor and for those who cannot assert their own rights. It’s the fact that there is such a thing as the natural law which allows us even to speak of those things. Positive law – the law you administer and apply – may change over time in its details, but the fact that it flows from the natural law may never change. If the law ceases to stand on its foundation, then it becomes subject to the whims and fancies of changing winds and tides and opinions, and can no longer serve society in an even-handed and just way. Therefore, to a certain extent, you have a role in being the guardian of true justice – justice which flows from God Himself.

You, in the legal profession, have been given the trust to discern justice and to administer the rule of law according to objective principles – and they’re principles not of your own making; indeed they are principles which are not of anyone’s making, other than God Himself. These are the principles which inspire any great democracy, and they transcend any religious or cultural differences – because they are principles which are true for every person, in every time, and in every place.

So, as we invoke the Holy Spirit today, it’s a prayer for the wisdom to assert and uphold those profound truths about human nature that form the very foundation of our common life. As we call upon God, we do so in the knowledge that it’s not the state which confers basic human rights, nor is it the state which outlines the fundamental duties of man within society; rather, it is God Who is the source.

The sermon for the Red Mass

Bishop Michael Duca and priests concelebrating the Red Mass