Annual Rose Mass Offers a Special Salute to Healthcare Workers

(March 24, 2026) — Members of the Georgetown medical community were among those recognized for their extraordinary commitment to caring for patients in need at the 2026 Rose Mass and luncheon, held March 15 at the Church of the Little Flower in Bethesda, Maryland.

Washington Cardinal Robert W. McElroy expressed his gratitude for care received during a recent hospitalization.

“I experienced tremendously the gifts, the care, the compassion of healthcare professionals in every facet of that,” he said. “And so, particularly this year, at a personal level, I want to thank you, and also renew the sense that all of us have and understand: that in healthcare, you follow in the footsteps of Jesus Christ in a profound way.”

Hosted by the John Carroll Society and held each year on the fourth Sunday of Lent, the annual Rose Mass brings together health professionals from across the Archdiocese of Washington for prayer and recognition. This year’s luncheon celebrated several clinicians affiliated with Georgetown University and MedStar Georgetown University Hospital.

Among the honorees were Georgetown alumna Shelly Hall, MD (M’92), and Reetu Mukherji, MD, assistant professor of medicine at Georgetown University School of Medicine and a medical oncologist at MedStar Health. Both received Pro Bono Health Care Awards for their volunteer service caring for underserved patients through the Catholic Charities Health Care Network.

Hall told the Catholic Standard that she was humbled to receive the recognition “for something so natural to do: to help others.” She added, “I feel I’m so fortunate I’m giving back. I love the patients. They’re so grateful. … You’re doing the kind of work we should be doing, based on the teachings of Jesus and the Gospel.”

Mukherji said she accepted the honor on behalf of her colleagues because “it takes a village” to care for cancer patients. Those served through the network, she said, “are the most grateful patients we have.” She also described the value of “just being able to be there and comfort patients and families through one of the most terrifying and stressful times of their lives,” according to the Catholic Standard.

Thomas Winkler, MD, a clinical assistant professor at Georgetown University Medical Center, received the James Cardinal Hickey Lifetime Service Award. Winkler said that caring for patients through the network “is an honor. It’s the most rewarding part of my practice, taking care of people where we know we are making a difference.” He added that serving people in need “is a simple heartfelt work of joy,” and that helping to bring healing as a physician “is a calling, and it’s very rewarding,” the Catholic Standard reported.

“Together, these honorees exemplify a shared commitment to cura personalis — care for the whole person — demonstrating how clinical expertise, faith and service intersect to bring hope and healing to the most vulnerable,” said Norman J. Beauchamp Jr., executive vice president for health sciences at Georgetown and executive dean of its School of Medicine, who attended the mass.

Thomas Loughney, MD, director of endoscopy at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital and professor of medicine at Georgetown, and Eileen Moore, MD, his MedStar Health colleague and associate professor of medicine at Georgetown, served as volunteers in planning the Mass and luncheon on behalf of the John Carroll Society, an organization of Catholic professionals united in their desire for an ever-deepening and enriching knowledge of their faith, and in service to the Archbishop of Washington.