WWW.THEFLORIDACATHOLIC.ORG April 2021
FLORIDA Catholic
MIAMI ARCHDIOCESE
PRISCILLA GREEAR
Florida Catholic correspondent
MIAMI GARDENS Every afternoon at St. Thomas University, Father Alfred Cioffi, joined by students, methodically clears out invasive species from Miami-Dade County's last remaining sandy highland slash pine for- est. And as he removes Brazilian pepper trees and other invaders, the associate professor of biology and bioethics hears the quiet cries for "help" and whispers of "thank you" from the canopy's towering pillars. Indeed, he is doing God's work, caring for creation, considering a January BBC report that a tropical forest the size of Denmark dis- appears yearly. Florida was covered in pines until developers plowed southward, and St. Thomas' entire 140-acre campus comprised a sandy highland slash pine forest before its establishment in 1961. When Father Cioffi joined STU 12 years ago, he took arboreal action after learning about the forest's endangerment. "They are shouting 'help!' We have to hear with the in- tellect, with the mind," said the priest, don- ning a white lab coat. "Ultimately this is a spiritual renewal to be able to preserve a species that has been here 10,000 years since the last Ice Age. From the 1920s to get what is down from 99 percent to 1 percent, it's an ethical responsibility to save it." Father Cioffi cites Pope Francis' encycli- cal "Laudato Si: On Care for Our Common Home," the church's first ever encyclical on the environment, named after a creation can- ticle by St. Francis of Assisi. The priest, 68, has lectured on "Laudato Si" and St. Thomas has sponsored two international conferences on climate, nature and society. "Because Francis of Assisi was in touch with nature and saw the creator in the crea- ture, he respected all of nature, was a lover of plants and animals," Father Cioffi said. Pope Francis "was inspired by Francis of Assisi be- cause of his love of nature and the ethical re- sponsibility we have to preserve nature." On a sunny, fresh winter morning, Father Cioffi supervised general biology students removing Brazilian pepper seeds amid 60- 70-foot slash pines and marking with flags new pine seedlings that have sprouted in the ground cover of this second sector of 15 acres under restoration. He quizzed students on monoecious versus dioecious trees and local invasive species, many brought as or- namentals, from iguanas to peacocks to ban- yan trees. He identified the female pinecone versus the male's containing pollen, and ad- mired the first sector, cleared three years ago, where seven adult pines thrive amid native wildlife like purple beautyberries and mus- cadine. Once the academic team clears the inva- sive and exotic species - which in nature oc- curs through wildfires - pine seedlings can absorb sunlight and water to grow to adults and expand the urban forest. Many seedlings die out naturally as only the fittest genetically reach a full lifespan of around 150 years. "Over the decades a number of invasive species, plants and animals, have come into
Bioethics professor leads restoration of Miami's last remaining sandy highland pine forest
Forest preservation at St. Thomas U.
ROCO GRANADOS
La Voz Catlica
MIAMI Ninety years have passed since four priests and several members of the St. Vincent de Paul Society established Associ- ated Catholic Charities, what we know today as Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Miami. It was a time of crisis. A few years earlier, in 1926, South Florida had suffered a direct hit from the "Great Miami Hurricane," a cat- egory 4 storm that destroyed a large part of the city. The havoc caused by the hurricane, the poverty and desperation were aggravated by the Great Depression of 1929. Amid these circumstances, on March 8, 1931, the provi- sion of assistance and social services to poor families was formalized. "90 years ago, the Catholics of this area, along with their pastors, established what today we know as Catholic Charities," said Archbishop Thomas Wenski during the 90th anniversary Mass, which he celebrated March 26, 2021 at St. Joachim Church in southern Miami-Dade County. The 90th anniversary activities also in- cluded recognition of 14 staff members with between 25 and 40 years of service, and the dedication and blessing by Archbishop Wen- ski, March 6, 2021, of St. Bede's Village, a 37- unit affordable housing complex for single men and workers in Key West. Catholic Charities is one of the largest non- governmental providers of social services in Miami-Dade, Broward and Monroe counties. Its motto: We serve people not because they are Catholic; we serve people because we are Catholic. For CEO Peter Routsis-Arroyo, Catholic Charities "is the Church living out its mission of love and mercy and social justice and help- ing those in need with a priority option on the most vulnerable population, the poor." And that's what the agency has done since its establishment, which predates the arch- diocese's own creation in 1958. With the pas- sage of time and resulting changes, Catholic Charities has had to adapt its work to meet current needs, and that has not changed.
Catholic Charities turns 90
A history of overcoming crises, from the Great Depression to hurricanes to immigration to COVID-19
PLEASE SEE 90 YEARS,2 PLEASE SEE FOREST, 4
Above, Father Alfred Cioffiholds a female pinecone at left and the male at right. Below, Father Alfred Cioffipoints to a strangling fig, invasive from India, that is strangling a native slash pine on the campus of St. Thomas University. (PHOTOS BY MARLENE QUARONI FC)
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