The Virtual Journal Club: A New Cross-Guild Venture

By Nadia Smith

The Finger Lakes Guild of Rochester, New York and the Palm Beach Physicians Guild of Florida are happy to announce an exciting new way to connect in these challenging times. Building on the successful initiative first launched in New York, the guilds are collaborating with the national CMA office to offer all guilds the new Virtual Journal Club.

Guild President Dr. Thomas Carroll hosts medical journal club discussions periodically with his guild members, many times presenting articles published in the CMA’s medical journal, The Linacre Quarterly. The group holds their meetings at St. Bernard’s School of Theology and Ministry in Rochester. Before the pandemic, Carroll invited Dr. Felix Rodriguez and his friends in the Palm Beach Physicians Guild to participate via Zoom. The guilds were able to meet remotely and have a fruitful discussion.

By the time their next meeting was scheduled, the coronavirus pandemic was declared a national crisis, and the meetings came to a halt as guild members turned their full attention to dealing with the crisis. The isolation resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic got the guild presidents thinking that perhaps other guilds would want to join virtually as well, especially since the pandemic had driven people to online platforms to work and socialize as in-person events were being canceled or limited.

“As I keep saying, the Holy Spirit has not been quarantined or ‘locked down.’ He’s been inspiring us,” said Rodriguez, president of the Palm Beach Physicians Guild. “Such a collaboration between guilds from two distant states can foster a greater interaction between members, even outside the national conferences.”

The idea is to run the Virtual Journal Club quarterly with the first meeting on August 6, 2020 from 7 to 8 p.m. The organizers welcome suggestions for future topics and, even more so, volunteers to lead upcoming discussions.

“We hope health care professionals across the country will take advantage of this opportunity to join a stimulating discussion about relevant and timely topics important to Catholics working in the health care professions, to connect with other CMA members, and to reach out to potential new members,” Carroll said. “We are very happy that this Virtual Journal Club aligns so well with the CMA’s recent call to action at the Leadership Training Meeting to help spread the word about the CMA and invite new members to join.”