A Mass of Celebration was held at St. Katherine Drexel Parish, Sacred Heart Church in Springfield, Illinois on Wednesday, May 19, 2004. The Mass was sponsored by the Springfield Guild of the Catholic Medical Association in order to honor graduates of the Southern Illinois University School of Medicine Class of 2004. The celebrant was Monsignor John Renken. The graduates were encouraged to be "ministers of life," as Pope John Paul II exhorted in his Letter to Health Care Workers. Students served as lectors and gift-bearers during the Mass. After Holy Communion was distributed, a brief summary of the life of the newly canonized physician saint, St. Gianna Molla, was recited. The students and all physicians present recited the version of the Hippocratic oath provided by the National Catholic Bioethics Center. At the end of Mass, the graduates knelt before altar and the Holy Spirit was invoked by singing of Veni Creator Spiritus. A reception and fellowship was held afterwards in the parish center. The students and physicians present enjoyed the powerful spiritual send-off that will propel them into their future stages of training and medical careers.

CATHOLIC PHYSICIANS' GUILD OF SPRINGFIELD

The Catholic Physicians' Guild of Springfield Catholic Medical Association Springfield, Illinois Leonard P. Rybak, M.D., Ph.D. Springfield Guild President Phone: (217) 787-7075