Creighton University celebrated the start of the new judicial year with its annual Red Mass earlier this month.

George J. Lucas, archbishop of Omaha, presided over the Oct. 3 Mass, held at St. John’s Church on Creighton’s campus.

The annual event was hosted by the Creighton University School of Law and was open to members of the legal community, including judges, attorneys, law professors and law enforcement and government officials.

The liturgy during the Red Mass featured the use of a handwritten, hand-illustrated Heritage Edition of the Saint John’s Bible, which is on loan to the university from Michael McCarthy, chair of Creighton’s Board of Trustees. 

A service project was also held in conjunction with Red Mass on Sept. 27 at the Siena Francis House, Open Door Mission, Heart Ministry Center and Southside Terrace Garden Apartments.

Katelyn Cherney, a staff attorney with Creighton’s Milton R. Abrahams Legal Clinic, said that about 75 students, faculty and staff participated this year. 

“The value of direct community service is the immediate gratification of accomplishment,” she said. “It’s clear we made some sort of immediate difference on this community.”