The 2022 Catholic Diocese of Wilmington Blue Mass for law enforcement, fire, emergency medical services and military. (thedialog.org)
A Mass to honor the region’s first responders is coming up.
The Catholic Diocese of Wilmington’s annual Blue Mass for law enforcement, fire, emergency medical services and military will be 11 a.m. Friday, Oct. 6 at St. Elizabeth Church, 809 S. Broom St., Wilmington.
The Mass will also be streamed on the diocese YouTube channel.
The Blue Mass honors local, county, stat and federal law enforcement, fire, emergency medical and military personnel who live and work in the Catholic Diocese of Wilmington, which includes Delaware and Maryland’s Eastern Shore.
A reception will follow in Grant Hall, beneath the church.
The Blue Mass was begun in 2008 by Father William T. Cocco, a former police officer, as a parish event at St. John the Beloved in Milltown. He’s now the pastor at St. Edmond in Rehoboth Beach.
He “often tells people that he changed his vocation from police officer to priest so that he could then go to the parties before the fights broke out.”
Catholic Diocese Red Mass
Counterparts to the Blue Mass are the Red Mass (for legal and government workers) and the White Mass (for healthcare workers).
The Red Mass, a tradition that dates back to the 1200s, started in Wilmington in 1988 as the signature event of the St. Thomas More Society of the Catholic Diocese of Wilmington.
The latest local Red Mass was Oct. 1, for judges, prosecutors, attorneys, law school professors, students and government officials. “The Mass requests guidance from the Holy Spirit for all who seek justice and offers them the opportunity to reflect upon their God-given power and responsibility in the legal profession,” according to the society.
The last local White Mass occurred before the pandemic.
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