Dominican Healthcare Ministry is devoted to promoting the dignity of the human person and the healing ministry of Jesus Christ through pastoral care, education, ethical consultation, and prayer. As a ministry of the Dominican Province of Saint Joseph collaborating with the Archdiocese of New York, we are at the service of the healthcare community in New York City and beyond.
What We Do
Pastoral Care
Spiritual and sacramental care for Catholic patients, family and staff on the East Side of Manhattan through:
- Chaplaincy visits to Patients
- Spiritual and Ethical guidance for patients, family, and staff
- Support for Medical Staff and the NY Metro Guild of the Catholic Medical Association
- God and Cancer: Prayer and Support Group
- Mass within Hospital Chapels
Prayer
The Church of St. Catherine of Siena is maintained as a place of prayer for the sick, the dying, and those who care for them. A refuge of peace and strength, it is open daily to all patients, family, staff, and those who wish to unite themselves in spirit to the sick.
Weekdays: 7am, 11:45am, 5:15pm
Saturdays: 9am, 4pm
Sundays: 10am, 5pm
Weekdays: 4:40-5:05pm
Saturdays: 3:00-3:50pm
Thursdays: 5:45pm
Vespers and Preaching, 6pm
Compline, 7pm
Offered for the Sick, the Dying, and Those who Care For Them.
Schedule of Intentions
Ethics and Education
Ethical consultation provided to patients and medical staff. Education for the laity in the Spirituality of Sickness and End of Life Planning, and for priests, seminarians, and medical staff in the Pastoral Care of the Sick:
- Ethical Consultation
- Ministry Internship Program for Seminarians
- Talks given to Parishes and other Lay Communities
- Partnership with the National Catholic Bioethics Center
- Partnership with the Providence College School of Nursing and Health Sciences
Associated Institutions
Dominican Healthcare Ministry is located at the Church of St. Catherine of Siena, one of two sister churches in the Parish of St. Vincent Ferrer and St. Catherine of Siena.
The Priests of Dominican Healthcare Ministry are Dominican Friars of the Province of St. Joseph: a community called to preach Jesus Christ as part of the worldwide mission of the Order of Preachers.
Priests from Dominican Healthcare Ministry provide daily spiritual care to patients at:
- Hospital for Special Surgery (hss.edu)
- Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (mskcc.org)
- Archcare at Mary Manning Walsh Home (archcare.org/nursing-homes/mary-manning-walsh)
Dominican Healthcare Ministry also provides supplemental services for urgent or emergency needs, in coordination with hospital chaplaincy offices, at:
- NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center (nyp.org)
- Bellevue Hospital (nychealthandhospitals.org/locations/bellevue)
- Coler Specialty Hospital (nychealthandhospitals.org/locations/coler)
- Lenox Hill Hospital (lenoxhill.northwell.edu)
- The Mt. Sinai Hospital (mountsinai.org)
- ArchCare at Terence Cardinal Cooke Health Care Center (archcare.org/nursing-homes/terence-cardinal-cooke)
- Other Hospitals and Healthcare Institutions on the East Side of Manhattan
Our Friars
Fr. Hyacinth Grubb
Fr. Hyacinth was born in the small mountain town of Conifer, Colorado and studied Electrical Engineering at Columbia University before entering the Order of Preachers. He joined the Healthcare Ministry in the Summer of 2019 and was ordained to the priesthood in May 2020. Fr. Hyacinth serves as the Director of Dominican Healthcare Ministry.
email: director@healthcareministry.org
Fr. David Adiletta
Fr. David is originally from Connecticut. He studied Molecular Biology before entering the Dominican Province of Saint Joseph in 1991. After studying Theology and Medical Ethics at the Dominican House of Sudies in Washington, DC, he was ordained to the priesthood in 1998. For many years, Fr. David served as a missionary in the Province of Saint Joseph’s Vicariate of Eastern Africa. After returning to the United States, he was assigned to the Priory of Saint Catherine of Siena as a chaplain with Dominican Healthcare Ministry.
