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Florida Catholic January 2021
YOUR MIAMI COMMUNITY
250,000 a year and a half later. The historic Freedom Flights began in 1965, preceded by the Operation Pedro Pan children's program and followed by the Mariel Boatlift. Miami was the port of entry for the biggest influx of refugees into the United States in half a century," according to the article A Many- Splendored People authored by the late Msgr. Bryan O. Walsh - who ran Pedro Pan, bringing 14,000 children out of Cuba under the Church's care.
MOSAIC OF PEOPLES, FAITHS
And the more people came, the more got the idea to come, George said. Haitians came en masse from the 1970s to the 1990s, fearful of the Duvaliers. Peruvians followed in the 1980s and 1990s, as Shining Path guerrillas began attacking. Colombians and Venezuelans came in the 1990s, one group fleeing in- surrection, the other repelled by a dictator. Non-Christians, too, found Miami attractive. Jews started their first local synagogues in the 1930s and became nearly the majority in Miami Beach by the 1950s. Other large Jewish com-
SCULPTURE
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munities grew in Broward in the 1970s, then Palm Beach County a decade later. In the 1990s, mosques and Hindu temples began rising around South Florida. Many of their founders were from places like India, Paki- stan, Guyana and Trinidad. They'd come as young college students, hoping to make money and retire rich back home. Along the way, they realized they'd become Americans. Then they built their own houses of worship. South Florida became a mo- saic of peoples from different back- grounds," Paul George said. "It's a mosaic of faiths also." He credited Catholic immigrants with saving many of the parishes in the archdiocese. "In one church af- ter another, so many congregants are refugees, or immigrants, or children or grandchildren of people who have come from abroad. With- out them, a lot of churches would have closed." He suggested that the immi- grants have even affected Catholic worship in South Florida, encour- aging people to be more demon- strative. "Anglos looking at their fellow worshipers have felt their spirituality enhanced, seeing the fervor of praying, singing and rais- ing hands." Eventually, the immigrants be- gan giving back to society. Fanning out into more than 200 cities in 45 states, plus Puerto Rico and Wash- ington, D.C., Pedro Pan alumni have entered a broad variety of oc- cupations including law, banking, medicine, education, real estate and architecture. Famous Pedro Pans have in- cluded singer Willy Chirino; former Miami Mayor Toms Regalado; Eduardo Aguirre, former director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigra- tion Services; and Mel Martinez, a former U.S. senator for Florida and a Cabinet member under President Ronald Reagan.
CHURCH, FAITH, FAMILY
People ask why our exodus was successful," said Carmen Roma- ach, president of the Operation Pedro Pan Group. "There are many reasons, but family and our Catho- lic background were big ones. Trust in God helps you survive. And as we grew, we recreated that in our own families." Romaach came to America as a girl of 15, along with her two younger brothers. The archdiocese placed them in camps but reunited them after a year. She later studied at Florida International University, and became a mental health coun- selor. It was a lesson she learned from her parents: "Whatever you have in your head can't be taken from you." The Pedro Pans gave back to the Church as well, gathering each year for a commemorative annual Mass. HIALEAH Archbishop Thom- as Wenski blessed a new build- ing Dec. 10, 2020, at Redemptoris Mater Archdiocesan Missionary Seminary, which is located on the grounds of St. Cecilia Church in Hialeah. Father Emanuele De Nigris, rec- tor of the seminary and pastor of St. Cecilia, explained that the new addition is actually a renovated apartment building, formerly eight apartments on two floors, that is lo- cated 10 feet away from the rectory of St. Cecilia. This building will be- come the new wing of the seminary, with bedrooms for 16 seminarians and two priests, plus a new meeting room and a new laundry. Redemptoris Mater Seminary, which opened Dec. 11, 2011, is for men who came to discover their vocation through the Neocatechu- menal communities in their home parishes. Once ordained, they will be incardinated in the Archdiocese of Miami and work in the parishes of the archdiocese or any other place in the world where Miami's archbishop decides to send them. The Neocatechumenal Way was defined by Pope John Paul II as an itinerary of Catholic formation, valid for our society and for our times." Find out more at https:// neocatechumenaleiter.org/en/.
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Above, as he is standing on the second floor, Archbishop Thomas Wenski blesses a new building at the Redemptoris Mater Archdiocesan Missionary Seminary in Hialeah, Dec. 10, 2020. The new addition is actually a renovated apartment building, formerly eight apartments on two floors, which is located 10 feet away from the rectory of St. Cecilia, where the seminary is located. This building will become the new wing of the seminary, with bedrooms for 16 seminarians and two priests, plus a new meeting room and a new laundry. At right, another view of Archbishop Wenski blessing the new building at the Redemptoris Mater Archdiocesan Missionary Seminary in Hialeah, Dec. 10, 2020. (COURTESY PHOTOS SISTER ELIZABETH WORLEY)
Archbishop blesses new building at Redemptoris Mater Seminary
Even amid the COVID pandemic, about 200 gathered at St. Mary Ca- thedral in December, including four priests. Among them was Father Juan Sosa, pastor of St. Joseph Parish, Miami Beach. Father Sosa has been a churchman since late 1961, when he came to America as a 14-year- old. The Marist Brothers had al- ready left Cuba, and he wanted to leave as well, he remembered. "My world was finished. I was glad to go." In Miami, Father Sosa stayed first at Camp Matecumbe, then lived with about 80 others at Msgr. Walsh's refugee house. At 15, the young man entered St. John Vian- ney College Seminary, then went on to St. Vincent De Paul Regional Seminary in Boynton Beach. His parents made it to the U.S. in 1967, then reunited with him and with his sister, who had been trans- ferred to Indianapolis. So, he grew up with several identities: Cuban, American, churchman. You don't erase your identity, you just add another one," he ex- plained. "The Church gave me a sense of belonging to a commu- nity. And we became contributors. Each of us individually has changed and enhanced all of South Florida. We've grown a commitment and tremendous love for the United States."
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Sculptor Timothy Schmalz works on "Angels Unawares," which will be shown in Miami February 2021. (COURTESY PHOTO)
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