‘So that healing may be had at home’
BELMONT — Friends and supporters paid tribute to the late Bishop William Curlin Feb. 20 as they gathered to dedicate the remodeled and refurbished health clinic at Holy Angels.
Bishop Curlin, who died Dec. 23, 2017, was a frequent visitor to Holy Angels, a home opened in 1955 by the Sisters of Mercy for children and adults with intellectual developmental disabilities and delicate medical conditions.
“Bishop Curlin is one of the many reasons why we are who we are today,” said Regina Moody, Holy Angels’ president and CEO, “because of his love and commitment to our mission.”
Starting not long after he became bishop in 1994, Bishop Curlin came by regularly to bless the residents and staff at Holy Angels, always bringing smiles to their faces. Until he retired as bishop in 2002, he offered Mass there every Christmas Day.
“He would say, ‘This is where I’m meant to be on Christmas morning, with God’s most vulnerable children,” Moody recalled. “We were so blessed for so many years that Bishop Curlin spent Christmas morning with us here at Holy Angels. What better place to be than with the angels?”
In “this very special place,” noted the Rev. Rob Hinman, Holy Angels’ board chair, “it is fitting that we bless and dedicate it to a person who was so caring for our residents. His touch, his presence, brought the hand of God as a reality to our residents.”
The Curlin Clinic features a new dental chair and equipment, as well as a new, wider medical exam chair. New supply cabinets, a nurse’s workstation and a sink were also installed. The room was also repainted and decorated with original artwork by local artist Stephanie Neely.
A plaque and photos of Bishop Curlin occupy a prominent spot on the wall near the clinic’s entrance. The plaque reads: “Bishop Curlin generously shared his love for God’s most special children at Christmas and throughout the years – as bishop and retired bishop. During visits to Holy Angels with the Knights of Malta, he would gently touch each resident, providing a blessing of God’s love, healing and hope. Within the walls of the Bishop Curlin Clinic, physicians and healthcare professionals will share their healing touch with the residents as they provide for their health and well-being.”
Moody described the project to renovate Holy Angels’ clinic and recounted how support for the effort came thanks to the unexpected help of several people at just the right moment, including: Mr. and Mrs. John Spencer, Tony Sandrene and Amy Spencer, Mr. and Mrs. Rafiq H. Lakhany and their family, Dr. William Donigan and friends, Kenneth Branson, and Campania Fine Moulding.
Thanks to their support, Moody said, the Curlin Clinic can better serve the residents who can’t be transported off-site to medical appointments. The clinic hosts than 1,300 exams per year, from primary care appointments to specialists’ visits, she noted.
Present for the dedication were several members of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta (the Knights of Malta), who were especially close to Bishop Curlin and often accompanied him on visits to Holy Angels. The order leads annual pilgrimages for the sick to the shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes in France, a place of miraculous healing, and Bishop Curlin used holy water from the shrine to bless the Holy Angels residents each year.
Dr. Bill Rice, a Knight of Malta and member of Holy Angels’ board of directors, reminisced about the late bishop’s support of the order as its chaplain.
“Everyone knows that his middle name was Compassion,” Rice said. “His entire life almost was dedicated to the poor, the marginalized and especially the sick.”
Rice recalled Bishop Curlin’s stories and spiritual advice, especially the saying he passed on from a dying mentor of his: “Everything that I have kept, I have lost. Everything I’ve given away, I have forever.”
“Believe me, Bishop Curlin gave it all away.”
Monsignor Anthony Marcaccio, pastor of St. Pius X Church in Greensboro and Bishop Curlin’s personal secretary and close friend, blessed the clinic room with holy water from Lourdes.
He prayed, “Almighty God, we come before You, with hearts open to Your love, minds open to Your healing will, and open hands ready to receive and to share Your blessing for service. God of mercy, we bless You. From of old, You sent Your angels, who minister to You, as messengers of hope and mercy to Your people. We bless You for the wonderful way that this continues today in our midst. We thank You for the doctors, the specialists and health care professionals who are messengers of hope and healing in this place of mercy. Today we dedicate this clinic to the memory of Bishop William Curlin. We thank You for his example of pastoral ministry – always looking for Christ hidden in the poor, especially the sick, for those who might be suffering, and loving and nurturing life wherever it was little and most vulnerable. We thank You for the benefactors who’ve made this clinic possible, so that healing may be had at home for our residents. We ask You, Almighty God, who by Your wondrous ministry of angels guard and govern us, to bless this facility, to bless us, to bless the Holy Angels staff, to bless the Sisters of Mercy, to bless the medical professionals who will minister here, and most importantly, to bless our residents. As we dedicate this Curlin Clinic, we ask that You would command Your angels to stand watch here, that this may forever be a place of health, happiness and peace.”
— Patricia L. Guilfoyle, editor