Honoring physicians, nurses, and healthcare professionals who put their faith into practice within South Jersey, the annual White Mass was celebrated Oct. 18 at Virtua Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Camden.
Sponsored by the South Jersey Catholic Medical Guild in collaboration with VITALity Catholic Healthcare Services Diocese of Camden the Mass is so named for the color worn by those in medicine, and held annually on a Sunday near the feast of Saint Luke the Evangelist, who tradition holds was a physician.
This year’s event honored Dr. Lisa DiMedio, D.O., FACP, medical director of Primary Care for the Jefferson Health Alliance, and her husband, Dr. John C. Flamma Jr., MD, FACP, retired physician, member of the Board of Consulters of Villanova University’s Fitzpatrick College of Nursing, and instructor at the Rutgers School of Nursing; Rosemary Kates, MSN, RN, APN, parish nurse and Helping Hands Ministry at Saint Damien, Ocean City; and Dr. Alison Mancuso, D.O., FACOFP, chair of the Department of Family Medicine at the Rowan-Virtua School of Osteopathic Medicine.
All were presented with the Saint Luke Award for their excellence in medicine.
Held in the chapel of Virtua Our Lady of Lourdes, the Mass was celebrated by Father Jon Thomas, vicar general for the Diocese of Camden and pastor of Christ the King Parish in Haddonfield.
He was assisted by Father Joseph Monahan, TOR, the hospital’s director of pastoral care, and Deacon Joseph Janocha, diocesan director of hospital chaplaincy, VITALity Catholic Healthcare Services.
In front of the crowd of 75 that included the honorees, their families, and their healthcare colleagues and peers, Father Thomas noted that the honorees “demonstrate that they are not great healers who happen to be Christian, but people who heal in great ways because they are Christians.”
Through their words and actions, these Christian witnesses “plainly tell us why they act, whose example they imitate, and by whose Spirit they are inspired,” he continued. “This logos about their praxis – this word of explanation about their actions – suggests that the source of their greatness is not only in a brilliant mind, but above all in a heart filled with the love of God.”
Dr. Mancuso, of Our Lady of Hope Parish in Blackwood, explained that as doctor of osteopathic medicine, “I already have the whole perspective of the human person, so it makes it easy to incorporate my faith.”
Completing her undergraduate education at Rutgers University, and graduating with high honors with a bachelor of arts in genetics and microbiology, Dr. Mancuso went on to earn her degree from the UMDNJ-School of Osteopathic Medicine, now Rowan-Virtua SOM.
Prior to serving as chair at Rowan-Virtua SOM, she was a faculty member in the Department of Family Medicine back when the institution was known as UMDNJ-SOM, and has also served as residency program director, vice chair and medical director.
“I approach each person as a unique creation from God,” Dr. Mancuso continued.
As an active parishioner at Our Lady of Hope, she is involved with its Living Christ discipleship ministry, and baptismal prep.
Dr. DiMedio and Dr. Flamma Jr., a married couple, are parishioners at Saint Andrew the Apostle in Gibbsboro, and serve on the pastoral council and compassionate care committee.
“Faith is so important to us,” said Dr. DiMedio.
A graduate of Wheeling University with a bachelor of science in chemistry, and the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, she owned and operated her own practice of internal medicine before her current work with Jefferson Health Alliance in Washington Township. Since 2023, Dr. DiMedio has also served as a preceptor and instructor for Doctor of Nursing Practice Residents of the Rutgers College of Nursing.
When sharing his thoughts on receiving the Saint Luke Award, Dr. Flamma Jr. thought back to his time as an attending physician in the emergency department at Presbyterian-University of Pennsylvania Medical Center, now Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, in the early 1990s.
In this capacity, “I saw people at their lowest, and tried to bring any help I could to them, medically and spiritually,” he said.
Receiving the Saint Luke Award, Dr. Flamma Jr. added, “is quite an honor.”
With more than 50 years of nursing experience, Kates has spent her life caring for others as a nurse practitioner, educator and Wound, Ostomy and Continence Nurse Specialist.
She is founder of Saint Damien’s Parish Nurse and Helping Hands Ministry, and also serves as a sacristan, lector, eucharistic minister and catechist.
Noting that all of this year’s honorees “exemplify whole person healing in their service to the community,” Nicole Keefer, executive director of VITALity, added that all use their God-given talents to carry out His work, in their own selfless, unique ways.
“They all exemplify what we’re all called to do, to walk the path as witnesses and evangelists of Christ,” she said.
Maria Toci D’Antonio, communications manager for the Diocese of Camden, contributed to this story.
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