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I am delighted to be here today at MedStar Good Samaritan Hospital to celebrate Mass with you as you celebrate your 50th anniversary. I warmly greet Bradley Chambers, your President, the Board of Directors, Bishop Madden, Auxiliary Bishop and a member of the Board, and my brother priests who are here in good number. My warm greetings also to the administrators, the medical staff, donors and benefactors, volunteers, advisors, and all who engage in the mission of MedStar Good Samaritan Hospital. Truly, we gather as a family of faith.

We cannot let a day such as this pass without mentioning the names of Dr. Otho Smith and his son Dr. Josiah Smith, who were instrumental in building the first brick chapel here on the western side of South Mountain. Nor can we omit the name of Fr. John Jones who served as the first spiritual leader of this community of faith.

I know that Faith-Fest has been in the planning for quite some time and I was happy to serve on one of the committees – the “weather committee”!

We have all been jarred by the news regarding Bishop Bransfield, in particular, the allegations of sexual harassment of adults leveled against him, allegations which must now be carefully and fairly investigated.