Annual Red Mass Tonight

Amarillo—Bishop Patrick J. Zurek will be the principal celebrant and homilist at the 14th Red Mass tonight at 6:30 at St. Mary’s Cathedral, 1200 South Washington.
 
Following Mass, Carlos Cárdenas of El Paso, will be the keynote speaker.
 
A reception with heavy hors d’oeuvres and cocktails will follow in the Monsignor Francis A. Smyer Reception Room. Judges, lawyers, public officials, law faculty members and the community are invited to the Mass and reception. 
 
Since being licensed in Texas as an attorney on May 26, 1980, Carlos Cárdenas has focused his practice of law on representing clients in personal injury, employment and commercial litigation and in contested case hearings before the State Office of Administrative Hearings in Austin. He obtained his undergraduate degree from Georgetown University in 1977 and earned his Juris Doctor from the University of Texas School of Law in 1980. Mr. Cárdenas is admitted to practice before the United States District Courts for the Western District, the United States District Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and the Supreme Court of the United States.
 
Mr. Cárdenas served on the Board of Directors of the El Paso Bar Association from 2002 to 2011; and as its President in 2009-2010. He is a member of several professional organizations including Past Chair of the Council for the State Bar of Texas Litigation Section; 2024-2025 Chair of the Texas Bar Foundation Board of Trustees; the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA), having served as President of the El Paso Chapter in 2014; as a Supreme Court of Texas appointee to the Texas Access to Justice Commission from 2011 to 2017; and, designated as a Master in the George A. McAlmon American Inns of Court since 2015. Mr. Cárdenas also served as a member of the State Bar of Texas Board of Directors from 2020 to 2023. He is peer rated “AV Preeminent” by Martindale-Hubbell and since 2014 has been acclaimed as a Texas Super Lawyer.
 
The original Red Mass was celebrated in Paris in 1245 at the Sainte Chapelle, but the tradition of an annual Red Mass began in England in 1310, according to Audie Sciumbato, a Hereford attorney and chairman of the Amarillo Area Red Mass Committee. 
 
“The annual Mass was celebrated at Westminster Abbey and served as the official opening of the judicial year,” he said. “It received its name from the fact that the celebrants wore red vestments, and the Lord High Justices were robed in brilliant scarlet.  
 
“The Red Mass was first celebrated in the United States in 1928 and is now observed in many cities throughout our country. The Red Mass promotes the unity of the judiciary and the legal profession and is celebrated in honor of the Holy Spirit as the source of wisdom, understanding, counsel and fortitude, according to Sciumbato. 
 
The Mass is open to anyone and everyone with a concern for justice, whether they are legal professionals or not. Recommended dress is judicial robes or business attire with red accents. Any member of the judiciary wishing to participate in the opening procession should be present at 6:20pm. For additional information about the Red Mass, please contact Audie Sciumbato at 806-364-2626.