By Brian D. Wallace
BRIDGEPORT—Father Peter Le Jacq, M.D., a Maryknoll priest and physician, will be the featured speaker at the 27th Annual Mass for Catholic Healthcare Workers on Sunday, March 12 at 10 am at St. Augustine Cathedral in Bridgeport.
Bishop Frank J. Caggiano will celebrate the annual Mass, which is open to all healthcare workers and the general public.
Father Le Jacq will be the featured speaker at the Healthcare Workers Brunch, which will immediately follow at the Brooklawn Country Club in Fairfield. His talk will reflect on Scriptural passages that reveal the meaning of the Christian vocation to serve our sick.
Dr. William and Mary Beth Fessler of New Canaan are serving as co-chairs. This year’s Mass also marks the formation of the St. Luke Guild for Healthcare Workers. The newly formed guild is designed to bring healthcare professionals together in prayer and service to support the vocation of healing.
Peter Le Jacq is a Maryknoll priest who was the special consultant to Pope John Paul II on AIDS in East Africa. He grew up in Manhasset, N.Y., where he attended St. Mary’s Elementary School and St. Mary’s High School.
He attended St. John’s University in Queens and graduated from Cornell Medical School in 1980. He did his residency at St. Vincent’s Medical Center in New York City.
In 1980, Le Jacq became a Maryknoll Missionary and in 1987 was ordained a priest. He has diplomas in Tropical Medicine and International Health from the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons in England.
In 1987, he received his master’s in divinity from the Maryknoll Seminary. Since 1984, Le Jacq has worked in Tanzania. He worked in the Serengeti from 1984 to 1986, and then Bugando Medical Center in Mwanza, Tanzania from 1987 to 1997.
In 1990, Pope John Paul II made Father Le Jacq his Special Consultant on AIDS in East Africa. Father Le Jacq has also organized the Bugando Medical School in Tanzania through the non-profit organization known as the Touch Foundation.
All healthcare workers and their guests are invited to attend the Mass for Catholic Healthcare Workers. The Mass is also open to the general public. Tickets for the Brunch are $40 per person. Benefactors who donate $250 will receive two tickets and will be listed in the Mass program.
(For further information, email Patricia Hansen: phansen@diobpt.org)
