Church Commissions

 

SMOKH Commissions

The PanAm School is a spiritual, educational institution under the aegis of the Sacred Medical Order (Nevis), a Hospitaller Order under the Declarations of Alma Ata and Geneva Conventions.

A Church commission is a religious license for ordained members to deliver community needs through service and advocacy. Commissions are part of Pastoral Care and focus on areas like health, wellness, human concerns, stewardship, and education. These commissions work to implement the parish's mission by teaching, sanctifying, serving, healing, and unifying the community of communicants.

During the Crusades, the Hospitaller nurses and doctors played a crucial role in providing medical care to pilgrims, soldiers, and the local populations. The Order of the Hospital of St. John, commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller, was founded in 1070 by Italian merchants from Amalfi to care for Christian pilgrims in the Holy Land. The Order trained its own nurses, physicans, and surgeons, who often came to Malta from regions like France, Greece, Sicily, and the Levant to gain this valuable experience.

  • During their rule on the islands of Rhodes and Malta, the Order implemented public health measures to prevent epidemics, demonstrating an early understanding of preventive medicine. Later the Order established St. John's Ambulance, and our Medical Order continues this mission on Nevis Island.

  • Graduates of PanAm are eligible. The status of Hospitaller members as protected persons is primarily governed by international humanitarian law (IHL), particularly the Geneva Conventions and their Additional Protocols. Today, protected person status to card carrying members is extended not only into times and zones of war, but also into times of peace.


    • For more details, see their site:  www.smoch.org