 The Brief History of the CMA
By Lynne Bissonnette-Pitre, MD, PhD
The first Catholic Physicians Guild was founded in 1912 in Boston
by William Cardinal O’Connell in order to educate physicians
in Church doctrine related to the practice of medicine. In 1927
R. A. Rendick, M.D. began a guild in Brooklyn, New York by convening
physicians and a chaplain for a retreat using the spiritual exercises
of St Ignatius. The purpose of the retreat was to strengthen their
Catholic spirituality and to encourage growth in holiness. In the
next year the idea of the Catholic Physicians Guild spread throughout
the boroughs of New York City and to other cities of eastern United
States as many physicians began to gather with a chaplain for spiritual
formation.
By 1932 the dream of a national organization of Catholic physicians
came to fruition. With the leadership of Dr. Rendrick the National
Federation of Catholic Physicians Guilds (NFCPG) began in New York
City as a unification of the existing seven guilds. The objectives
of the NFCPG were to foster the Catholic physicians’ faith
and relationship with God and His Church, the physicians’ knowledge
and practice of moral and ethical medical principles and the solidarity
among its members. To achieve these objectives the NFCPG formed
a Board of Directors who hosted an annual meeting, organized North
America into ten regions and appointed regional directors who were
given the task of forming local guilds throughout the country.
The purpose of the local guild was to provide spiritual counsel
and moral guidance to the local physician members so that the physicians
would become more earnestly aware of their dependence upon God,
truly Catholic in their practice of medicine and Christ-like in
their works of mercy. The locus of each guild was a moderator or
chaplain who functioned as the spiritual father and director for
his flock of physicians. The guilds met for Mass, spiritual retreats,
Recollection, and bioethical seminars. The October 18th Feast of
St. Luke, the patron saint of physicians, was the high point of
the guilds’ yearly activities. White Masses were celebrated
for Saint Luke in hospitals, chapels, parish churches and Cathedrals
and everywhere that the physicians routinely gathered with their
chaplains.
Simultaneous with the foundation of the NFCPG the Linacre Quarterly
was begun. As a journal of the philosophy and ethics of medical
practice its purpose was to inform the subscribers of Catholic
principles applied to the pertinent medical and scientific issues
of the times. The name Linacre Quarterly was chosen to honor Thomas
Linacre M.D. who had been a physician and priest in 16th century
England and had served as the private physician of Henry VIII.
Dr. Linacre founded the Royal College of Physicians and through
it regulated the practice of medicine in England. He was well known
for his scholarship and high ideals of scientific medicine and
Catholicism.
Initially the responsibility for the Linacre Quarterly was shared
by the member guilds with each guild taking its turn at submitting
all the articles for one issue to a designated local editor. This
created a Brooklyn issue, a Boston issue, a Philadelphia issue;
etc. After 1944 the circulation of the Linacre Quarterly continued
to grow and reached a high point of 10,300 in 1965. The first Linacre
award was given in 1957 on the occasion of the Silver Anniversary
of the NFCPG to Rev. J.J. Flanagan, S.J., editor of the Linacre
Quarterly for his outstanding scholarship, journalism and contribution
to the journal.
In 1948 there were eleven member guilds in the NFCPG. In 1950
the meeting in Atlantic City was attended by 13 guilds. In 1957
there were 60 guilds; and in 1960 there were 92 member guilds in
the USA, Canada and Puerto-Rico with a total membership of 6,110.
The 100th guild, Rochester, Minnesota was welcomed in 1961 at a
grand celebration in New York City. In 1963 the Federation was
the sixth largest medical organization in the country with the
membership of 7,000. The high mark was a total physician membership
of over 10,000 in 1967.
Guilds varied in size from 6 to 600 members. The largest guild
was in Boston; the smallest was in Monroe, Louisiana. Some guilds
formed around physicians practicing at a specific hospital; other
guilds were composed of physicians in a city, a diocese or a state.
In 1961 there was one guild for the physicians of the State of
Arkansas, eight for Louisiana and for the most highly organized
State of New York, there were twelve guilds. The member guilds
of the NFCPG were officially known as Constituent Guilds. Physicians
in a Constituent Guild were known as Constituent Members of the
NFCPG. If a physician lived in an area not served by a guild, he
was eligible to join as an Individual Member. If a physician belonged
to a guild that was not a Constituent Guild, he was eligible to
join as an Associate Individual Member.
The constituent guild members paid dues directly to the NFCPG
and the local guild received back from the Treasurer an amount
equal to the local guild dues. In 1950 the NFCPG dues were $1.00
per year. In 1956 the dues were raised to $5.00 and in 1965 the
dues were set at $25.00.
The Constitution and By-laws of the NFCPG created a representational
organization governed by a Directorship. The Board of Directors
was composed of the executive committee (the officers of the Board),
Regional Directors, Episcopal Advisor (a Bishop) and the Moderator
(chaplain). The United States, Puerto Rico and Canada formed ten
regions with each region represented by two Regional Directors.
