Saint Catherine’s Celebrates Feast of Saint Luke with Cardinal, CMA

On Sunday, October 14^th, the New York Metropolitan Guild of the Catholic Medical Association (NYCMA) met at the Church of Saint Catherine of Siena to elect a new board of directors. The election marks a new breath of life for the previously inactive organization.  The Guild elected the following officers: Donald Landry, M.D., and Anne Nolte, M.D., co-presidents; Joseph English, M.D., Vice President; George Bao, M.D., secretary; and Joseph Sullivan, M.P.P., treasurer. In February of 2012, His Eminence Timothy Cardinal Dolan appointed Fr. Jordan Kelly, O.P., the pastor of the Church of Saint Catherine of Siena and Director of the Dominican Friars Health Care Ministry of New York (DFHCMNY), chaplain to the guild. In honor of Saint Luke, patron of those in the medical profession, His Eminence Edward Cardinal Egan celebrated the second annual “White Mass” at the Church of Saint Catherine of Siena. The celebration is known as the “White Mass” because of the white coats worn by the health care workers who attend. This year, many of those who attended were members of both the NYCMA and the DFHCMNY.  In his homily the cardinal preached about the importance of the virtue of compassion for the healthcare professional. In his remarks Cardinal Egan urged those assembled to remember that being people of compassion was as important as possessing excellent medical skills. His Eminence acknowledged the tremendous blessing that it is for the people of the Metropolitan Area to benefit from the collaboration of the NYCMA and the DFHCMNY. After over a century of unbroken service by the Dominican Friars of the Province of Saint Joseph to the hospitals of Manhattan’s Upper East, the Province of Saint Joseph and the Friars at Saint Catherine’s formed The Dominican Friars Health Care Ministry of New York in 2002 as a particular response to the New Evangelization. Committed to serving the needs of the sick and the health care professionals that serve them, DFHCMNY sends pastoral care to the sick, their families and the medical staff of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York Presbyterian Weill-Cornell Medical College, the Hospital for Special Surgery and Rockefeller University Research Hospital. Recently referred to as a “beckon for the New Evangelization” the Church of Saint Catherine of Siena is home to a vibrant parish community, the Siena Forum for Faith and Culture as well as the NYCMA and the DFHCMNY. Because of its location among some of the greatest hospitals of Saint Catherine’s has embraced ministering to the patients and health care professionals within the hospitals of Manhattan’s Upper East Side.