Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Spring Dominican
2011 Foundation
Dominican Friars Province of St. Joseph
A MESSAGE
From Our Provincial
Spotlight: Healthcare
Dear Friends, a Ministry of Care and Healing
“Even to your old
age I will be the Until recently Brother Ignatius Perkins, O.P., served as
same, and even to Director of Administration for the Dominican Province
your graying years of St. Joseph and as Project Director of the Dominican
I will bear you! Friars Health Care Ministry of New York and Coordinator
I have done it, and
I will carry you.” of its Health Care Ethics program. He has resumed a
This is what God promises us distinguished teaching career and currently serves as
through the Prophet Isaiah. (Is 46:4) Professor and Dean of Nursing and Director of the RN-
One of our fundamental, solemn BSN Program at Aquinas College in Nashville, TN.
and “unshirkable” duties as a
Province is the care and comfort Can you offer some insight into the idea of care in the
of our senior Friars who have spent Dominican Tradition and how it applies to the present day?
their lives in the preaching of
the Gospel and the mission of the When St. Dominic established the Order in 1216, it had as its purpose preaching and the
Province of St. Joseph. salvation of souls. Through his ministry of evangelization, St. Dominic brought the healing
Whether it’s the Friars who are and salvific message of the Gospel to the people of his day whether they were suffering from
“aging in place” in our houses loneliness, mental or physical distress, or alienation from God. He cared for those who found
throughout the Province, or those themselves far from the faith: the poor, unwanted, unloved and those void of hope. His message
assigned to St. Dominic Priory of compassionate care and comfort for others is deeply embedded in the history of the Order and
in Washington, D.C. where our remains alive in its mission today.
Center for Assisted Living is
located or in Catholic nursing Can you explain how the art and science of nursing has
facilities near to their families and
friends, the oldest members of
been integrated with your vowed commitment as a Dominican
the Province continue to inspire Cooperator Brother?
the younger generations of Friars
by their examples of fidelity and Like other Dominican Cooperator Brothers, I fulfill my preaching from a different pulpit than
perseverance in the grace of God. that of my priest brothers. My pulpits are varied, but are centered in the healing ministry of Jesus
Christ, first as a Dominican Friar, then as a clinician, nurse, ethicist and educator. I engage people
We want to thank you, our wherever they are in their journey in search of Truth, healing and hope.
benefactors, for helping us fulfill
this solemn obligation. My added vocation as a nurse, now for more than 45 years, is to care for persons during some of
Sincerely in Christ, the most vulnerable moments in their life. It is a privileged opportunity to be present to them, to
protect and defend their dignity and freedom, and help re-establish the integrity of the suffering
person once fractured and made vulnerable by illness or despair – and when the cure of illness is
not possible, to bring healing and hope even to those nearing the end of their lives.
Very Rev. Brian M. Mulcahy, O.P.
Prior Provincial (continued on pg. 4)
– Brother Ignatius Perkins, O.P. [This is an edited version of a longer piece entitled “Winter’s Grace” which appeared in
Providence College Magazine in March 2011. Used with permission.]
2 WWW.DOMINICANFRIARS.ORG
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From my years of experience, I have come to believe the idea As Dominican Friars, our caring for one another is inseparable from
of care in the Dominican tradition consists of four critical our call to preach and to serve the Church. We are servants for God
components: affirmation and respect for the intrinsic dignity and for our brothers and sisters. At special times in our lives, this
of every person; compassion; the freedom to acknowledge one’s call to serve is at the bedside of the terminally ill and dying. Here
vulnerability in caring for others; and the courage and willingness the ministry of health care, given to a dying sister or brother at one
to be present, spiritually, emotionally and physically to the of the most vulnerable moments in their lives, is truly sacred work.
one who is suffering. This paradigm represents the heart of the With compassion and caring we minister as Jesus did, to the dying
healing ministry of Jesus Christ. It is in this experience where in preparation for their final union with God.
evangelization can be most influential
in leading the sick and suffering to
understand and believe the love that God
has for each of them and that He will never
abandon them.
