Listen to the Current's podcast above and watch the slideshow of a very special occasion of prayer last Monday, May 17 in St. Catherine of Siena Church in Manhattan. The Dominican Friars Health Care Ministry of New York, the Respect Life Office of the Archdiocese of New York, and the Gianna Health Care Center co-sponsored the event; with nearly one thousand in attendance, the life of St Gianni Beretta Molla, mother and physician, and patron of infertile couples was celebrated with Mass, the Veneration of her relics followed by a moving portrait of St. Gianni given by her son, Pierluigi Molla.

As reported in the May 20th issue of Catholic New York (www.cny.org), St. Gianna Beretta Molla may be the first saint ever canonized while her children are still alive. She spent her life in her native Italy as a physician, wife and mother. In 1962, pregnant with her fourth child, she developed a uterine tumor. She refused to have an abortion or hysterectomy, and insisted that if a choice had to be made between herself and the baby, doctors were to save the baby. She died at age 39, a week after giving birth to a healthy girl. St. Gianna was beatified in 1994 and was canonized May 16, 2004, the last saint canonized by Pope John Paul II before his death. She is honored especially for her courageous witness to life, and she is being promoted in particular as a patron of couples struggling with infertility.

She also was chosen as patron by the Gianna Center - The Catholic Healthcare Center for Women, a facility in Manhattan that offers general health care for women of all ages, including prenatal care and special treatment for infertility. The Center, founded by two physicians, Anne Mielnik, MD and Kyle Beiter, MD, is the only women's health care center in New York metropolitan area that is explicitly committed to following the teaching of the Catholic Church in all of its services to women and married couples. This is the first medical practice in the New York metropolitan area that uses NaPro Technology, an approach to treating infertility and recurrent miscarriage.

Earlier in the day, Archbishop Timothy Dolan, Archbishop of New York, visited the Gianna Center for the enshrinement of a photograph and relic of St. Gianna. The archbishop led a prayer service and blessed the image and the Center's offices. Archbishop Dolan, in remarks at the enshrinement ceremony, told the two doctors, "You've really taken Jesus at his word by casting out into the deep." "Great things will happen here," he continued. He cited the center's "powerful pro-life message," and added, "We've got to get the word out, because our enemies have been successful in promoting the caricature that the Church is against science and technology, and that there are no moral, ethically defensible, technologically savvy ways for couples...to bring about new life." He also commended the Dominican Friars Health Care Ministry of New York for their historic and sustained commitment to protecting and defending the dignity of the human person from conception to natural death.

Speaking at both events was Pierluigi Molla, eldest child and only son of St. Gianna. He noted that as a pediatrician, his mother devoted herself to the care of mothers and children. He called the Gianna Center "a wonderful way to honor her memory." He remarked that his mother, while deeply devoted to her faith, her family and her patients, also loved skiing, rock climbing and music. In an interview later, he said, "The message is that an ordinary life can be blessed. It's not necessary to do extraordinary things." She was canonized, he said, "for how she lived her life and not just for how she sacrificed it." St. Gianna's husband, Pietro Molla, died April 3 at age 97. Two of her three daughters survive: Laura and Gianna Emanuela, for whom she gave her life, now a physician.

The principal celebrant of the Mass and Homilist was Father John A. Farren, O.P. In his homily he said that St. Gianna "cultivated a conscious love of God," and he noted her concern for "mothers, babies, the elderly and the poor." He also said that "love expressed in family life is holy." To view the full video of the celebration visit: http://netny.net/currents/video/stories/remembering-st-gianna-51810/

Many couples seeking to become pregnant came to pray, including RenŽe and Eli Vitrano of Staten Island, parishioners at Holy Family, who have tried for six years to have a child. "It's really beautiful and a blessing to hear that there are physicians out there that do want to practice medicine in accordance with the teachings of the Catholic Church," Mrs. Vitrano said. "It's important to be able to go to a place that is grounded in spirituality...It would be going to a doctor's office where God is present." For more information on the Gianna Center visit www.giannahealth.org or call 212-481-1219.
__________________________________________________________________________
The mission of the Dominican Friars Health Care Ministry of New York is to promote the dignity of the human person and the healing ministry of Jesus Christ among parishioners, health care professionals, patients, and their families through pastoral care, education, research, and ethics consultations in the Hospital for Special Surgery, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York Presbyterian-Weill Cornell Medical Center, and Rockefeller University Hospital and all others in need. For more information call Fr. Jordan Kelly, O.P. at 212-988-8300, ext 381.