The Presidency of the International Federation of Catholic Medical Associations (F.I.A.M.C.) has the honor and joy to announce the appointment of its Ecclesiastical Assistant by His Eminence Cardinal Kevin Farrell, in the person of Bishop Marian Eleganti, Auxiliary Bishop Emeritus of the Diocese of Chur in Switzerland.
The presidency warmly congratulates him and expresses to him all her dedication to his service.
May God bless him!
First address of our new Ecclesiastical Assistant
Dear doctors,
At the beginning of the new year, as the newly appointed ecclesiastical assistant of our federation, I have the privilege of addressing you briefly for the first time some lines.
I am very happy about this new task. When I was young, I had the opportunity to assist in many surgeries at the hospital in my hometown. The medical profession has always been the only alternative to my priesthood. Throughout my life I have had a lot of contact with medicine and also many relationships in this field. There are big issues and I think we should make your Catholic voice and medical expertise well heard in society. But about that later!
I learned one thing from you doctors: how to deal well with illness, weaknesses, nasty wounds and smells. I’ve never seen a doctor let that bother him. They went to work calmly and competently.
For me as a priest that means: not to blame people for their weaknesses, but to heal them; not to judge them, but to make a clear diagnosis and seek means of healing; not to be surprised that people get morally sick and that they sin. In other terms: I have chosen to be more like a doctor, who heals, than like a judge who punishes. I learned that from you and I still feel a passion for this profession. I am a doctor healing souls.
I wish you a blessed 2023. I look forward to encounters and see great challenges ahead of us.
Blessings and love,
Your +Marian Eleganti osb
