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Orlando Guild Wins Outstanding Guild Award
December 16, 2010
The winner of the first annual Outstanding Guild Award is the Orlando Diocesan Guild, which received the award for excellence in service to the Archdiocese of Orlando.
This award was inaugurated in 2010 to appropriately recognize guilds for the quality and quantity of their efforts to fulfill the CMA’s mission as well as to encourage the sharing of ideas and resources.
Orlando’s successful application began with their efforts to serve their archdiocese. Guild members discussed how to respond to Pope Paul VI’s call in Humanae Vitae for the support of the medical profession in defending and explaining the Church’s teaching on marriage. When they shared their thoughts with their chaplain, he suggested that the guild organize the annual priests’ convocation – a two-day educational conference for priests. Following the approval of Archbishop Wenski, they did this with a seminar on September 7-8, 2010, titled Marriage and Family; Love and Life, which presented the medical and scientific facts undergirding the teachings of the Church on these critical topics. This was the first stage of their efforts
The second stage of their efforts flowed from the seminar. Archbishop Wenski asked the guild to take the lead in developing a network of ongoing support for couples striving to live out the teaching of the Church in these areas. The guild spearheaded the development of a network of over 100 people – physicians, priests, natural family planning (NFP) and Theology of the Body instructors, and witness couples – a powerful resource for the archdiocese.
Finally, guild members agreed to start a monthly column in the diocesan newspaper. Titled “The Catholic Doctor Is In,” a series of articles has been running in the diocesan paper for the last 6 months, with 5 guild doctors contributing columns on NFP, infertility, adult stem-cell research, health-care reform, and living wills.
For this impressive, three-stage service to their archdiocese, the Orlando Diocesan Guild won the first annual Outstanding Guild Award. Supporting materials are available for CMA members and guilds in the members-only section of cathmed.org. Members should log into their CMA accounts to access the material.
It is the hope of CMA leadership that other guilds will replicate Orlando’s achievements or contribute new and exciting projects of their own.