The tasks of creating guilds, of organizing local and regional
meetings and of acting as the liaison between the NFCPG board of
directors and the local guilds were given to the Regional Directors.
Each Constituent Guild elected a delegate for a one-year term.
The guild delegate represented the guild at the annual national
meeting with the right of one vote in all matters before the General
Assembly and in the election of officers and Regional Directors.
The Constituent Guilds of each region nominated candidates for
the office of Regional Director. The Regional Directors were elected
at the annual meeting by the officers and guild delegates and served
a term of two years on the Board of Directors. If there were not
enough Constituent Guilds in a region to nominate candidates, the
Board of Directors made the nominations. The Board of Directors
had the power to appoint two Regional Directors to fill vacancies.
Any group of six or more Catholic physicians in the same general
area could accept the NFCPG Charter and make a request to become
a Constituent Guild of the NFCPG. The Regional Director forwarded
to the executive director the guild application with recommendations
for each physician stating that he was in good standing in his
medical practice and in his parish. The executive secretary then
submitted the guild application, the Regional Director’s
recommendation and all other pertinent information to the Board
for action at the annual meeting.
Upon its inception in 1932, the NFCPG met once each year at the
American Medical Association meeting. The reason to meet at the
AMA meeting was convenience as the vast majority of physicians
in the early decades of the 20th century attended the AMA meeting.
The AMA functioned in much the same way that specialty medical
associations function today. For one week medical scientific papers
were presented for physicians to become current on research and
practice. On the Friday of the AMA meeting, the NFCPG conference
opened with an officers meeting and Holy Mass celebrated especially
for any deceased members of the NFCPG. At the general meeting following
Mass each guild delegate gave a report of his guild’s activities
of the proceeding year. A dinner for the physicians and spouses
was held on Friday evening.
The first year that the NFCPG met at a separate time and place
from the AMA was 1956 when the Detroit Guild under president Paul
Muske M.D. hosted the 1956 meeting in Detroit. Another first for
the 1956 annual meeting was a conference with speakers on current
medical moral issues added to the regular program and evening banquet
with a guest speaker. The following year 1957 the annual meeting
was held in New York City and the tradition of a conference on
medical moral issues with an evening banquet in the city of the
NFCPG president was established.
The first four presidents of the NFCPG served a four-year term.
In 1948 the term was shortened to two years and in the last decades
the term of officers has been one year. From 1932 until 1944 the
president of the NFCPG presided over the administrative activities
of dues and membership from his own local office. The records and
administrative functions shifted location with each new president.
In 1944 the NFCPG set up permanent headquarters in the offices
of the Catholic Hospital Association (CHA) in St Louis. This was
the beginning of the twenty-one year administrative association
with the Catholic Hospital Association. The executive director
of the CHA served as the Moderator (chaplain) of the NFCPG, as
organizer of the NFCPG annual meetings, as editor of the Linacre
Quarterly (the sole Medical-Moral Journal published at that time)
and maintained the financial and membership records for the NFCPG.
The health care of priests and religious was a particular concern
for both the NFCPG and the CHA and together they formed a program
to meet these needs.
Both the CHA and the NFCPG came under the supervision of the Social
Action Department of the National Council of Catholic Bishops (NCCB).
The relationship between the NFCPG and the NCCB was characterized
by mutual respect and cooperation for twenty years. The Bishops
relied upon the physicians of the NFCPG for their expert opinions
on medical issues. In addition the White House regularly asked
the NFCPG to brief the administration on the Catholic perspective
on current medical-ethical issues.
The twenty-fifth anniversary of the foundation of the NFCPG was
celebrated on June 5th, 1957 at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York
City. Cardinal Spellman, Archbishop of New York City welcomed the
physicians and blessed them on the occasion of their Silver Jubilee.
Pope Pius XII sent a letter of congratulations, affirmation, encouragement
and an apostolic blessing. [See appendix for the letter of Pope
Pius XII]. The Honorary Committee for the Silver Jubilee included
His Eminence Cardinal Spellman, His Excellency Richard Cushing,
Archbishop of Boston, Averall Harriman, the governor of New York
State and Robert Wagner, the mayor of New York City.
In 1961 the NFCPG returned to New York City on the 28th of June
to celebrate the affiliation of the 100th guild, the Guild of Rochester
Minnesota. Cardinal Spellman again welcomed the physicians with
his blessings and prayers [See appendix for Cardinal Spellman’s
prayer, the certificate of the 100th Guild and the roll call for
1961].
