Nursing Students wait in line to have their hands blessed.

Blessing of the Hands for Nursing Students

The nursing students continued a recent tradition at the University, participating in the third annual Blessing of the Hands ceremony as they prepare for clinical practice. This annual ceremony, held in the Marian Chapel, Swartz Center for Spiritual Life, on the University’s campus, honors sophomore nursing students who will begin to apply their classroom studies to direct applications in the field. Junior and senior nursing students also participated in the ceremony.

Sr. Mary Persico, IHM, Ed.D., president of Marywood University; Judith A. Williams, Ph.D., MSN, MS, RN-BC, chair of the nursing department; Patricia Falkows, MSN, RNC, clinical instructor of nursing; Kathleen Healy-Karabell, DNP, RN-CNS, CSN, coordinator of LPN/BSN and assistant professor of nursing; and Amy Wescott, MSN, CRNP, clinical instructor, were among the faculty and administrators who welcomed and addressed nursing students, families, and friends.

For the ceremony, Sr. Mary, along with Sr. Catherine Luxner, IHM, blessed the hands of nursing faculty members, who in turn blessed the hands of nursing students and other caregivers among the guests.