Is their an order of priests that are involved in the medical field (doctors, surgeons, etc.); if so, who and if not why not?

-- Emerald (emerald1@cox.net), December 03, 2002

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-- (emerald1@cox.net), December 03, 2002.

I don't know if there's one particular order but there are certainly a lot of priests, monks and nuns involved in the medical field - surgeons, doctors of all kinds, and nurses. :-)

-- Christine L. :-) (chris_tine_leh_man@hotmail.com), December 03, 2002.

Hello, Emerald.

I don't believe that there is an order of priests dedicated to being medical doctors. You asked "why not." I'm not sure, but I think that I have read that the profession is thought to be one for lay people -- because it is usually so intense and time-consuming that it does not leave a man sufficient time to devote to priestly duties. The Church, I have read, is not particularly enthusiastic about "hyphenated priests," except, I suppose, for teacher-priests.

There are a couple of orders of nursing brothers, most notably the Alexian Brothers (www.alexianbrothers.org) and the Hospitaller Brothers of St. John of God. I don't know if any of them become surgeons.

But I didn't mean to say that NO priests at all are doctors. Please read this:
"Peter Le Jacq is not your average physician. One of only about 100 Roman Catholic priests worldwide who are medical doctors, the Rev. Le Jacq, M.D., has spent a dozen years as a health care worker and medical missionary in one of the world's poorest countries. In 1987, Rev. Le Jacq realized a lifelong dream when he completed a special 12-year program that combines theological training at the Maryknoll Seminary with medical training at Cornell University."
[The above comes from this article.]

God bless you.
John

-- J. F. Gecik (jfgecik@hotmail.com), December 07, 2002.

A couple random thoughts that led to this question... the picture of having priests around the operating table tending to the temporal wellbeing of a person at a point of possible critical juncture between this life and the next; being readily available and present at a moment of crisis; promoting the medical profession as more a work of charity than a business of profit; being able to be involved closely with administering to the sick and the dying. And cheap health insurance... lol!

Hospitals are concentrated points of birth and death, entrance and exit. Seems kind of natural that the agents of the hereafter should be close by... maybe even deeply involved in the processes themselves.

-- Emerald (emerald1@cox.net), December 08, 2002.

Priests ARE deeply involved in this, Emerald, without being physicians!
Somehow you have forgotten about the existence of hospital chaplains. That is a great ministry for priests. They bring the sacraments and personal counsel and comfort to people in need of them.
God bless you.
John

-- (jfgecik@hotmail.com), December 09, 2002.