Tom Joyce '61 Receives Faithful Servant Award

The ninth annual Red Mass will be at 5 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 6 at Sacred Heart Chapel, Saint Benedict's Monastery, St. Joseph.

Attorney Tom Joyce '61 will be honored with the Fidelis Apparitor Award during a reception which follows the Red Mass at the Gorecki Dining and Conference Center at the College of Saint Benedict.

The award, which means "faithful servant" in Latin, is given to individuals who have been good and faithful servants of the law. Other recipients have been Susan Holden, a trial attorney with Sieben, Grose, Von Holtum & Carey law firm; Judge John Simonett '48,  a former associate justice with the Minnesota Supreme Court; Judge Diana Murphy of the Eighth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals; and DePaul Willette '51, a retired attorney from Olivia, Minn., district court judge and member of the Minnesota Board of Judicial Standards.

Joyce is a partner and senior counsel in the Minneapolis and London offices of Dorsey & Whitney LLP. He has also practiced law with firms in London, England and New York City. Joyce has served on a variety of non-profit boards including Common Hope, Catholic Charities, the Global Heritage Fund and Saint John's University. In addition, Joyce has served as an adjunct professor at Notre Dame Law School - London Program and the University of St. Thomas Law School in St. Paul, Minn.

The College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University Red Mass is the only event of this kind to encompass all of Minnesota both in its scope and its goal of celebrating the important work of judges, attorneys, policy-makers and civic leaders. The Red Mass tradition, which has its roots in the Middle Ages, marks the beginning of the judicial year in many of the world's largest cities including Washington, D.C., Toronto, Paris and Edinburgh. Red Mass participants ask God to grant the virtues and gifts necessary for the proper and just administration of their duties. The Red Mass name comes from the red vestments and garments that early legal participants wore on this occasion.

The liturgy is open to the public. The reception costs $25. Call or email Maureen Opitz at 320-363-5020 or [email protected] to pre-register.