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 (Note: This is an acceptance speech by Dr. Jennie Werst of Bethlehem, Pa., given on 27 Dec, 1978, in the Chapel of the Barnabite Fathers' Seminary in Lewistown, N.Y., on the occasion of her affiliation into the Barnabite Order).

 

 

Dear Fathers, Sisters, Ladies and Gentlemen:

 

I am fully cognizant of the special honor you confer on me today. How wonderful it is to be standing here in this beautiful Basilica dedicated to our Blessed Mother. How wonderful it is also to be thought of as Mother of the Bar­nabite Order here in Lewistown.

 

I feel the life work of priest and physician is so similar. There are three words I shall dwell on to explain why I think so. First the word physician: It comes from the Latin profiteri, meaning to declare aloud. To make a public avowal. That avowal is to heal. A priest heals the troubled mind of the repentant and the minds of the scrupulous who think they are always in sin. That person needs consolation and communication, so he seeks out his favorite priest whom he thinks is very understanding. The priest, after much listening, prescribes his medication called "absolution" and the repentant leaves in a state of grace. What a wonderful gift only a priest can give through Christ.

 

The next word is Patient. The Latin root is patior-pati, meaning to suffer, to bear something. It was first used by Chaucer in the medieval world. The patient goes to his pastor to be relieved of his anxieties, worries, fears, doubts, and other neuroses from which he is suffering. He is listened to patiently for long periods of time. Then the priest gives him advice just as a good parent gives his child advice. The physician doesn't usually hear about the emotional turmoil the ill one is suffering. Therefore, he doesn't get to treat the whole person. As a woman physician of 43 years and having as 90 percent of my patients women, I heard more con­fessions than many priests. They com­municated easier with one of their own. The patient is a petitioner, a human in distress, mentally and or physically. He is not a client. The word client is a pollution of a word that it has a lineage back to Roman times when the client paid certain homage to and performed services for going his Master in return for his protection. Today, the word client is appearing more and more with distressing frequency in the medical world.  A client is a customer and this notion has no place in the medical world, be it priest, any other healthcare person.

 

The third word is such a beautiful one­ Compassion; its meanings are so varied. It is a derivation of the same root patior-pati or patient. It means literally to suffer with, to share, to remove another's distress, and to be moved by the desire to relieve that distress. It means to feel the situation of the burden of the person. It means to heal the miseries that are torturing him and to feel as much as possible his state of being. We can never wholly enter into the state of being of another human, but we must strive with all our might to feel it to the fullest extent that our own sensibilities will allow. It is our failure to feel together with the patient that leads to the complaint of humiliation we hear so often today about our religion and medicine.

 

In the words of the great writer, Thomas Mann, "All studies rest finally on the reverence for the mystery of man," and may I add "whom God has created."

And so, as Martin Luther King and his followers say so lustily, "What the world needs now is love, sweet love." Let's all hand it out. It doesn't cost a cent.

 

May the good Lord shower his blessings upon you dear Fathers, I can never thank you enough for the concern given me when I needed the help of God so desperately.

 

Yes, my late husband is looking down at us today and saying, "Thank you Fathers, you all have truly been our sons." As for me, how proud I would have been, had I really borne you all. I give you my love,  the love of a mother.

 

During the Catholic Reform of the early 1500’s, there existed in Milan the Oratory of Eternal Wisdom. One of its spiritual guiding forces was St. Anthony Mary Zaccaria. He formed three different groups from the oratory: the Barnabite Fathers, Angelic Sisters, and the Married of St. Paul.

Around the time of the Council of Trent the Married of St. Paul fell to the wayside. Since Vatican II there has been a rebirth of various lay spiritual movements. In the 1990’s this third group has been reborn as the Oblates (Laity) of St. Paul.

For many centuries the term "OBLATE" has been defined as "one offered to God." Thus the oblate has been one linked in some way to a religious institute or as a member of a religious institute. In recent times lay men and women have been seeking to express their faith with regard to the first definition of the Barnabites and the Angelics.

In the North American Province of the Barnabite Fathers, the Oblates of St. Paul began on March 5, 2000 with their first meeting at St. James Parish in Oakville, Ontario.

The Oblates meet monthly with an open sharing of ideas on topics connected with St. Anthony Mary, the Barnabite Fathers, or St. Paul. These members of the laity (single or married) wish to grow spiritually within the Zaccaria family.

Each Oblate community (cenacle) has a Barnabite as its spiritual director to guide all in their spiritual journey with and through the Barnabites. The Oblates also are involved in some form of Barnabite ministry connected with a Barnabite community.