Calgary Catholic Medical Association

The Calgary Catholic Medical Association (CCMA)  would love to invite and meet with you at our upcoming event. Please join us for the White Mass (Feast day of St. Luke) Tuesday, October. 18, 2022 at 7 pm, at St. Mary's Cathedral (Calgary) with Bishop McGrattan. This mass is open to the public and is not limited to only health care professionals. 

About CCMA
The Calgary Catholic Medical Association (CCMA) has been a running lay Association for 20 years. It is the only multidisciplinary Catholic Association of health care providers in Canada. Our mission is to foster the personal and professional formation of healthcare professionals, in accord with the magisterium of the Catholic Church.

Membership includes voting and nomination privileges at the AGM, early notification of upcoming events, early bird discount pricing for social events, but most importantly, a community that holds common ground in faith and interest in health care.

To share some personal experiences of the CCMA, we have testimonies from a few members of the Executive Council.

The CCMA has been for me a place of friendship and spiritual support. My membership dates back to CCMA’s first days (20+ years ago). I have been a Family Physician for almost 40 years.

​I have enjoyed meeting health care providers from different walks of life. Their shared experiences have enriched me personally. It was very helpful to be supported by a group of people that see their vocations as a service to the patient in the Name of Jesus. The sharing of the Art and Science of Healthcare has been beneficial for me as a Family Physician in the city of Calgary. The Diocesan spiritual support through the CCMA has been very important for me as well.

We have had fun times. Recently I really enjoyed the easy camaraderie between the CCMA Physicians and our Indigenous colleagues when volunteering as a Physician at the Papal visit in Edmonton. It was a very good and privileged 'Walking Together ' experience." 
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Dr. Monique Withers (Treasurer)

I recall being invited to join the CCMA in 2015, by one of the Physicians and I was excited to be a part of an association that combined the Catholic faith and my vocation as a nurse. In the past 7 years, CCMA has really evolved and I can attest, has been a great place of spiritual nourishment and support. Knowing that I am a part of an association of varying disciplines who share the same faith, I am confident and comfortable that I can always find someone to talk to or talk through certain ethics and morale lived out in the workplace.

In the past the CCMA has held conferences that could help strengthen one’s faith in their profession, in order to do the work we are called to do. My family has joined in Pilgrimages hosted by this association and the White Mass particularly is strengthening to see the health professions coming together in our faith’s highest form of worship. ​We have been well supported by the Bishop and the Diocese for our events and witnessing the growth in membership with the CCMA has been encouraging, to see others interested in practicing their faith, but also living it out even in their field of expertise."
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• Rikka Borras, RN (Vice President)

I have been part of the CCMA since 2016, first as a spouse of a member, an allied health member, and then as a member of the Board. For me, this association is a place of community and connection with others of the same faith and values. Sometimes religion and spirituality can be very personal and hard to talk about, however, I have realized that spirituality is what gives us meaning in life, whether for ourselves or for the people we care for. This has been the place to share in how we can live out our faith while exhibiting the love and care like Jesus did within both our personal and professional roles.

The events and get-togethers hosted are an opportunity to reflect and find support in the challenges we have as healthcare professionals. I was particularly moved at the Breakfast with the Bishop, back in March 2020, right before the world shut down due to the pandemic. Bishop McGrattan spoke about palliative care which can provide opportunity for a spiritual experience at the end of life for the person(s) involved, as well as those around them. This brought to the forefront, the grief I was trying to make sense of from my dad's passing nine months prior as well as humanity's shared mortality, healthcare professionals and patients alike. The "end" is something we often avoid thinking about but truly, it is inevitable. How can we make sense of it, especially now knowing what was to come after that? I remember the message, that death (and suffering) is part of the bigger picture, God's plan, as I sit with patience and acceptance with myself and with my clients. As a therapist, the chance to bear witness to and to support another person's suffering is really an honour and a privilege. 

The CCMA is welcoming not only to physicians, but also healthcare professionals of various disciplines. It is one of, if not only, associations in Canada that is multi-disciplinary - we have nurses, psychologists, and counsellors to name a few. This community really values the different health professionals in a person's care journey and in that, we find ways to learn from each other to better serve our clients and patients
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"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ. If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort." 2 Corinthians 1:3-7. 
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• Elaine Cheung, MTA (Secretary)

To contact CCMA, visit their website at https://catholicmedyyc.wordpress.com 
​or email catholicmedyyc@gmail.com