The 2026 Rose Mass seeking God’s blessings on the medical, dental, nursing and allied health care workers and health care institutions in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington also offered an opportunity for the main celebrant, Cardinal Robert W. McElroy, and the homilist, Jesuit Father James Van Dyke, to offer personal thanks for the health care they have received.
As the 34th annual Rose Mass sponsored by the John Carroll Society began on March 15 at the Church of the Little Flower in Bethesda, Maryland, the pastor, Father Lee Fangmeyer, offered thanks to those in the healing professions for showing “the grace, love and the touch of Jesus” to those they serve.
Cardinal McElroy, the archbishop of Washington, said, “I feel a particular sense of gratitude to all of you who are health care professionals today, because you know I had cancer surgery in November. It went great. It’s gone. But throughout, I experienced tremendously the gifts, the care, and the compassion of health care professionals in every facet of that. So particularly this year on a personal level, I want to thank you.”
The Rose Mass is celebrated annually on the fourth Sunday of Lent, Laetare Sunday, when the vestments worn by the celebrants are rose colored. The rose symbolizes life, and prayers are offered at the Rose Mass for those in the healing professions who are caring for life in all its stages.
The concelebrants at the Mass included Washington Auxiliary Bishops Roy Campbell Jr. and Juan Esposito; Father Fangmeyer; Msgr. Peter Vaghi, the John Carroll Society’s longtime chaplain; Father Van Dyke, the president of Georgetown Preparatory School in North Bethesda, Maryland; and Father Anthony Lickteig, the archdiocese’s vicar for clergy and secretary for ministerial leadership. Also concelebrating the Mass were several priests who serve as chaplains at local hospitals, and Father Benjamin Bralove, a parochial vicar at St. Mary of the Mills Parish in Laurel who served as an emergency room physician in New York City before being ordained as a priest for the Archdiocese of Washington in 2024.
In his opening remarks, Cardinal McElroy emphasized that “in healthcare, you follow in the footsteps of Jesus Christ in a profound way. Jesus was a healer when he walked the earth. It was one of the most central priorities for him in his call and in his mission, because it evidences God being with those who are sick and in need and bringing healing to them on a variety of levels.”
The cardinal told health care workers that “you are imaging Christ in the world when you care for those who are in need, your patients and all you encounter, and you care for them with your skills, with your compassion, with your wisdom and your understanding.” He said they were being Christ-like in a powerful way for those who are suffering, and for that, “I give you great and profound thanks.”
The first reading was read by Veronica Estefani, a student at the Conway School of Nursing at The Catholic University of America, and the second reading was read by Ariel Fernandez, a student at the Georgetown University School of Medicine. Later, the offertory gifts were brought up by Little Sisters of the Poor who serve the elderly poor at the order’s Jeanne Jugan Residence in Washington.
In his homily, Father Van Dyke noted that he had open-heart surgery 19 years ago at the New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center.
“Rather than the pain I anticipated, I spent my recovery that Lent surrounded by love and care beyond my wildest imaginings,” he said. “…I was keenly aware throughout how hard my medical team – from my surgeon and doctors to the nurses to the techs to the staff – how hard they all worked to make me well. So it is a special grace to celebrate you before the Lord this morning. Because I am here, and that’s not a small grace.”
The priest noted how Dr. Robert Coles, a medical doctor, psychiatrist and activist for civil rights, learned from Dr. William Carlos Williams, who practiced family medicine and did house calls in Paterson, New Jersey, the importance of “paying attention to the life in front of him, and not just the symptoms or the wounds or the illness.”
He tied that to the day’s first Scripture reading, when God had Samuel anoint David, a young shepherd, as the king of Israel. “We see what we want to see, whereas God looks to the heart,” Father Van Dyke said, also tying that message to the story of that day’s Gospel reading from John 9:1-41, when Jesus healed the man who was born blind.
Noting that the Rose Mass is a time to celebrate the hard work, care and dedication of health care professionals, the priest added that their example offers a reminder that “we are all called to be healers – that is the very core of our vocation as Christians, as people christened, claimed by Christ the healer, not for ourselves, but so that the glory of God may shine through us in the dark valleys of our world, so that people can see, even as the blind man saw, the love of God made manifest.”
Concluding his homily, he encouraged people to bring God’s healing love to others, “to see as Jesus sees, to see as God sees… He asks us to see to the very heart, to see for the love of God what is needed… and see what God is asking us to do” for people in need.
As the Mass was ending, Father Fangmeyer led the congregation in applause for Msgr. Vaghi, who retired as the pastor of the Church of the Little Flower this past summer after leading that parish for 21 years. Msgr. Vaghi continues serving as the chaplain of the John Carroll Society, which is named for Archbishop John Carroll of Baltimore, who in 1789 was named as the first Catholic bishop in the 13 original states. Founded in 1951, the John Carroll Society includes about 900 members from all areas of professional and business life in Washington. The society assists the archbishop of Washington in works of charity and community projects, and it offers spiritual and intellectual programs and opportunities for social fellowship for its members.
Cardinal McElroy in his closing remarks commended people for trying to get closer to God during their Lenten journeys, and he thanked health care workers, saying, “You walk in the footsteps of Jesus Christ” by helping to bring physical, emotional and spiritual healing to people. “Thank you for being Christ-like in your work,” he said.
At a luncheon after the Mass, the John Carroll Society presented its 2026 Pro Bono Health Care Awards. (Related story to come.)