In 1965 the relationship with the CHA fractured when the CHA endorsed
socialized medicine and the NFCPG opposed it. The executive committee
of the NFCPG made the decision to dissociate from the CHA. Robert
Herzog was hired to serve as the executive secretary of the NFCPG
and administrative headquarters were moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
A strain in the relationship with the National Catholic Conference
of Bishops began in 1964 over contraception. In 1964 the NFCPG
co-sponsored with the Family Life committee of the NCCB a conference
in Washington DC on Natural Family Planning. Over 200 Family Life
Diocesan Directors attended. During the conference a sub-group
of attendees drafted a letter to be sent to Pope Paul VI asking
him to endorse the use of the contraceptive pill. After a debate
in the general assembly, a substitute resolution was adopted to
develop a special commission composed of an equal number of Catholic
physicians and family life diocesan directors to study human life,
NFP and abortion. The Commission met four times a year in Chicago
for years. The physician component strongly supported Humanae Vitae
while many of the Family Life Directors openly supported contraception.
In the years subsequent to the promulgation of Humanae Vitae,
the NFCPG was torn apart in its interior with successive presidents
elected from opposite sides of the contraception controversy. At
the NFCPG national meeting in Miami, Florida in 1968 the majority
vote of the general assembly supported the Holy Father and Humane
Vitae. This so inflamed the president of the NFCPG that he resigned
and many guilds separated from the NFCPG. Eventually the strong
guilds from Detroit, St. Louis, Milwaukee, New York and Boston
as well as a multitude of smaller guilds became virtually inactive.
The membership of the NFCPG dropped to a low point of 300 physicians
and two Member Guilds: Chicago and Philadelphia. Throughout the
next three decades the NFCPG although significantly reduced in
size continued its yearly annual meeting and remained vital by
the hard work of the physicians loyal to the Catholic Church and
to her magisterial teaching.
The international organization of Catholic physicians known as
the Federation of International Catholic Medical Associations (FIAMC)
also known as the World Catholic Medical Association met in New
York City in 1998 in a conjoint program with the CMA. George Isajiw
M.D. of the Philadelphia Guild and a Board member of FIAMC served
as the program chairman and organized a superb meeting in collaboration
with Rick Watson M.D. the president of the CMA. St. Patrick’s
Cathedral in New York City and Cardinal O’Connor hosted Mass
for the physicians.
In 1997 the Board of Directors changed the name from National
Federation of Catholic Physicians Guilds to the Catholic Medical
Association (CMA) to reflect that the membership consisted almost
entirely of Individual Members. Chicago and Philadelphia continued
as the only Member Guilds and they did not elect delegates to the
general assembly. The Regional Directors of the ten regions were
appointed by the Executive Committee and served primarily the national
organization rather than the region. In fact by 2000 most Regional
Directors had no idea what their job description had been at the
foundation of the organization. Existing throughout the United
States and Canada were a few Catholic Physicians Guilds unaffiliated
with the CMA and most often unknown to the Regional Directors.
Many of these guilds had no members belonging to the CMA while
others had a few members in the CMA.
As the new millennium dawned the CMA Board of Directors recognized
the problem of being too centrally focused and the failure to serve
physicians at the local level. The Regional Directors were once
again encouraged to function in accordance with the original Constitution
and By-laws with the primary focus on the creation of local Guilds.
Consequently many of the independent Guilds have once again become
Member Guilds and many new guilds have been formed. The President
of FIAMC, Dr. Gigli attended the CMA Executive Directors Retreat
in January 2003 to encourage and to affirm the importance of fostering
the local physicians guilds.
With the springtime of the new Millennium, the revitalization
of the Church and of the Catholic Physicians has begun. Once again
Catholic Physicians are seeking to learn of the high ideal of God’s
call (vocation) to become physicians to the practice of medicine
in conformity to Christ the Divine Physician. The CMA is challenged
to be the voice of truth for all physicians and for the community;
to keep biotechnology in conformity with the Laws of God; to promulgate
the Catholic concepts of person, rights and the common good as
applied to the practice of medicine; to defend the sacredness and
dignity of life at all stages; and to teach the Catholic norm of
morality rooted in its source and authority of the natural law,
divine positive law and the ecclesial Magisterium. This is the
orthopraxis or ‘right action’ of the Catholic physician.
Tradition teaches that orthopraxis cannot be separated from orthodoxy.
While the current concept of orthodoxy is ‘right doctrine’,
the Fathers of the Church understood orthodoxy to mean the authentic
adoration and glorification of the Lord, the right relationship
with God. To be in right relationship with God (orthodoxy) would
naturally result in the right action to please God (orthopraxis)
[Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, The Greatest Mystery, Inside the Vatican,
Aug-Sept 2002, p.12]. The founding doctors of the CMA (NFCPG) understood
this principle and initiated the formation of physicians through
spiritual retreats and spiritual counsel.
The CMA strives to serve, to form and to teach its apostolate
of Catholic physicians as it did in the beginning through Member
Guilds formed in conformity to the CMA. It is the intention of
the CMA to have local Catholic Physicians Guilds in every state,
diocese and parish in North America in order to carry forth the
mission of forming the identity of the Catholic Physician as Icon
of Christ the Divine Physician.
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