SALT LAKE CITY — The Most Rev. John C. Wester, Bishop of Salt Lake City, will celebrate the inaugural White Mass in the Diocese of Salt Lake City for health care professionals Oct. 29 in the Cathedral of the Madeleine.
The White Mass is open to all. A reception will follow, with a talk by Dr. John Brehany, National Catholic Medical Association executive director, who will speak about conscience rights and religious liberty in health care.
"I am very excited about starting what has traditionally been called the ‘White Mass’ in our diocese," Bishop Wester. "Dr. Natalie Rodden ... met with me a while ago, anxious to start this wonderful practice in Utah. ... We will also be talking about starting an organization or society of doctors and health care workers that will serve as a support system for its members and allow an opportunity to study Catholic teaching in the medical field. I hope to see many come to our inaugural Mass."
The tradition of the White Mass began in the United States when the National Catholic Medical Association was formed in the 1930s. The Mass is celebrated on a day close to the Feast of Saint Luke, which is Oct. 18. Saint Luke is the patron saint of physicians.
The Mass was so named for the white coat worn by those in healing professions.
"The White Mass is a beautiful opportunity for all those in the health care fields to celebrate serving and healing others," said Dr. Natalie Rodden, who organized the local White Mass. "The Mass is a time to rededicate our work according to the Catholic faith and to go back to our roots and to why we entered a health care field."
Rodden’s interest in the field began when she was 8 years old and her grandmother was moved into a nursing home following a stroke.
"My family would visit her almost every night, and I think that was very formational for me," she said. "I came to really love the elderly and health care, and early on I was around people who were sick and suffering, including my dad who had colon cancer. My dad got through it, but it definitely left a mark on me."
As a result, Rodden would like to do further studies in geriatrics or palliative care because "end-of-life care would be like being a midwife for the soul," she said.
Rodden, a second-year internal medicine resident at the University of Utah, rotates her work among the University of Utah Medical Center, the Veterans’ Medical Center, Huntsman Cancer Institute and the Intermountain Medical Center.
She grew up in Indiana and graduated from Notre Dame University before attending Tulane School of Medicine in New Orleans, La.
Rodden organized the first White Mass held in New Orleans in 2009, after joining the Catholic Medical Association, which has the motto: "Upholding the principles of the Catholic faith in the science and practice of medicine."
With the approval of Archbishop Gregory Aymond of New Orleans, the Mass was held in an ecumenical chapel at Tulane and 30 people attended; the next year, almost 200 people attended the White Mass.
"I got involved with the Catholic Medical Association because I had a strong Catholic background and Tulane was not a Catholic school and was not pro-life in its teachings," Rodden said. "I had to defend my beliefs and needed support from other physicians who upheld the traditions of the Catholic faith."
This past summer Rodden attended a medical student boot camp through the Catholic Medical Association, where she was taught by philosophers, theologians and physicians on Catholic formation, she said.
"We were getting formed in our faith and how it applies to our work and the many issues we are going to face," she said.
WHAT: White Mass for health care professionals; open to the public
WHERE: The Cathedral of the Madeleine, 309 E. South Temple, SLC
WHEN: Oct. 29, Mass at 7 p.m., followed by a reception and talk
For information, contact Dr. Natalie Rodden, nrodden@gmail.com.
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