Doctors, medical professionals and medical students gathered for the White Mass at Sacred Heart Church in Denver’s Five Points neighborhood on Friday, Oct. 13. Archbishop Samuel J. Aquila of Denver celebrated Mass, praised the work of Catholic medical professionals, and emphasized the need for them to be rooted in Jesus Christ.
“Christ himself was a healer,” the archbishop said in his homily, telling the medical professionals and medical students in the congregation that their work is “a ministry of the culture of life.”
“I admire each and every one of you going into the medical field or are (already) in the medical field with all the tensions that are there between the culture of life and the culture of death,” he continued.
He added that “it is important for you to live the gospel, to give that witness to Christ.” They can do this by “showing compassion, showing mercy, accompanying people, but never denying their dignity as a human being, and always treating them with that dignity,” he added.
“Certainly you know the issues much more than I do. But if you are not deeply rooted in prayer and in love with Jesus Christ, you will scatter,” he said, later adding “It is precisely when we stand with him that we will gather, and we will bear fruit.”
The Denver Guild of the Catholic Medical Association (CMA) organized the White Mass.
Guild president Dr. Thomas Jensen, M.D., a Denver-area endocrinologist, told the Denver Catholic that the White Mass tradition in the U.S. dates back to the 1930s. Local Masses are organized by area Catholic guilds, while the CMA holds a White Mass at its national convention.
“The White Mass was originally established as a way for Catholic healthcare providers, particularly physicians, to celebrate their tradition and their call, as Catholic providers, to live out both our faith and morals in our practice of medicine and in our personal lives,” Jensen said.
Besides members of CMA’s Denver guild, White Mass attendees included members of the guild’s two medical student chapters at the University of Colorado School of Medicine’s Anschutz Medical Campus and at Rocky Vista University in Parker, a school of osteopathic medicine.
Archbishop Aquila’s homily emphasized the need for Catholics to unite themselves to Christ. He cited the gospel reading for Friday, the Gospel of Luke 11:15-26.
“It is precisely in the gospel that Jesus points out that we are to be those who are with him. He reminds us ‘whoever is not with me is against me’ and ‘whoever does not gather with me scatters’,” Aquila said.
“Part of the reason there is so much confusion in the Church today is because we are not truly with Christ,” the archbishop said.
In the gospel reading, Jesus addresses his critics who claimed he cast out demons by the power of demons. He reminds them that “any kingdom divided against itself will be laid waste and house will fall against house.”
“Those are important words for the times we live in,” said Aquila. “You know as well as I that the world is a mess, the Church is somewhat a mess, and there are all sorts of conflicting ideas and opinions out there, especially when it comes to the medical field.”
The archbishop noted the decline in popularity of the Hippocratic Oath, which traditionally bars doctors from taking part in abortion and assisted suicide.
“Decades ago everybody took very seriously the Hippocratic Oath and adhered to it. Whereas today, it is questioned, today it is changed, and it is no longer one that protects human life,” he said. “We can see that in the introduction of abortion and the slippery slope then leading to physician-assisted suicide and the whole culture of death, sadly being embraced by many in the medical field.”
Aquila emphasized the need to encounter Jesus Christ, who “gives meaning and purpose to life.”
“He is clear in his teaching: when you say ‘yes’ mean ‘yes’ and when you say ‘no’ mean ‘no’,” the archbishop added. “We are called in today’s world to put relativism behind us and see the clarity of the gospel, especially in building a culture of life.”
He encouraged the congregation to take to heart the passage from the Our Father “thy will be done” and to seek God’s will before anything else.
Jensen, the CMA Denver guild president, told the Denver Catholic that the association is “a place for Catholic physicians and healthcare providers to come together to talk, learn more about our faith and to grow together in our love of Christ and journey with him towards heaven. (It’s) to bring that love and compassion back to our work with our patients and our colleagues.”
“I think it gives us a great opportunity to be a witness for our colleagues and to be able to find areas of dialogue, areas where we can work together and maybe areas where we might not see eye to eye,” he said. “It’s a great chance for us to grow in our faith, to be a witness to others and act in a way that shows our compassion and care and to work for greater healthcare in the community.”
CMA’s Denver guild has about 400 people on its mailing list and 50 to 75 regularly active members, Jensen said. The Denver guild won the Catholic Medical Association’s Guild of the Year award last year and received the national runner-up award in 2023. Its student chapter at Rocky Vista University won student chapter of the year in 2023.
Emmanuel Cruz, vice president of the CMA student group at CU-Anschutz, aspires to become a doctor in the intensive care unit. He told the Denver Catholic that being a Catholic medical student is “probably as hard as you can imagine.”
“But at the same time you really get to see the value of Catholic belief and Catholic tradition because where healthcare stops working, Catholic belief picks up. And the other way around,” he added.
“It’s a really good perspective (to have) in the student body,” he said of the student group. “It is a beautiful place to sit down and recognize the Spirit, where medicine stops working and when your patient needs to grapple with the uncertainty of why life matters.”