BY: SCOTT McCONNAHA, M.A.
Four years ago, when I came to CHA to provide communications support for our theology and ethics projects, I didn't fully appreciate what Fr. Kevin O'Rourke means to Catholic health care. I had met him at a few conferences and read some of his articles, but I was meeting and reading a lot of different people then.
As my interest and involvement in theology and ethics grew, I sought to bolster my knowledge with a little formal education. In my classes, students or professors would periodically speak of Fr. O'Rourke — always, I noted, with a level of admiration reserved only for those at the top. It was hard for me to keep from smiling at these moments because I knew him as the guy I had wasted a few dollars with trying to figure out a complicated slot machine in Las Vegas during a break at CHA's 2004 Theology and Ethics Colloquium.
I have met many others who enjoy telling their own Fr. O'Rourke stories. And though I wouldn't presume to share the same kind of relationship with him as do people like our authors in this special issue of Health Progress, I, like so many who have gotten to enjoy even a small amount of time with him, am grateful for his friendship.
It takes something like the collection of articles herein to remind us that we are sometimes in the presence of greatness without even knowing it. But, in the case of Fr. O'Rourke, I don't think I'm alone in saying that he makes it so easy for others to forget just how important he is.
Scott McConnaha
Editor, Health Progress
Catholic Health Association
St. Louis