After 2 1/2 years, when Bishop Michael F. Burbidge blessed Catholic
Charities Mother of Mercy Free Medical Clinic in Manassas, located in a space
that was once an abortion clinic, he returned to bless the clinic’s chapel June
9.
Bringing the tabernacle to the clinic chapel, where staff,
volunteers and patients regularly pray, was a labor of love for Clinic Director
Alexandra Luevano, who received the permission from Bishop Burbidge to begin
the project in January 2019 when he blessed the clinic’s ultrasound equipment,
a donation from the Knights of Columbus, allowing it to begin prenatal care.
With the support of Father Lee Roos, pastor of All Saints
Catholic Church in Manassas, Father Mauricio Pineda, parochial vicar, and two
donors took on the project of setting up the tabernacle for the Blessed
Sacrament flanked by statues of the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. Joseph.
“Spiritual healing is even more important than physical healing
and having Christ truly present at the clinic provides a sanctuary to fulfill
this deeper need in all of us,” said Luevano.
The blessing event, originally scheduled for early spring, was
rescheduled to June due to the onset of the coronavirus pandemic and
stay-at-home orders. The same week, the clinic was awarded a gold rating from the
National Association of Free and Charitable Clinics quality standards program,
which evaluates the health care provided to patients.
During the pandemic, the Manassas clinic continued to serve
patients, an “easy decision,” according to Luevano. “God has allowed us to
continue to serve our clients, not only by seeing our pregnant patients for care
at the clinic, providing COVID-19 testing, and education, but also being able
to provide telehealth to our other clients to avoid any gap in care.”
“Right now, the people we serve, largely
patients from the Hispanic community, are the most affected with the virus, bus
also lack of employment or source of income. We are helping our clients
understand how they can be healthy and in turn help and protect others,” she
said. Mother of Mercy is working to provide vital information, as are other
Catholic Charities programs, including a recent Spanish language Zoom webinar
on the coronavirus.
In mid-April, Catholic
Charities opened the second Mother of Mercy Free Medical Clinic in Woodbridge.
Bishop Burbidge will bless that clinic July 24. Both clinics rely
on volunteer medical doctors, nurses and other medical professionals to
operate.
Snider is deputy director of diocesan communications.
Volunteer
Contact [email protected].
