About 200 staff and guests attended a Mass celebrated by Cardinal Timothy Dolan, as he visited Calvary Hospital in the Bronx to commemorate its 125th anniversary.

“Every Mass is a great prayer of thanksgiving. This one is special as we thank Almighty God for a century and a quarter of the magnificent work of Calvary Hospital,” Cardinal Dolan said in his opening remarks.

“When I come here, I don’t sense death, I sense life. And I sense people who know what Jesus said, ‘I’ve come to bring life, life to the fullest.’ That’s what Calvary does,” Cardinal Dolan said during his homily.

He thanked ArchCare, the continuing care ministry of the Archdiocese of New York and its CEO, Scott LaRue, Calvary Hospital’s board of directors and its president CEO Jeffrey Menkes, and the hospital’s chaplains and staff for their work.

“This beautiful work here at Calvary, this doesn’t just go back 125 years. This goes back to Calvary, the hill where Jesus died on the cross,” Cardinal Dolan said. “‘Get out there and take care of the sick,’ Jesus said. So from the very beginning, we know that Jesus, in His own life would stop to soothe and to comfort and to heal to the sick,” he said.

“I would like to express our heartfelt gratitude to His Eminence, Timothy Cardinal Dolan, for his steadfast support of our healthcare ministry. Your presence here today not only uplifts our spirit but also reaffirms the vital role that faith plays in our healing mission at Calvary Hospital,” said ArchCare’s LaRue, who went on to thank the supporters and staff that have helped it reach this milestone.

Concelebrating the Mass with Cardinal Dolan were Father Nicholas Ibe, a full-time chaplain at Calvary; Father John Anderson, I.V.Dei, BCC, ArchCare’s vice president of mission integration; and Father John Smart Mgbakor, a clinical pastoral education (CPE) student who is doing his clinical hours at Calvary. 

While staff and guests enjoyed a reception in the hospital lobby, Cardinal Dolan visited Calvary patients, offering words of comfort and blessing rosaries and medals they had.

Calvary Hospital kicked off celebrations for its 125th anniversary year on June 12 with an event at the New York Botanical Gardens.

Founded on June 12, 1899, as the American Women of Calvary and led by Catholic philanthropist Annie Blount Storrs, Calvary Hospital is the nation’s only fully accredited acute care specialty hospital singularly devoted to providing palliative care to adult, advanced cancer patients without regard to race, religion, or economic status.

Calvary Hospital operates two hospital campuses, one in the Morris Park section of the Bronx, and the other in Brooklyn. It also offers at-home care and other services.