Why is Faith important? Read the medical student SSCD presidents’ answer
The SSCD exists to provide support and community to Christian, particularly Catholic, medical students at Vanderbilt, so that they may grow in their faith throughout the course of their medical training. To accomplish this, we aim to connect students with one another and with Catholic physicians, both locally and nationally, through a strong relationship with the wider Catholic Medical Association.
Through small group discussions, lectures, worship, and informal gatherings, we hope to address the physical, emotional, moral and spiritual challenges of medical practice and strengthen one another through religious formation and community.
Regular & Ongoing SSCD Events:
MEDICAL CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP (MCF) COMMUNITY DINNERS
On Monday evenings during the school year, join the MCF at the home of the Pugh family (Dr. Meredith Pugh in Pulmonary & Critical Care, her husband Brian who helps lead MCF, and their children!). Gatherings usually include dinner/dessert, prayer, and testimonies or Bible studies with other medical/nursing students, residents, and physicians!
SMALL GROUP BOOK DISCUSSIONS
Once a month, we endeavor to gather during the lunch hour to discuss the writings of famous Catholic or Christian authors. In the past, we have delved into the writing of C.S. Lewis, Flannery O’Conner, and Fr. Jacques Philippe. Stay tuned this year for more C.S. Lewis and G.K. Chesterton!
HIPOCRATIC OATH BANQUET
One of our biggest events of the year! Generally early on in the academic year, physicians from around Nashville gather for a banquet and a guest lecture. This is a great event for students to get to know Catholic faculty in the Nashville area. The evening gathers us together so we may re-connect with the Catholic community in the city, and together re-dedicate ourselves to the to the Catholic Hippocratic Oath.
WHITE MASS
Held once a year, this is a Mass celebrated especially for those in health care, and is followed by a reception and a speaker. Last year, Bishop Choby said the Mass, attended by local physicians, nurses and religious. Afterward, Fr. Bill Joensen, Dean of Campus Spiritual Life and Associate Professor of Philosophy at Loras College, spoke at a wine and cheese reception on “The Church as ‘Field Hospital’ and the Health Care Field: Professing Medicine and Faith.”
OTHER EVENTS WITH THE CATHOLIC MEDICAL ASSOCIATION GUILD
The SSCD regularly (~monthly) has off-campus events with the Nashville Guild of the Catholic Medical Association. For videos of many of these events, see the CMA Vimeo page! (https://vimeo.com/nashvillecma/videos)
