The Office for Marriage and Family Life will host a Diocesan White Mass at 10 a.m. on Sunday, May 27 at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Springfield. Bishop Thomas John Paprocki will celebrate the Mass, which will be followed with a lunch and presentation in the Cathedral atrium.
The White Mass is celebrated for the special intentions of the medical, dental and general healthcare professions. It is named for the traditional color of the white coats worn by members of the medical fields. Plans are to make this Mass an annual diocesan event and all men and women religious and Catholic laypersons serving in these kinds of professions are invited to attend.
During the lunch Sister Mary Diana Dreger, OP, MD, will give a presentation entitled "The Practice of Virtue in the Practice of Medicine." In her talk she will show how a return to Judeo-Christian virtues in medical practices is essential if medicine is to retain its historic spirit of life-affirmation and healing.
Sister Mary Diana is a native New Yorker who, after a series of life events, eventually came to join the Dominican Sisters at St. Cecilia Motherhouse in Nashville, Tenn. By the time she took her final vows in 1996, she was well into her 30s.
With the recommendation of her mother superior and the financial backing of her order, Sister Mary Diana entered medical school and graduated from Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, in 2001 at age 39. She finished her residency in 2004.
Today Sister Mary Diana serves as primary care physician for about 80 Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia Congregation. She is also a primary care provider three days a week at St. Thomas Family Health Center South in Nashville, a clinic that serves the uninsured. As a Dominican, when she is not at the clinic or caring for her religious sisters, Sister Mary Diana participates in the daily activities at the motherhouse.
Those who plan to attend the Mass with Bishop Paprocki, the luncheon and Sister Mary Diana's presentation are asked to make reservations as soon as possible with Carlos Tejeda, associate director of the Office for Marriage and Family Life at or (217) 321-1132.