By Joe Pisani
Also: View Bishop Caggiano’s homily for this mass
BRIDGEPORT — At a Mass to inaugurate the St. Luke Guild for Catholic healthcare workers, Bishop Frank J. Caggiano told them they confront many challenges in a world “that wants to make healthcare a business, but for you it must be a ministry.”
“You know how difficult it is to be faithful to Christ in the modern world,” he said at the Mass on Sunday at St. Augustine Cathedral. “All of you here, who are involved in healthcare in any and every way possible, when you do it in the name of Jesus, you are offering a ministry that is beyond price because you are the face of Christ to those dealing with difficult moments in their life journey. And so we say ‘thank you’ for being instruments of healing and compassion in the name of Jesus.”
The Guild is being created in honor of St. Luke, physician and evangelist, so that Catholics in healthcare “might be fed and strengthened in the work Christ has chosen for them.”
Its mission is to help healthcare workers throughout Fairfield County grow in Christian discipleship through an ongoing encounter with Jesus through prayer, attendance at an annual Mass, engaging in the spiritual and corporal works of mercy, formation, reflection and retreats.
The bishop said members from every area of healthcare are called to live their Catholic faith to the best of their ability and recite a daily prayer asking for the grace to “be visible signs of compassion in the world, honoring every person they meet who is in need of healing.”
He said the Guild was being created “so that those who give compassion may receive it and those who need compassion will receive it when they need strength and fortitude. It will let them grow together in pray and formation and walk with each other so they may remain strong and faithful in the ministry that Christ has asked of them.”
Photos by Joe Pisani
The bishop thanked them for the work they do and said the Mass was to celebrate everyone who extends the healing ministry of Jesus — “doctors, physicians, nurses, physician’s aides, healthcare workers, attendants in hospitals, and every single person who allows healthcare to be delivered.”
During his homily, Bishop Caggiano recalled his personal encounters with the healthcare profession years before, when his mother had been diagnosed with “non-small-cell lung cancer” and had to undergo 13 months of treatment at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York.
Upon hearing the diagnosis, he recalled, “I froze, while my mother in her great holiness just sat there with that look of resignation that I knew very well, and so began an odyssey of 13 months — and it was an odyssey that taught me very personally the beauty and power of Christian healing.”
He commended her medical team and said: “As grace would have it, her attending physician and all those who cared for her were deeply faithful Catholics who showed my mother the face of the healing power of Christ. For you see, my friends, they certainly tried to attend to her disease as best they could, but they also recognized from the beginning that my mother and I — and you — are pilgrims for a greater life. They revered her dignity as a child, as a daughter of God, and yet they attended to her spirit, as well, in those moments of doubt and fear and isolation that even the greatest believers have when they face a medical challenge that is deeply grave.”
After his homily, Bishop Caggiano inducted 11 people into the Guild, including board members and founders. They were Thomas Amann, Noelle Amann, Melanie Barnard, Kathleen Berchelmann, Helacio (Eli) Dela Cruz, William Fessler, Mary Beth Fessler, Pat Kelley, Jennifer Kim, Richard Maiberger, and Celeste Perez.
Among the inductees were husband and wife Dr. William Fessler, a Norwalk dentist, and Mary Beth Fessler, a nurse practitioner at the Americares free clinic, who are members of St. Aloysius Parish.
“I think as Catholics we have been isolated, and this is a way to give people — no matter where they are in healthcare — support for what they’re doing,” Ms. Fessler said. She also recounted the trials and stress many of her colleagues endured during the COVID pandemic as they cared for the sick and dying.
“It’s important to support each other,” she added. “Today there are a lot of difficult questions in healthcare, and sometimes it can be hard to stand up for Catholic values.”
Dr. Fessler said, “The Guild will give you a timeout from your work — a chance to huddle and benefit from the support of others.” He, too, spoke of the challenges that healthcare professionals confronted during COVID and added, “It will be good for us to come together as a faith community.”
Steven Filizzola, Special Assistant to the Bishop, said all healthcare workers are invited to join the Guild, whether they are currently employed, retired or in development, including doctors, nurses, technicians, pharmacists, dentists, office workers and general staff “because everyone makes a difference in the care of a patient.”
The Guild was created earlier this year by Bishop Caggiano. It grew out of the annual White Mass, honoring healthcare workers.
“The St.Luke Guild was established for passionate Catholics seeking mutual aid and the desire to work together on a common mission,” Filizzola said. “These two forms of accompaniment will provide support to fellow healthcare workers while encouraging personal growth in Christian discipleship.”
The mission of the Guild is to encourage Catholic healthcare workers within the Diocese of Bridgeport to grow in Christian discipleship through an on-going process of encounter with Jesus Christ.
“With the many evolving challenges facing Catholic healthcare workers, the Guild will form a strong, faithful community of support, as well as a means to discuss issues, experiences and share ideas,” he said.
Guild events in the coming months will include the Annual Healthcare Workers Mass & Breakfast, one-day retreats, and a formational gathering in the spring. The Guild provides a means for Catholic healthcare workers to engage and connect with one another, sharing not only prayers and faith but, via discussion panels, the challenges faced in the healthcare professions.
For further information about membership, email the St. Luke Guild team at SaintLukeGuild@diobpt.com or visit www.bridgeportdiocese.org/stlukeguild/home.
Bishop Caggiano said the St. Luke Guild is the first of 12 that will be formed in the coming years, for educators, attorneys, young parents, first-responders and business professionals, among others. These reflect his vision of The One,“as they create opportunities for accompaniment” and “building communities in which people find support in their faith journeys.
