This year’s Law Day Shabbat group photo was taken by ShadowCatcher Photography, LLC. Our thanks to them and to Lori Prasker Thomas for this great photograph.
The Interfaith Service Committee of the Wilkes-Barre Law & Library Association sponsors three great membership events that are designed to include and honor members of the Bar.
Sponsored by the Association’s Interfaith Service Committee, the Red Mass, the Law Day Shabbat and In Memoriam Court Service are annual events that are designed to honor the profession and also promote the Rule of Law.
The In Memoriam is held at the end of March and features the Court en banc in a service held in one of the court rooms at the Luzerne County Courthouse. See the Calendar-CLE/Events Page for when the next Service is scheduled.
As for the Red Mass, we have two Red Masses in Northeastern PA. The Red Mass held in Luzerne County is held at the Chapel of Christ the King on the campus of King’s College in Wilkes-Barre. Below is a photo from a Red Mass that was held.
After the Mass, the Interfaith Service Committee holds a lunch reception for everyone attending the Mass.
The Red Mass is also part of the outreach that the Bar use in the Northeastern PA to promote the positive good of the Courts and legal profession in the Community. It is an extremely beautiful event! Joe Burke leads the judicial outreach effort as the Executive and servers as the chief planner and producer of the event.
The official Diocesan Mass is celebrated annually the first week of October at the Cathedral of St. Peter in Scranton. In October of 2023, we celebrated the 50th Diocesan Red Mass. Again, Joe Burke is very involved in the planning of this each year, interacting with Lackawanna County and the other county Bars of NEPA that forms PBA Zone 5.
For information on this year’s Red Mass. Please visit the Calendar-CLE/Events Page.
Every year for Law Day (May 1st), the W-BLLA partners with Temple Israel to hold a Law Day Shabbat. For information on this year’s, please visit the Calendar-CLE/Events Page.
This is a photo from the 2025 Law Day Shabatt. This was the 23rd Law Day Shabbat held in the County.
With some of the Judges & Lawyers in attendance at our 23rd Law Day Shabbat is Bar Association Interfaith Committee Co-Chair Joanna Gelb, are Judge Lesa Gelb, Atty. Cheryl Sobeski-Reedy, Judge Joseph Sklarosky, Jr., Law Day Shabbat Co-Chair David Schwager, Judge Jennifer Rogers, PA Supreme Court Justice David Wecht, Judge Joseph Augello (Ret.), Law Day Shabbat Co-Chair Myer Messinger, Rabbi Larry Kaplan and United States District Judge Joseph Saporito, Jr.
This Law Day Shabbat was dedicated to the memory of Attorney Larry Keiser. The Interfaith Service Committee sponsors the luncheon afterwards.
These are some photos from the luncheon.
