Celebrating faith and reason: St. Ambrose blesses anatomy lab

St. Ambrose University students, faculty and staff gathered Friday, Aug. 29, in the lower-level hallway of Lewis Hall for a first blessing of the campus anatomy lab. Led by campus chaplain Rev. Dale Mallory, the service offered prayers of thanks for the human body, connected Christ’s healing mission to modern health care, and honored the donors whose bodies help educate St. Ambrose students.

The idea, shepherded collaboratively by Campus Ministry and the anatomy program, aimed to make space for gratitude and reverence at the start of the academic year.

“It really drives home that this is a sacrifice on the part of these people,” Fr. Mallory said. “This is still a person worthy of respect. In the Catholic tradition, praying for the deceased is a spiritual work of mercy.”

Fr. Mallory worked with anatomy lab director Kirk Kelley, PhD, to design a format that respected donor privacy and lab protocols. The result, he said, was a service that invited the community to pause, pray, and carry a deeper sense of responsibility into their studies and future clinical roles.

“We shouldn’t be afraid to have our faith come into medical practice,” Fr. Mallory said. “Religion and spirituality actually suffuse all aspects of one’s life when lived properly. It’s okay to pray for your patients. It is okay to have these kinds of things, and in fact, that’s part of living out your faith.”

For students who are not religious, Fr. Mallory said the ritual can still build understanding.

“Students are going to be working with people who do have spirituality and do have religion,” he said. “At least it won’t be something foreign and scary, and the students can go on to be supportive in that way.”

Kelley, a professor in the Biology Department, said the blessing reinforced the program’s emphasis on human dignity.

“These are individuals that have donated their bodies to science, and it’s really a tremendous sacrifice for them and their families,” Kelley said. “It’s just really a way of honoring them more than anything else.”

Kelley said many graduate students in professional programs immediately see the connection between the donors and their future patients.

“We would like them to all think of the donors as their first patient,” Kelley said, noting that approach is “typical in anatomy departments in medical schools as well.”

Gratitude, Kelley added, should be a thread that runs through the St. Ambrose experience.

“It’s something that really kind of goes both ways,” he said. “Gratitude continues through all that we do, all that we learn, and the lives that we touch.”

Jayden Ambrose ‘26, an exercise science pre-physician assistant student who attended the blessing and previously took the anatomy lab course, said the experience of learning with donors is irreplaceable.

“Nothing compares to having the person right in front of you,” Ambrose said. “A textbook just does not do the human body justice.”

The blessing, Ambrose said, formalized what many students feel every time they enter the lab.

“I’m very grateful that they started the blessing this year,” Ambrose said. “Even for the people that aren’t religious, taking that moment to acknowledge their life and how important they are, not only in passing, but then still afterwards, it’s a gift for sure.”

Ambrose recalled how the first day in lab underscored the weight of the work. Students were given time “to mentally and emotionally prepare,” Ambrose said, and clear expectations for confidentiality and professionalism followed.

“It was more serious, more real than any other lab we’ve ever had, or will ever have,” Ambrose said.

Kelley said that preparation is intentional. On day one, faculty review the honor and responsibility of working with donors, the security of identities, and practical details so students know what to expect in the lab. Boundaries are also set early and reinforced.

The service also reflected St. Ambrose’s mission to bring faith and reason together.

 “Health care is more than just physically healing the body,” Fr. Mallory said. “There is that mental component, that emotional component, but also that spiritual component as well.”

Kelley agreed. “I don’t think that you can really separate science and spirituality,” he said. “We do have spirit and soul within us, and I think it’s important that we incorporate that faith into whatever it is that we do.”

Kelley said he could see the blessing becoming a campus tradition. He noted that the University of Iowa holds a spring remembrance for donors that includes partner programs like Ambrose. Hosting a service on campus makes participation accessible for Ambrose students and faculty.

For Fr. Mallory, the hope is simple and lasting.

“Please don’t feel like you can’t ask a question,” he said to students encountering faith-and-science side by side for the first time. “Participate at the level to which you feel comfortable. That is totally fine.”

As the prayers concluded in Lewis Hall, the community’s posture was one of thanks – for the wonder of the human body, for the donors and their families, and for the chance to learn to care for others with skill, compassion, and reverence.