4 WWW.DOMINICANFRIARS.ORG
I also met a man who had not been to Mass and Confession in
A Day in the Life more than 35 years. With end-stage lymphoma he did not have
Preaching at
long to live. But he was reconciled to the Church. For many,
coping with grave illness or the death of a loved one is a great
the Bedside
moment to come back to the Church. Then, after comforting a
man who just lost his wife of 56 years, I ran back across the street
and met a couple preparing for Marriage. My days are as varied,
By Fr. Jordan Kelly, O.P. exciting and as challenging as you can imagine.
As a Dominican Friar, I am preaching and teaching in and out
Fr. Jordan Kelly, O.P., is Pastor of St. Catherine of Siena Church in of the pulpit. At their bedside we preach to the sick and suffering
Manhattan (served by the Dominican Friars since 1897) and Interim using classic Thomistic Theology to show that God is the source,
Director of the Dominican Friars Health Care Ministry of New York. center and end of our life. A Friar has a surety about our end and
He leads a team of Catholic health care chaplains and ethicists serving can convincingly argue the point by appealing to reason. It’s not
patients, their families and staff at the Hospital for Special Surgery,
some vague idea about our destiny, but the intellectual and spiritual
New York Presbyterian-Weill Cornell Medical Center, Memorial
certainty that, marked by the Cross, the Christian person is made
Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and Rockefeller University Hospital.
to behold God for all eternity. The virtues lead us to God, while our
We minister suffering conforms us to Christ, purifies us and sets us free.
to individuals
The Friars also deal with medical ethics. We counsel families, who
who are at
are faced, for example, with the potential choice of withdrawing
their most
life-support from an aging parent. One family consulted me in
vulnerable and
their dilemma whether or not to submit their gravely ill three-
therefore more
year-old to another round of chemotherapy. The doctors still
docile to the
held out hope – so they went ahead. Researchers will ask us if it
promptings of
is licit to use embryonic stem cells in their work (never!). We help
the Holy Spirit,
doctors and nurses out in the incredible task they have chosen.
which is an
extraordinary In terms of my own spiritual life, I have to trust in God’s goodness
grace for and His plan for each of the patients I encounter. I am humbled
them. We beyond words to be His instrument and driven to my knees every
help patients day. My own life of prayer is paramount in finding the strength.
see that the Rose Hawthorne said of her Sisters’ health care ministry, “what a
Lord has not glorious vocation – one moment they are looking in our eyes; the
forsaken them next they are looking in the face of God.”
in their suffering – that their suffering can be a road to deeper
union with Christ, a path of purification which they may not have
found otherwise.
Strange as it sounds, a cancer survivor said to me the other day,
“Father, the best thing that ever happened in my life is that I
have breast cancer.” The experience changed her; she has come to
understand life and suffering. She was already a believer, but her
faith had become pro forma. This event made her much more alive
to the faith.
Recently, I gave First Holy Communion to a nine-year-old boy,
who is suffering from a very rare form of brain cancer that is
progressing very quickly. When I met him he had already lost the
ability to speak. He had been prepared for the sacrament at his
home parish. I asked him if he knew what the Eucharist was. He
took a pad and wrote, “the Body and Blood of Christ.” I asked
him if he wanted to receive Communion and he nodded yes.
Afterward, with his parents and godparents also present, he made
signs that he wanted to say something. He mouthed, “I am so
happy.” He will not live to see his tenth birthday. This past week
I also buried a ten-year-old; baptized a baby in danger of death;
anointed a four-year-old who is undergoing his fourth cancer
surgery; and stood at the bedside of two people who drew their Fr. Jordan Kelly, O.P. with parishioner at St. Catherine of Siena Church
last breath.
Thank You!
Through your assistance we are able to ensure
that our brothers remain in our communities so
that they can continue to live according to the
values of our Dominican tradition: common life
and prayer, study, observance of the vows, and
limited apostolic service.