Fr. Athanasius Murphy
Fr. Martin Farrell
Fr. Martin is a native New Yorker from Brooklyn. He earned his Doctorate in Theology with a focus on Liturgy. Since his ordination to the priesthood in 1978, he worked in parish ministry, as an instructor at Dominican University College in Ottawa, and with the Dominican Healthcare Ministry. He returned to the Priory of Saint Catherine of Siena from Canada to serve with us as a hospital chaplain in 2024.
Fr. Columba Thomas
Father Columba is a Dominican friar and a physician specializing in Internal Medicine. He was ordained a priest in May 2023. Prior to entering religious life, he graduated from Yale School of Medicine and completed a Primary Care Residency and Chief Residency at Yale. His publications have appeared in a variety of journals, including JAMA Internal Medicine, Journal of General Internal Medicine, Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, and National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly. He is editor of The Art of Dying: A new, annotated translation (National Catholic Bioethics Center, 2021). Fr. Columba currently serves as postdoctoral fellow in bioethics at the Kennedy Institute of Ethics and the Pellegrino Center for Clinical Bioethics, as well as a chaplain at Dominican Healthcare Ministry.
History
In 1216 St. Dominic was granted permission of the Holy See to establish a new Order for the single purpose of preaching and the salvation of souls, to bring healing and hope to the lost, the last and the least of his day. He formed his brothers to embrace and proclaim the message of the Gospel to be consolers to all in distress, especially by faithful preaching and the administration of the Sacraments. St. Dominic’s extraordinary vision has endured for over eight hundred years, across every part of the world.
Dominican Friars have exercised Parish ministry in this neighborhood since 1867, with the foundation of St. Vincent Ferrer Parish. The Church of St. Catherine of Siena was established in 1897, first as a mission of St. Vincent Ferrer and then as its own parish. Over more than 150 years, the Parish has grown to include two Dominican churches, two communities of Friars, two communities of Sisters, two high schools, an administrative center for the Order, and a hospital chaplaincy. Parish life throughout these generations has been shaped by the common life of the Dominican brothers and sisters. In 2015, St. Vincent Ferrer and St. Catherine of Siena were merged into one parish, sharing a common preaching of the Gospel. In 2018 we celebrated 150 years of ministry to the East Side, and in 2022 the 125th anniversary of ministry at St. Catherine of Siena.
In 1932 Cornell University Medical College and New York Hospital moved to their current joint location on York Avenue, and Dominican priests extended their spiritual care to the sick and those who care for them. Other hospitals and medical centers moved to the neighborhood in following years (especially Memorial Hospital in 1939 and Hospital for Special Surgery in 1955, among other institutions) and they continue to expand their presence. Today there are over 2,000 hospital beds in the neighborhood. St. Catherine of Siena is the patron of those who care for the sick, and it is a remarkable sign of her patronage that so many hospitals should choose to move within her church’s care.
Over the past century, the physical and spiritual care for the sick has been marked by men and women of great holiness, often hidden. Of particular note is Servant of God Rose Hawthorne. Rose, daughter of author Nathaniel Hawthorne, gave up a life of privilege to care for destitute persons afflicted with incurable cancer. After training as a nurse at New York Cancer Hospital, which would later become Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, she founded the Dominican Sisters of the Congregation of St. Rose of Lima (Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne) for this arduous apostolate. Today the congregation continues her mission, providing unparalleled care to patients with incurable cancer without cost, and the Rose Hawthorne Guild is promoting her cause for canonization.
In 2002, the Dominican Province of Saint Joseph determined to broaden its healthcare ministry in New York. A new focus on healthcare ethics and education in spiritual care was added to the pastoral ministries at Saint Catherine’s Church and in the area hospitals. This newly envisioned ministry was first named Dominican Friars Health Care Ministry of New York, and later simplified to Dominican Healthcare Ministry.
Today, Dominican Healthcare Ministry includes the work of five full-time friars, supported by lay Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion and other volunteers. In partnership with hospitals and healthcare centers on the East Side, the Archdiocese of New York, the Parish of Saint Vincent Ferrer and Saint Catherine of Siena, the Dominican Shrine of Saint Jude, and others, we continue to serve the spiritual needs of the sick, the dying, their loved ones, and the staff who care for them.