The Nashville Guild of the Catholic Medical Association is the winner of the 2019 Outstanding Guild award for demonstrating exceptional efforts in engaging its members and community with the mission of the CMA. The Guild received its award at the Annual Educational Conference in Nashville Sept. 26-28.
But that’s not all. Guild Chaplain Father John Raphael also took home the Outstanding Guild Chaplain award for his exemplary spiritual witness and intellectual engagement within the medical profession and dedication to the CMA at the guild and national level. And president Dr. Wes Ely was presented with the Evangelium Vitae Award for his “Outstanding Service to the Pro-Life Movement” as seen in his extensive work in fighting for true, compassionate end-of-life care that upholds the dignity of the person and the teachings of the Catholic Church.
The Nashville Guild believes it has found a formula that works. The Guild operates with two main sections, the guild and the medical student section, which receive equal time and energy in developing activities and carrying out the Guild’s evangelical mission. The student section is called the Society of Saints Cosmas and Damien (SSCD) and is comprised of students from the University of Vanderbilt School of Medicine and Meharry Medical College.
According to the Guild, the student section exists to provide support and community to Catholic medical students with the purpose of strengthening their faith throughout the course of their medical training. In turn, that support and community will continue on in their medical careers through their participation in the CMA. To accomplish this, the Guild connects students with one another and with Catholic physicians, both locally and nationally, through a strong relationship with the wider Catholic Medical Association. The Guild carries out several events throughout the year for that purpose.
One such event is the yearly Hippocratic Oath Banquet, which was held Aug. 24, and featured Fr. John Raphael, who is also a bedside clinician hospital chaplain. His daily encounters with end-of-life situations give him extensive, compassionate knowledge that he freely shares with guild members and students. At this event, medical students joined guild members for Holy Mass celebrated by the Most Rev. Mark Spalding, Bishop of the Diocese of Nashville, followed by Fr. John Raphael’s presentation in which he spoke on ways to approach end-of-life situations with truth, humanity and in light of Church teaching.
The night continued with teaching presentations by Drs. Julia Gomez, Par Donahue and Sister Mary Diana Dreger, M.D., and Vanderbilt attending physicians Drs. Pierre Massion, Brian Donahue, and Jim Powers. At the end of the evening, the medical professionals and students present were invited to take the Hippocratic Oath while considering their vocation and call as Catholic physicians.
Throughout the year, the Guild also sponsors a St. Luke’s White Coat Mass in October; an Advent or Christmas party in December; a Lenten Evening of Reflection at the Dominican Motherhouse that includes a home cooked meal by the Dominican Sisters, a speaker, and a dedicated time for confession and adoration; the Spring Medical Student Panel Dinner Discussion; and volunteer opportunities at the Room at the Inn, a homeless shelter where students and physicians work side-by-side in preparing sleeping spaces and serving meals for more than 300 of Nashville’s homeless population. Both students and guild members also operate as part of a field hospital via Vandy Street Psych, which brings medical care to homeless encampments throughout the Nashville area. That is in addition to monthly meetings that begin with Mass and are followed by dinner and speaker presentations.
These meetings, events, and service opportunities have afforded guild members and medical students the opportunity to form a strong, vibrant community and a sense of solidarity while growing their membership. In the past year alone, the Guild grew by 5% and the Student Section by 10%.
“To be clear, the main goal in doing all this is to serve the call of the Holy Spirit and the Church of Jesus Christ,” said Guild President Dr. Ely. “This award will help us attract others locally to join and participate in our guild and student section, as well as to show other guilds a way forward. Already, others are asking us, ‘How do you do what you do?’ Praise God if we can help the CMA continue to grow.”
Nashville Guild President Recipient of the Evangelium Vitae Award
Dr. Wes Ely was awarded the Evangelium Vitae Award at the Annual Educational Conference held Sept. 26-28 in Nashville. His work and advocacy for compassionate and dignified end-of-life care is a powerful response to increasing calls for euthanasia.
His article that appeared on the cover of the Spring 2018 issue of The Pulse, “What Happens When A Patient Says ‘Doc, Help Me Die,’” captures the extensive influence he has had in directing the conversation toward a truly compassionate solution to the end-of-life issue.
“Being pro-life is to work toward honoring the dignity of the human person from natural conception to natural death,” said Vice President Dr. Michael Parker, who presented the award summing up the reasons why Dr. Ely was chosen. “He is an unabashed advocate for the care of the elderly in ICU settings with delirium. He has written numerous articles and editorials against physician-assisted suicide, and advocating a Catholic anthropology towards end-of-life issues. He has spoken at many Catholic Medical Association meetings. Dr. Ely mentors medical students, residents and fellows who desire to be faithful to their Catholic faith in medicine and he shares his faith unashamedly and boldly with anyone he meets.”