A local guild of Catholic
medical professionals hopes to make searching for a Catholic doctor easier and
provides community for the medical professionals.
The Catholic Medical Association
Guild of Northern Virginia was founded in 2007 by Dr. Marie Anderson, a
physician at Tepeyac Family Center in Fairfax. The local guild has been part of
the national guild but now they are linked online through a new website:
novacathmed.org.
Anderson said the purpose of the
national and local organizations is to educate, form and support. Through the
new website, she said the guild wants to educate the public through articles
and links to other Catholic resources that hold the same values as the
guild.
Since the local guild is open to
all in the healthcare field, Anderson said patients will be able to locate
local Catholic practitioners via the website.
“We realize the world is moving
to an information technology format and a lot of what we had to do in person we
can now do online,” she said.
“We want Catholic doctors to be
part of something bigger than themselves,” said Anderson, who encourages
medical professionals to join the guild.
The intersection of medicine and
faith puts the work in a new perspective, she said. “When I was ready to deepen
my faith, it was difficult for me to find a doctor that practiced faith-based
medicine,” said Anderson. “They had gone where I was going and there was a
spiritual and medical expertise.”
Anderson wanted to know how
other Catholic doctors present themselves to their peers and their patients and
“why they believe that it is the very best that we can offer to use the Divine
Healer as our role model.”
“Come for the camaraderie and
support and relationship with other doctors who are facing many of the
challenges you face. Learn about yourself and become confident enough to share
what you know is the truth,” she said.
“We want people on this journey
together because we know there is safety in numbers and we grow best when we
share what experiences we’ve had,” she said. “It solidifies our faith to be
able to live it out and act on it in a world that is not always receptive.
“To many
people medicine is a profession but to us at Tepayac, and other Catholic
doctors that live their faith at work, it is a vocation,” said Anderson. “It
has to be or you won’t have the courage to step out in faith and see what
happens, and what happens is a miracle.
“We treat, God heals.”
Find out more
Go to novacathmed.org or cathmed.org.
