# Should the NSW Legal Year Begin in a Cathedral?

I've attached **Mini Audiobook – Part 11:** ***The Legal Priesthood – Red Mass & Catholic Judicial Networks*****.**

Each year in New South Wales, members of the judiciary, barristers, prosecutors, politicians, police officials and public servants attend the annual **Red Mass**, organised by the St Thomas More Society and held in a Catholic cathedral before the legal year begins.

Supporters see the ceremony as an important tradition.

They describe it as a moment of reflection, fellowship and prayer for wisdom before judges and lawyers return to the demanding work of administering justice.

Others ask a different question.

If justice must not only be done, but also be seen to be done, should the opening ritual of the legal year be associated with a single religious tradition?

The audiobook explores several issues:

• The history and purpose of the Red Mass  
• The role of the St Thomas More Society in the NSW legal community  
• Symbolism, professional networks and public confidence in legal institutions  
• Whether longstanding rituals influence legal culture and perceptions of belonging  
• How Australians might view the ceremony if it were conducted in a mosque, synagogue, Hindu temple, Buddhist centre, or under the auspices of a secular legal association

The audiobook does **not** suggest that judges decide cases according to religious doctrine, nor that legal professionals are unable to separate private beliefs from their official duties.

Instead, it asks whether public institutions in a multicultural democracy should continue traditions inherited from earlier eras, or whether civic rituals ought to evolve to better reflect contemporary Australian society.

Perhaps the Red Mass is simply heritage.

Perhaps it is merely ceremony.

Or perhaps it demonstrates that institutions carry histories and cultures that continue to shape how they are perceived, even when decision-making itself remains impartial.

The **Mini Audiobook is attached.**

Interested to hear what others think.

Should the legal year continue to begin with the Red Mass?

Or would a more religiously neutral ceremony better reflect modern Australia?

*Written by Charlie Armstrong Adams.*

MINI AUDIOBOOK – PART 11 📖 The Legal Priesthood – Red Mass & Catholic Judicial Networks