Benedictine College / Facebook
CV NEWS FEED // Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas, is set to launch a new medical school to form faithful, well-trained Catholic physicians to serve in healthcare settings nationwide.
According to its website, the Benedictine College School of Osteopathic Medicine is a solution to a “healthcare system that puts procedures before people.” With space for 180 medical students annually, the school will instruct the next generation of physicians in Christ-centered, authentically Catholic healthcare.
Benedictine reported in July 2024 that President Stephen Minnis was inspired to look into starting a medical school after talking with Bishop James Conley of Lincoln, Nebraska, who has a special devotion to Jesus as Healer due to his former struggles with mental health.
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“Bishop James Conley … told me that since Jesus Christ was a teacher and healer, he had decided to dedicate his ministry to education and health care. Those words really struck me,” Minnis said, according to Benedictine. “Benedictine College’s goal in such an effort will be to follow the example of Jesus by teaching students how to heal with 100% fidelity to Catholic bioethics, and a total commitment to serve those in most need. We are all in.”
The college hopes to secure preliminary accreditation for the medical school by 2027 and welcome its first class in 2028. After graduation and residencies, physicians formed in Catholic healthcare would arrive in medical facilities around the country in 2035.
Benedictine announced April 30 that the college took a significant step toward opening the medical school with the hiring of a dean and associate dean. Marla DePolo Golden, an osteopathic doctor who has held numerous positions in medical education, will serve as the dean, while Deacon Kevin Tulipana, also an osteopathic doctor trained in family medical care and bioethics, will serve as the associate dean.
Golden told CatholicVote via email that she sees the new school as a “unique opportunity to train medical students who are inspired to care for patients with a deep sense of respect for their human dignity, who will not only diagnose and treat a patient’s particular problem, but will see the pain and suffering associated with it.”
She added that the students will become physicians who “see their patients through God’s eyes and Mary’s heart” and preserve “the humanity of medical care despite the noise and harried pace of our world.”
