CAMDEN – Doctors, nurses, and other healthcare professionals, alongside their family and friends, joined Bishop Joseph Williams on Sunday, Oct. 12, for the Diocese of Camden’s annual White Mass at Virtua Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital.
Organized by the South Jersey Catholic Medical Guild and VITALity Catholic Healthcare Services of the Diocese of Camden, the occasion was not only an opportunity to honor the work of all of these women and men, but two in particular: Dr. James A. Espinosa, an emergency room attending physician at Jefferson Hospital in Stratford, and Dr. Judith Lightfoot, associate professor of medicine, chair of the Department of Medicine and chief of Infectious Diseases at Rowan-Virtua School of Osteopathic Medicine in Stratford.
Dr. Espinosa, a parishioner of Saint Simon Stock Parish in Berlin, and Dr. Lightfoot, a parishioner of Mary, Mother of Mercy Parish in Glassboro, both received the Saint Luke Award that day for their excellence in medicine.
“I accept [this award] for all of those who are in healthcare, who advocate for the sick, poor, and for those who don’t have a voice,” said Dr. Lightfoot.
“My faith is everything,” she said. “I wouldn’t be blessed to do what I do, every day, without His guidance. I’m an instrument to do God’s work.”
In her 33 years in professional medicine, she has sought to bring healthcare to medically underserved areas, and to reach out to the community on various issues. In years past, she has brought her expertise on HIV/AIDS prevention to the diocese’s parish communities.
Her greatest joy, though, is “not only helping someone, but helping them stand up and advocate for themselves,” she said.
As an educator and mentor for three decades, Dr. Espinosa has dedicated himself to resident training and the development of the next generation of emergency physicians.
“To be recognized in the spirit of Saint Luke – a healer, a person of compassion – is something I do not take lightly,” he said.
“Saint Luke reminds us that healing comes in many forms – through care, through presence, through listening, and through love,” he continued. “He also reminds us that in every act of compassion, in every corporal and spiritual work of mercy, we are called to be In Persona Christi Medici – in the person of Christ the Healer.”
In his remarks to those gathered, Bishop Joseph A. Williams said that while physical health cannot always be healed here on earth, there’s a greater promise in eternal salvation.
“The one who is saved, is the one who recognizes the work of God,” he continued, adding that this pledge from God can be consolation for all struggling through their illness, or the illness of a loved one.
“In the Kingdom of God, there is no one who is crippled,” Bishop Williams said. “Every tear shall be wiped away.”
Nicole Keefer, executive director of VITALity Catholic Healthcare Services, called the White Mass an appropriate time to honor the women and men in a vocation that can be met with “difficult and humbling situations” and dealing with patients and their loved ones in uncertain moments in their lives.
“It’s important that we recognize and bring the healthcare community together to show them we appreciate them, and allow a space of camaraderie and fellowship, to share our faith, and let them know they’re not wandering this journey alone,” she said.
During Mass in the hospital’s chapel, Bishop Williams also consecrated its new altar, put into place as the hospital celebrates its 75th anniversary. It was founded in 1949 by the Franciscan Sisters of Allegany.
“Let us bring faith … and thanksgiving to this altar, for generations to come,” the Bishop said.
The cherry wood altar, along with the newly created ambo and presider’s chair, was made possible through the craftsmanship of the Pennsylvania-based husband and wife team of Jeff Wynn and Linda Condy, noted Father Joseph Monahan, TOR, the hospital’s director of Pastoral Care.
On the bottom of the new altar, etched in brass, Father Monahan continued, are the names of each of the 80 Franciscan Sisters who have served at Our Lady of Lourdes since its beginning – a way to remember their good works to the sick in the city of Camden.
“The Sisters’ work is done, but their legacy of Franciscan joy, hospitality, and simplicity lives on through all the healthcare workers who pass through here,” he said.
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