WILLIAMSTOWN – Recognizing all doctors, nurses, healthcare professionals and a particular doctor and defender of the faith, Bishop Dennis Sullivan celebrated the Diocese of Camden’s annual White Mass, asking the Lord to grant these women and men “patience, wisdom and understanding.
“Bless the work of their hands and hearts, and make them worthy partners of your healing presence.”
The medical community, their families and friends, along with members of the South Jersey Catholic Medical Guild and VITALity Catholic Healthcare Services of the Diocese of Camden gathered Oct. 23 in Saint Mary Church, Our Lady of Peace Parish for Mass and a reception not only to honor the healthcare professionals’ work, but particularly that of Dr. Louis Love Keeler Jr., this year’s Saint Luke Award recipient. The award is named after the patron saint of physicians and healthcare workers, whose feast day is Oct. 18.
Dr. Keeler, 89, now retired after more than five decades of practice in Philadelphia and South Jersey, served as president of many healthcare associations, including the Our Lady of Lourdes medical staff; the Mid-Atlantic section of the American Urological Association; the West Jersey Medical Society, and the Medical Society of New Jersey. He was also named a Knight of Saint Gregory by the fifth bishop of Camden, James T. McHugh, in the 1990s.
A lifelong long Catholic and current parishioner of Saint Mary Parish in Cherry Hill, he credits his encounters with priests and religious sisters over the years that led to his healing vocation.
“I feel so honored to be in the company of such wonderful people,” he said after receiving the award, crediting Bishop Sullivan and his parish pastor, Father Paul Olszewski, whom he called “marvelous men who chose consecrated life, the great strength of the Catholic Church.”
In receiving the award, he also urged young doctors and professionals to continue to learn and keep the history and teachings of the Catholic Church foremost in their minds as they pursue their medical education and heal others in a secular society.
One of the young medical students inspired by Dr. Keeler’s life and work is Matthew Orap, a second-year medical student at Rowan School of Medicine in Stratford. He is a parishioner at Saint Andrew the Apostle Parish in Gibbsboro.
“It’s inspiring to hear him [Dr. Keeler] stand up for the faith; that’s our biggest task, not only as Christians, but as medical doctors,” Orap said, adding that “one can’t do that without tuning into the true source of healing, which is God.”
During the Mass, Deacon Jerry Jablonowski, VITALity’s executive director, praised medical professionals such as Keeler who “reflect the mercy of God in each patient they encounter and restore health and hope to the lives of so many in need.”
Others agreed.
“Dr. Keeler has had a courageous career of truly living the Catholic faith in medicine,” said Dr. Anthony Wehbe, DO, secretary/treasurer of the South Jersey Catholic Medical Guild Board of Directors, a parishioner at the Catholic Community of the Holy Spirit in Mullica Hill, and one of the lectors for the White Mass. The medical guild and VITALity organized the Mass and reception.
The White Mass, he said, “is important for us to recognize physicians who practice according to their faith, and is a day to inspire and lift up.”
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