Five months after the election of Pope Leo XIV, a fellow Augustinian told attendees at this year’s Los Angeles Red Mass he expects the pope will be a “great bridge-builder” for a divided world.
“What you see on the outside with Leo is what you get on the inside,” said the homilist at the Oct. 14 Mass, Father Barnaby Johns, OSA, prior provincial for the Augustinian Order’s California province. “Jesus enters in, and grace pours out.”
Drawing on the Gospel reading (Luke 11: 37–41) at the Mass, in which Jesus rebukes the Pharisees for favoring exterior fulfillment of the law over inner conversion, Johns said that the greatest danger for anyone — including the pope, a priest, or any lawyer — is to have a hardened heart.
But this pope, Johns said, is “a doctor of the law who loves the law, and who has allowed God’s love to melt any stoniness of heart” — a reference to the former Cardinal Robert Prevost’s training as a canon lawyer.
Mass celebrant Archbishop José H. Gomez was joined by Auxiliary Bishop Matthew Elshoff and a dozen priests for the Tuesday evening liturgy, which drew more than 300 people to the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels.
Organized by the local chapter of the St. Thomas More Society, the Red Mass is an ecumenical, civic celebration that honors judges, lawyers, legislators, and legal professionals, usually held around the time the U.S. Supreme Court begins its new year.
The interreligious delegation at LA’s 43rd Annual Red Mass included leaders from local Mormon, Buddhist, Muslim, and Orthodox Christian congregations. Representatives from the consulates general of Ireland, Mexico, and Korea were also present at the Mass.
This year’s event was held under tightened security following the Oct. 5 arrest of a man who police believe planned to target Catholics and Supreme Court justices at the Washington, D.C. Red Mass. LAPD officers were stationed inside and outside the cathedral during the Mass.
In his homily, Johns mentioned his last two encounters with Leo: one before his election as pope, the other last month during a gathering in Rome of Augustinian superiors from around the world.
“My goodness, that’s Bob!” Johns recalled thinking when he heard the words “Robertum Franciscum” on TV during the “Habemus Papam!” announcement in St. Peter’s Square.
Johns, who joked that he was still waiting for an invitation to play tennis at his residence in Castel Gandolfo, Italy, predicted that Leo’s pontificate will be a “pilgrimage of paces to listen in humility and to draw each of us into unity.”
“His heart-driven leadership will encourage us all, push us all, to have the certainty of the legal profession on the outside and to have the melted messiness of a loving heart on the inside, totally dependent on the God who loves us,” said Johns.
“In a world shredded by war, political polarization, wealth income disparity, Pope Leo will be, I believe, a great bridge-builder. For he is, as [St.] Paul writes, not ashamed of the power of the Gospel for the salvation of everyone who comes to believe.”
Adding to the night’s Augustinian flavor was the choice of altar servers for the Mass, students from Villanova Preparatory School, which is operated by the religious order. During his years as prior provincial of the Augustinians, then-Father Prevost would regularly visit the boys high school in Ojai.
The event’s organizers also paid tribute to Lynne Hook, a former secretary of the local St. Thomas More society chapter who died suddenly in May while on vacation with her family in Italy. A parishioner of American Martyrs Church in Manhattan Beach, Hook was a quiet benefactor of local Catholic charitable causes, including St. Francis Xavier Cabrini Church and School in South LA.
The closing speaker at the Mass was Martin J. Jenkins, a Catholic who advised Gov. Gavin Newsom on judicial appointments before being appointed a California Supreme Court Justice in 2020. In his remarks, Jenkins told fellow lawyers that St. Thomas More’s example of courage should serve as a model for taking on “unpopular” causes — such as solidarity with immigrants — because “that’s what God calls us to do.”
“Thomas More did not seek martyrdom, but when forced to seek between conscience and compromise, he chose courage grounded in faith, knowing full well the cost.”
“In today’s polarized society, courage may take many different forms,” added the judge, who retires from the court at the end of October. “Courage may not bring physical peril as it did for More, but it can demand professional sacrifice and reputational risk.”
