By Dan McWilliams
Bishop Mark Beckman said he wanted his listeners at All Saints Church in Knoxville on Oct. 29 “to know how grateful I am for the work that you do for our St. Mary’s mobile Legacy Clinic and the great work of reaching out with the healing help of Jesus by your presence and your work with that clinic.”
The bishop cut the ribbon and blessed the new Legacy Clinic van after Mass, then joined the ministry’s staff and volunteers for its annual volunteer luncheon in the parish hall.
Bless this clinic Bishop Mark Beckman gives a blessing and prepares to sprinkle holy water on the new St. Mary’s Legacy Clinic van on Oct. 29 at All Saints Church. Among those present are, from left, Jessica Wenzlaff, Sister Gianna Marie Savidge, RSM, Sarah Grimes, Sister Claudia Marie Murray, RSM, and Deacon Hicks Armor. (Photo Dan McWilliams)
Deacon Hicks Armor assisted Bishop Beckman at Mass and at the blessing. The new van “will be a joy to see—great to see the outside and the inside as well,” the bishop said before the liturgy.
In his homily at Mass, the bishop referred to the day’s Gospel reading from Luke 13, where Jesus was asked, “Lord, will only a few people be saved?” Jesus replied, “Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I tell you, will attempt to enter but will not be strong enough.”
“The question addressed to Jesus today, ‘Lord, are there only a few who will be saved?’ It’s an interesting way that Jesus replies to that question,” Bishop Beckman said. “Sometimes I’ve wondered when a question like that is asked, is the person thinking . . . ‘are there going to be a few people who are with me or many?’ Because the reply of Jesus is very interesting—He doesn’t begin by saying ‘many or few,’ He begins by saying, ‘strive to enter through the narrow gate,’ so a direct challenge back to the questioner: you try to get in through the narrow gate.”
The Gospel reading reminded the bishop of his seminarian days studying in Belgium, where he learned of another seminarian “who went to be a chaplain with the U.S. Navy for his summer pastoral assignment, and he showed up to board a submarine at one point, and he had this very large suitcase. He couldn’t get it through the opening to get onto that submarine,” Bishop Beckman recalled.
“The person who was there said, ‘You’re going to have to have less if you’re going to get through this doorway.’ And it reminded me of these words, ‘striving to enter through the narrow gate,’ because sometimes we have so much clutter. I’m speaking now of interior clutter that prevents us from entering into the life that the Lord so wills for us,” the bishop continued.
That interior clutter can include the deadly sins, he said.
“Christ Himself is the narrow gate, the doorway into life. And all the things in us that hold us back from that are what we have to let go of,” Bishop Beckman said. “We know the deadly sins. The last parish I was pastor in had them in stained-glass windows in case we missed them. You’d go out, and the virtues were on the left-hand side and the vices on the right-hand side. All those deadly things: our gluttony, our pride, our sloth—we could name all those things, but if you’re underneath them, these are the things that we have to let go of in order to say yes to God’s kingdom.”
Sister Gianna Marie Savidge, RSM, new medical director, and Jessica Wenzlaff, new executive director, are now managing the growing St. Mary’s Legacy Clinic, which serves 10 sites in East Tennessee. (Photo Dan McWilliams)
Sister Claudia Marie Murray, RSM, the clinic’s new pediatric nurse practitioner and patient navigator, delivered the prayers of the faithful at Mass. They included “for Bishop Mark Beckman and the priests and deacons of the Diocese of Knoxville, we pray especially in gratitude for their continued support of the mission of St. Mary’s Legacy Clinic and for blessings upon each of them in their ministry of the Church” and “for the patients of the St. Mary’s Legacy Clinic whom we serve, that through the healing ministry of Christ, the Divine Physician, they may find consolation amidst their sufferings and sorrows of mind, body, and spirit.”
The prayers also asked that “for each of the St. Mary’s Legacy Clinic volunteers, that they may be strengthened to continue their works of service to Christ Jesus in the poor and sick of rural East Tennessee. We pray in gratitude for the generosity of time, talent, and treasure given by each volunteer and ask that the Lord bestow abundant graces and blessings upon them and their families” and “for the repose of the souls of the deceased patients, volunteers, and benefactors of the St. Mary’s Legacy Clinic, may they be brought into the joy of the heavenly Kingdom.”
The Mass was celebrated “for the intention of all of the St. Mary’s Legacy Clinic patients, staff, and volunteers,” Sister Claudia Marie said.
New Legacy Clinic medical director Sister Gianna Marie Savidge, RSM, new executive director Jessica Wenzlaff, and Bri Vinyard, the clinic’s volunteer coordinator, spoke at the volunteer luncheon. Sister Gianna Marie and Sister Marie de Paul Stokes, RSM, the clinic’s former patient navigator and now interim executive secretary to Bishop Beckman, told the luncheon gathering of Sister Catherine McAuley’s founding of the Sisters of Mercy and the institute’s history through the Civil War and the founding of St. Mary’s Hospital in Knoxville in 1930 and the Legacy Clinic in 2013.
“This mission has its roots in the original Sisters of Mercy order that came here many years ago, and we’re so grateful to be able to continue that mission,” Sister Gianna Marie said.
Ms. Vinyard gave volunteer-of-the-year awards to John Bradley and Diann Simonis and presented the Judy Award to Beth Williamson. The latter honor goes to “someone who embodies the kind, compassionate spirit of SMLC’s first volunteer, Judy Schmidt,” Ms. Vinyard said.
She also handed out five- and 10-year service pins to volunteers. Susan Lawlor, Donna Syler, Carolyn Hall, Patti Pemberton, Ed Zawacki, Elizabeth Jones, Lynn Venafro, Donna Turchi, Bob Nevil, and Mrs. Williamson received 10-year pins, and Toni Wolff received a five-year pin.
After the luncheon, Bishop Beckman said “there is so much to celebrate” as the Legacy Clinic’s new van debuts and its new leaders begin their service. “It’s a really exciting time in the life of our mobile medical clinic. The Sisters do a beautiful job—our new Sister directing it and our new clinic executive director are fantastic.”
“Just seeing all the volunteers and the joy that they have in what they’re doing and to know the difference they’re making” was also a blessing, he added.
Hearing at the luncheon the history of the Sisters of Mercy “was very deeply moving for me,” Bishop Beckman said.