Exciting news! Bishop Barres endorses the formation of a chartered guild of the Catholic Medical Association (CMA). The origins of the CMA began in 1912 when the archbishop of Boston, his Eminence William Henry O’Connell founded the first guild to educate physicians in Church doctrine in the practice of medicine. Today’s CMA includes all health care professionals not just physicians. The Long Island guild is the fifth guild in New York State joining Buffalo, Syracuse, Rochester and the Finger lakes.

The purpose of the guild is to promote fellowship, service and formation for Catholic health care providers. The guild’s first white mass (named by the white coats traditional worn by physicians) was celebrated by Bishop Barres at St Agnes Cathedral in May and was livestreamed due to the coronavirus pandemic on Catholic Faith Network. The guild plans to have annual white masses in October, near the feast day of St. Luke, patron saint of physicians.

Reverend Lachlan Cameron, who is also the Chaplain at Stony Brook University, has been appointed as the chaplain of the guild. With his assistance, the guild is planning to host a half day retreat in the spring for health care professionals.

Our present officers include Paul Carpentier who is also the northeast regional director of the CMA and director of the Gianna Center of Long Island in Babylon. He is a board certified family physician and trained in NaProTechnology. The other officers are family physicians Jeanine Morelli and Thomas Costello and gerontologist Lisa Honkanen.

The National CMA provides an annual educational conference. This year you can attend either virtually or in person as it will be held in San Diego on September 25-26, 2020. As a dues paying national member, you will receive the award winning Linacre Quarterly and have access to the online magazine The Pulse. If you are interested in becoming a local member of the guild send a request to CMALIguild@gmail.com or see the website at li.cathmed.org.