Bishop celebrates White Mass for healthcare professionals

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PROVIDENCE – The Church of Our Lady of the Rosary was filled with doctors, nurses and others who work in medical fields last Tuesday, October 16, as Bishop Thomas J. Tobin celebrated the diocesan White Mass.

Bishop Tobin expounded on the differences between a job and a vocation in his homily.

“I hope that you always see your work not as a simple job that you have to do, not even just as a profession in which you take true pride, but I hope you see your work as a true vocation for which God has created you,” he said.

Catholic healthcare, Bishop Tobin said, is a phrase that encompasses so much about everyone who attended the Mass. “Healthcare is what you do, Catholic is what you are,” he said.

Catholics working in the healthcare field are doing important work for the Church, he told the congregation. “Jesus cured every kind of ailment and disease, Jesus touched people and he sought their physical, their mental and their spiritual healing. Almost invariably, when Jesus cured someone physically, he was most of all concerned with their spiritual well-being,” he said. “Those of you who are involved in Catholic healthcare continue the work of Jesus, the work of the Church,” Bishop Tobin added.

The White Mass, which may become an annual event like the Red Mass for legal professionals, was an outgrowth of the recently created Rhode Island Catholic Medical Society. The Society, which was officially created earlier this year, serves to connect Catholic healthcare professionals in the state and holds events such as medical and theological lectures, dinners, and a Catholic Hippocratic oath ceremony for recent graduates of medical school.

Dr. Tom Vest, a retired OB-GYN, who attended the Mass said his faith was very important to his work. “I could not practice obstetrics and gynecology without having it,” he said.

Joan Dobrzynski, a nurse, agreed, “I think your faith is who you are, and no matter what you do, it affects your decisions,” she said.