-Fr. Dominic Izzo, O.P.
God’s blessing
A Friar and a Rabbi Team Up
and peace be Caring for people who are sick has been important for Dominican Friars since the foundation of
with you during the Province in 1805. Our brothers and sisters, who are now confronted with illness and death,
these grace filled look to the Church for comfort and healing in Her sacraments, for protection of their dignity
days of the Easter while they are most vulnerable, and for the strength that comes from being remembered in the
Season. prayers of the faithful.
Fr. John Vidmar, O.P., in his book, Fr. Fenwick’s “Little American Province”: 200 Years of the
I hope you enjoy this issue of the
Dominican Friars in the United States (2005, available at Amazon.com) writes about the
Trumpet that highlights the fidelity
Dominican Friars’ and Sisters’ heroic care of the sick who suffered during the Yellow Fever
and life of Dominican Friars who
epidemic in Memphis, TN, between 1873-1879. Many of them died caring for the sick. A
have spent themselves tirelessly in
number of stories stand out in his book, but one speaks directly to the fundamental need of
the pastoral care of many people
those who are sick. It was recorded by the only rabbi in Memphis at the time, Rabbi Max
in the various apostolates of the
Samfield:
Province. We are grateful to them
for the way in which they have “While passing along Shelby Street…a man called out to me for help from a window.
handed on the charism of the ‘Money or medicine?’ I asked. ‘Not food, nor money, nor doctor,’ the man replied,
Order of Preachers to the growing ‘My wife already has the black vomit, the sure sign of death, and we are Catholics, and she
generation of Dominicans eager to wants a priest. Can you get a Catholic priest for her?’
join their ranks and witness.
I assured him, and hastened to St. Peter’s. I informed the priest (a Dominican) and
The pressing capital needs of accompanied him as he carried the Sacrament with great respect down the forsaken streets of
the priories in which our infirm afflicted Memphis to the house…Never perhaps in history had the sight been seen before: a
brothers live are a concern we Jewish rabbi running for a Catholic priest, and both going side by side along the streets of a
are urgently seeking to address desolate city to bring to a dying Catholic the rites of her religion.” (p. 51).
to ensure a safe and healthy
environment for them and future
generations of Dominicans seeking
to live the last days of their lives at
home in the Dominican tradition. Dear Friends,
Thank you for your continued I have watched the brethren with whom I live age with grace and I have witnessed
financial support and prayers for firsthand the seeming paradox that physical limitations and age can make people to
our elder Friars. Your concern for be freer internally and very effective intercessors for others. Nevertheless, “advances”
them enables all of us to enjoy in medical technology can neglect or obscure the dignity of the human person. The
the richness their life-experience Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception, along with the Dominican Friars
brings to our charism and to future Health Care Ministry in New York, has set about training Student Brothers to guard
generations of Dominicans who and promote the dignity of the human person – from conception to natural death. The St. Catherine
will build on the solid foundations of Siena Chair in Bio/Medical Ethics, initially established through a generous $1M gift, will ensure
that they have laid for us. that Friars serving in this vital healthcare ministry are professionally trained so that they can be reliable
advisors to families and individuals experiencing the vulnerability that comes with age and illness alike.
Know of my continued prayers for
The aged and infirm can be our most powerful advocates “before the throne of Grace.” Life has potential
you and your intentions.
for good, no matter how old or limited we might become.
Sincerely yours in Christ, We also know that whatever we accomplish at the Dominican
House of Studies is due to our older brethren’s arduous labor,
personal sacrifice, and devotion in service to the Gospel. For
these important lessons of living by faith we are grateful – to
Fr. Dominic Izzo, O.P., them and to you.
Director
Dominican Foundation May the joy of Easter remain with you throughout the year.
THE TRUMPET is a quarterly printed newsletter of the Dominican Foundation: Dominican Friars, Province of St. Joseph.
141 East 65th Street, New York, NY 10065 • Tel: (212) 535.3664 • Fax: (775) 542.5511 • Email: df@opfriars.org