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As the only doctor in a hospital serving more than 2 million people, Dr. Tom Catena works seven days a week and is on call every night \u2013 and still finds time for morning Mass.<\/p>\n
An American Catholic missionary and sole surgeon Mother of Mercy Hospital<\/a> In the remote Nuba Mountains of Gidel, Sudan, Catena has spent more than two decades in Sudan despite civil war and conflict.<\/p>\n Catena told EWTN News that Sudan is “home to one of the worst humanitarian crises. The United Nations has described the civil war that began in April 2023 as the worst crisis.” The most devastating humanitarian crisis<\/a>killing more than 150,000<\/a> displacing people and others 12 million people<\/a>. In the region, maternal and child mortality rates attributable to maternal care are among the highest in the world.<\/p>\n “There’s really no such thing as an average day here, and that’s what makes this job so demanding,” Catena said. \u201cAt Mother of Mercy Hospital, we are the only major medical facility serving more than 2 million people in the Nuba Mountains, so the volume and diversity of what we see is astonishing.\u201d<\/p>\n “On any given day, I can perform emergency surgery on a person suffering from a bombing or a drone strike, then treat a child suffering from malaria or malnutrition and then deliver a baby,” he said.<\/p>\n The Sudanese military reportedly killed 48 people, mostly children and students, in a drone strike in December 2025. Deadliest attack on civilians in Nuba Mountains<\/a> Since the civil war began in April 2023.<\/p>\n \u201cThe crisis in Sudan is not new, but delivering humanitarian and medical aid remains difficult,\u201d Catena said. \u201cSupply lines are disrupted, so we have constant shortages of medicines, surgical supplies and even basic necessities like clean water and food for patients.\u201d \u200b<\/p>\n The crisis is exacerbated by blockades that prevent humanitarian teams and supplies from entering some areas. Furthermore, the humanitarian response accounts for only about 5% of the funds needed to respond to famine. action against hunger<\/a>.<\/p>\n “We lose people we shouldn’t lose simply because we don’t have the resources,” Catena said. “That’s the most heartbreaking part of this work \u2013 knowing that lives are being lost not because the medicine isn’t there to save them, but because it can’t reach us.”<\/p>\n He said, “Despite all this, we keep going because if we stop, there is no one else.” \u201cPeople here have no other option, and neither do I.\u201d<\/p>\n Catena said, “I want people to understand that Sudan is home to one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world right now, and yet it gets far less attention and resources than other conflicts.”<\/p>\n Nuba Mountains are considered one of the most remote<\/a> Places in the world. The 30,000-square-mile region depends on dirt roads and is further isolated by the blockade. <\/p>\n Catena said local humanitarian groups and grassroots efforts are “crucial.”<\/p>\n \u201cLarge international organizations are often unable to reach places like the Nuba Mountains due to conflict and logistical constraints,\u201d he added. \u201cIt’s the people on the ground who keep things going when no one else can get in.\u201d<\/p>\n “The people of the Nuba Mountains have been suffering for years \u2013 from bombing, from displacement, from starvation,” he said. \u201cThese are real people, families, children, who deserve respect and care just like any other person on this planet.\u201d<\/p>\n From 1989 to 2019, Sudan suffered 30 years of political turmoil and violence, including the Darfur genocide in the early 2000s. In 2023, violence broke out again between government forces, the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces \u2013 both war crimes charges<\/a>.<\/p>\n Catena called the hospital a “symbol of hope.”<\/p>\n \u201cMother of Mercy Hospital is the only major referral hospital for more than 2 million people in the region,\u201d Catena said. \u201cWe provide surgical care, maternal health services, treatment of infectious diseases, malnutrition programs \u2013 everything a community needs to survive.\u201d<\/p>\n “But beyond the medical work, the hospital has become a symbol of hope and stability for the people here,” Catena said. \u201cIt tells them that they are not forgotten, that someone cares enough to be there for them.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMy faith is really the foundation of everything I do here,\u201d Catena said. “It’s what brought me to the Nuba Mountains in the first place, and it’s what keeps me here when things get incredibly difficult.”<\/p>\n series established hospital<\/a> And has been permanently providing care as the only surgeon in the region since 2008.<\/p>\n \u201cI am a Catholic and I believe deeply that we are called to serve the most vulnerable among us,\u201d Catena said. “This belief drives me every day in the operating room, at the bedside, during the chaos of mass casualty incidents.”<\/p>\n Asked about Catholic social teaching on solidarity, Catena said that solidarity “demands action.”<\/p>\n He said, “Solidarity is not just a religious concept for me \u2013 it is something I live every day.” “Solidarity means more than feeling sympathy from a distance. It means being with people in their suffering, standing with them and refusing to walk away even when the situation is challenging.”<\/p>\n Dr. Tom Catena at the Aurora Awards ceremony in Yerevan, Armenia on May 28, 2017. | Credit: Aurora Humanitarian Initiative<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Catena added, “True solidarity demands more than thoughts and prayers \u2013 it demands action.” \u201cIt demands that people advocate for the forgotten, that resources flow to where they are needed most, and that we refuse to accept a world where millions of people are left to suffer in silence.\u201d<\/p>\n