The Archdiocese of Boston’s Office for Black Catholic Ministries’ 2016 Bishop Healy Award will be presented to Dr. Martin J. Williams, Chief of Surgery at Carney Hospital and parishioner at St. Mary of the Angels Parish in Roxbury, for his dedicated work and advocacy for quality healthcare for all, especially the poor and disenfranchised. He has provided kind and compassionate care for many people in the former Columbia Point Housing Project, Health Centers and the Bridge Over Troubled Waters Van, which provided free health care throughout greater Boston.
Dr. Williams graduated from Harvard Medical School. He completed residencies in both internal medicine and general surgery followed by a fellowship in surgical critical care. He joined Carney Hospital as director of Surgical Education in 1997 and was appointed chief of Surgery in 2000. Dr. Williams has been a member of the Massachusetts Public Health Council and is the hospital liaison to the Commission on Cancer. He has a large surgery practice and enjoys supervising transitional year residents in the hospital’s newly renovated operating suites.
The Bishop Healey Award is named for James Augustine Healy, the first Roman Catholic priest and the first bishop in the United States of any known African descent. Of mixed Irish and African ancestry, Healey was ordained in 1854. In 1866 he became the pastor of St. James Church, the largest Catholic congregation in Boston. In 1874 when the Boston legislature was considering taxation of churches, Healy defended Catholic institutions as vital organizations that helped the state both socially and financially. He also condemned existing laws, which were generally enforced only on Catholic institutions. He founded several Catholic charitable institutions to care for the many poor immigrants who had arrived during the Great Famine years.
