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Professor Mario Mainero

Professor Mario Mainero has been selected as the 2014 St. Thomas More Society Attorney of the Year for the Orange County chapter. This honor will be conferred at the annual Red Mass at 6 p.m. on October 6th at the Holy Family Cathedral in Orange. The Red Mass is celebrated annually by the Catholic Church for judges, attorneys, law professors, and law students. In the United States, the Red Mass is traditionally held on the Sunday before the first Monday in October (the opening of the new United States Supreme Court term). The mass is open to everyone.

Professor Mainero is the faculty advisor to the St. Thomas More Society student organization at Chapman University Dale E. Fowler School of Law. The current President is Victor Bachand (JD ’16), who explained, “The organization’s focus is on the moral and ethical dilemmas that face not only law students, but lawyers, judges, politicians, etc. Our connection with the St. Thomas More Society in Orange County is growing; we will be looking directly to its members for mentorship, leadership, guidance and opportunities for all of our law students (not just members of our student organization).”

On September 18th, the Fowler Law St. Thomas More Society along with its guests from the Whittier Law School St. Thomas More Society will have its first meeting of the year.

Sean Murray, a member of the Red Mass Committee and a partner of Knobbe Martens, wrote an article about the Red Mass that is expected to be included in the upcoming Orange County Catholic newspaper. Below is an excerpt from his article.

“The origins of the Red Mass lie in the high middle ages of western Europe. It was likely celebrated in honor of St. Yves, the principal patron saint of attorneys before the canonization of Saint Thomas More…The Red Mass first appeared in the United States in the late nineteenth century and is now celebrated throughout the country. The most prominent of these celebrations is the mass at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle in Washington, D.C., which is held on the Sunday before the opening of the Supreme Court’s annual term. The Red Mass at St. Matthew’s is attended by many well-known attorneys, judges and government officials, both Catholic and non-Catholic. In 2012, six of the nine justices of the Supreme Court attended the service. President Bill Clinton, President George W. Bush and Vice-President Joe Biden are among the senior members of the executive branch who have attended in the past.”

Professor John Eastman also won the Catholic Lawyer of the Year award for the St. Thomas More Society, Orange County chapter and the St. Thomas More Award, Franciscan University of Steubenville, Ohio in 2010. He has also been a member of the St. Thomas More Society of Orange County Advisory Board since 2010.

The St. Thomas More Society of Orange County is dedicated to faith and community within the legal profession. The Society seeks to provide a Catholic voice on issues of relevance to judges, lawyers, public officials, and law students, and to promote an understanding of church teaching. Membership in the Society is open to persons of all religions who are interested in exploring the rich teaching of the Roman Catholic Church.