PORTLAND – The annual Red Mass for lawyers and judges will take place at 11 a.m. Friday, Oct. 15, at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception. Bishop Richard J. Malone, ThD, will be the celebrant. A luncheon at the Portland Country Club in Falmouth will follow the Mass.

Luncheon speaker will be Judge Louis H. Kornreich, chief judge of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, District of Maine. His topic will be “The Religious Personality: A Jewish Perspective.”

Kornreich was appointed to the bench in April of 2001 and assumed the role of the chief judge in July. A native of New York, Kornreich graduated from the University of Connecticut and received his law degree from the Columbus School of Law at the Catholic University of America.

He has practiced law in Maine with the firms of Goodman and Goodman and was the head of the commercial law and bankruptcy section of Gross, Minsky, Mogul and Singal, PA. He also served part-time as an appellate judge for the Penobscot Indian Nation and for the past 16 years as president of the Orthodox Jewish Community in Bangor.

Gov. John Baldacci plans to attend the Mass and his chief legal counsel, Kurt Adams, will attend the luncheon. Chief Justice of the Maine Supreme Court Leigh Saufley, former Chief Justices Vincent McKusick and Daniel Wathan plan to attend the luncheon as well as Chief Judge of the Federal District Court for the District of Maine George Singal.

The traditional Mass began many centuries ago in Rome, Paris and London to celebrate the official opening of the judicial year. Judges, lawyers, government officials and people of all faiths are invited to attend the celebration.

The name of the Red Mass comes from the red vestments worn by the celebrants of the Mass. Bright scarlet robes were worn by the attending royal judges many centuries ago. The Red Mass is also celebrated in Washington, D.C. and is attended by leading members of the executive, legislative and judicial branches of government and other distinguished guests of all religious faiths.