The Role of the Family in Building a Culture of Life

The Catholic Medical Association’s Committee for the New Evangelization is the youth branch of the Catholic Medical Association. We are very grateful to the Latin Mass Society for sponsoring the Old Rite Mass and choir for our annual retreat. The following is an event report written by a young occupational therapist who works with stroke and brain injured patients

Earlier this year, the Catholic Medical Association held its second Annual Youth Retreat. This time it was held in the grounds of the stunning venue of St Dominic’s Priory, home to the Dominican Friars in London.

The title of the retreat, 'The Role of the Family in Building a Culture of Life' provided a solid theme for a very fruitful day. The aim was to provide support to young people by way of prayer and reflection away from the busy pressures of work. Young healthcare professionals such as doctors, nurses and therapists along with some religious sisters working in the caring profession and other young adults, filled the parish hall to its capacity.

The day started with Holy Mass (a Missa Cantata in the Dominican Rite), followed by lunch and then talks on the themes of prayer, the Rosary, Catholic manhood and Catholic femininity. We also heard a brief history of the Dominicans in London, before beginning a rosary procession in the shrine-church. Each mystery of the Rosary has a specific side chapel dedicated to it, and we stopped at each one along our procession before finishing by singing the Salve Regina at the tops of our voices in the Lady Chapel.

Traditional Latin Mass in the Dominican rite

The first talk was delivered by Friar Philomeno of the Marian Franciscans based in Gosport on the south coast, and was on the life and work of Venerable Fr Patrick Peyton. Fr Peyton was born in 1909 in Ireland but travelled to the USA (in search of wealth!). After a miraculous healing he dedicated his life to spreading devotion to the Rosary. Fr Peyton was the pioneer of the family rosary crusade and travelled the world inspiring devotion to Our Lady. The Rosary brings us closer to Our Lady, and Fr Peyton held the conviction that peace will come to families who pray the Rosary. He brought hope throughout the world with this message and coined the phrases ‘the family that prays together stays together’ and 'a world at prayer is a world at peace'. In 1952 Fr Peyton gathered thousands of Catholics from all over the UK to Wembley Stadium to meet with him and join him on this Rosary crusade. How appropriate that on this retreat day, we gathered at London’s diocesan rosary shrine and had the opportunity to pray the rosary together.

‘The world is thy ship and not thy home.’ These words of St. Thérèse of Lisieux point to heaven as our real home and provided the thread through the second talk presented by a young nurse, Catherine Collins. She shared her experience of caring for her dying father and stressed the importance and role which the family has in praying for their dying relatives. She emphasised that prayer and the sacraments helped her, her father and the family to live in faith and not fear during this preparation for his death. Her sharing was beautiful and moving.

The final two talks, on Catholic manhood and Catholic femininity were excellent. Sam Baker of Catholic Man UK delivered a powerful and inspirational vision of what it means to be a man in the modern world.

Attending events run by the Catholic Medical Association has been a great source of support since I qualified as an Occupational Therapist. I have often felt quite alone as a Catholic living and working in a culture which does not always uphold the dignity and value of human life. CMA events such as this have assisted in forming me as a Catholic in healthcare. I have had the opportunity to seek answers to many difficult clinical conundrums and most of all I have made good Catholic friends who share the same struggles fulfilling their vocations as Catholics in healthcare.

This was a great day of prayer and reflection and I look forward to the next event: The Catholic Medical Association's fourth annual youth conference in October!