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Florida Catholic June 2020
YOUR MIAMI COMMUNITY
PRISCILLA GREEAR
Florida Catholic correspondent
MIAMI Amid early 20th cen- tury business tycoons, land specu- lators and confirmed sun-seekers, the Franciscan Sisters of Allegany migrated southward to the Miami swamplands in 1927 on a medical mission - another in the long- standing chain of connections be- tween Floridians and New Yorkers. Irish native Mother Alice and five other Franciscans of Allegany, New York, arrived in Miami Beach to run the Allison Hospital, which was re- named St. Francis Hospital. Then in 1934 the pioneers established St. Joseph Hospital in Tampa and, from 1947 through 1991, ran Corpus Christi School in Miami. St. Francis provided compas- sionate medical care for decades until its closure in 1992. Continuing that legacy, Allegany Franciscan Ministries helps the poor access health care in Miami-Dade, Martin and Palm Beach counties. Corpus Christi Church celebrat- ed a farewell Mass in December for the last two Allegany Franciscans in Miami: Sister Lucy Cardet and Sis- ter Michele Dolyk. Over the years, up to 90 sisters worked at Corpus Christi or at the hospital, according to Sister Lucy. "To please God, we've done what was ours to do, and it has been a benefit to the people," she said. Speaking by phone from the motherhouse, some of the sisters reflected on the Franciscan values that guided their Miami work.
SERVANT LEADERSHIP
Bonnie Bowne-Peters, a St. Fran- cis nurse for more than 20 years, af- firmed that it had been the "go-to" hospital for locals, celebrities and tourists. There she learned servant leadership, which she used at three other hospitals as chief nursing of- ficer. "The sisters created a legacy of caring not only for each other and the associates, the employees, but it all trickled down to the patient, who was clearly the most important part of the hospital," she said. "That hos- pital provided the best nursing care of any hospital I've ever been asso- ciated with." Franciscan Associate and for- mer St. Francis nurse Carol Lang agreed. Everybody received the same quality of care, from the homeless to Frank Sinatra, she re- called. "My coworkers were my ex- tended family, and I just loved my patients." Sister Lucy, 77, attended Cor- pus Christi, then staffed by up to 20 Franciscans. After joining the community in 1961 and serving in the Northeast, she returned to Miami in 1982 to serve a decade as principal. Although Corpus Christi School closed in the 2000s, the par- ish still thrives. The school had kids from about 30 countries, Sister Lucy recalled. "This is the body of Christ, the brothers and sisters together, and this was the spirit of the school." She also worked as an academic advisor over 20 years at Barry Uni- versity. She and Sister Michele later served at St. Rose of Lima Church in Miami Shores, where sisters Jo- sephine Streva and Colleen Brady also ministered. "Franciscan spirituality has to do with the example of St. Francis and St. Clare of Assisi, but also this whole sense of trying to follow Je- sus," Sister Lucy said. "It's always a sense of openness to people and also just trying to live the Gospel, but not just with a select few. Our charism is trying to be a sister to whomever and share what God has given us." Childhood friend and school- mate Marcia Gill worked as a nurse's aide in high school at St. Francis, wrapping instruments and feeding babies. She joined the Franciscans and lived at the hospi- tal while earning a nursing degree at Barry before moving to Tampa to work at St. Joseph's. She eventually left the order and married but returned as an associ- ate after her husband's death. She now helps to grow and coordinate the monthly Franciscan Associates spiritual meetings, believing the COVID-19 pandemic is a time for people to pause and ponder their life mission. "(The sisters) were instrumental in my remembering why I joined the Franciscans in the first place and how much this spirituality of St. Francis means to me," Gill said.
SAFE SHELTER
Associate Pat Fairfield said she received "life-giving" spiritual sup- port from the sisters. She recalled their service at Corpus Christi. "It was not as good a neighbor- hood as it is now," she said. "There were drug buildings on the same block." The Franciscans, she said, provided "a safe shelter, a safe learning environment for the chil- dren." Buffalo native Sister Michele, 73, came to Miami over 30 years ago, first serving for over a decade as principal at St. Francis Xavier School in Overtown, opened in 1934 to serve African Americans and closed in 2009. She also min- istered to the poor including those at Sunnyland Trailer Park, an area then plagued with drugs and gangs. She helped form prayer groups and access services and furniture. "Many weren't aware of some of the services for health care, for school, for the children's food," she said. "We kind of provided them bridges on how to get help." She added that residents still call her to tell her what they're doing now and how they're helping each other. "So you start to hear a dif- ferent tone from them, how they're more independent." Sisters Lucy and Michele now join other Miami sisters at the motherhouse, including two who taught Sister Lucy at Corpus Chris- ti. Looking back, they say they're grateful to have lived the Gospel concretely in Florida through the Franciscan community. "The hardest part was leaving the people, but we're grateful we can still keep in touch with them," Sister Michele said. "St. Francis never went into places to work and preach to people to make himself known, and I think that's the thing about us as Franciscans. It's not that we're there to make the Franciscans known, but to make God known."
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For information on the Miami As- sociates of the Franciscan Sisters of Allegany write marciag@bell south.net. MIAMI Msgr. David L. Toups, a priest of the Diocese of St. Pe- tersburg who serves as rector of St. Vincent de Paul de Paul Regional Seminary in Boynton Beach, has been named bishop of the Diocese of Beaumont, Texas, by Pope Francis. "My episcopal ordina- tion will be on Aug. 21, in Beaumont - and then I become a Texan!," Bish- op-elect Toups wrote in a message emailed to the seminary's supporters. "You might imagine the flood of emotions that I have been feel- ing since receiving the call," he added. "My first thought went to SVDP, and my love for the seminarians, faculty and staff of whom I have had the pleasure to serve for 11 years (2007-2010, 2012-2020), and to all of you who so faithfully pray for and support our mission of priestly for- mation." In his own letter to supporters, Bishop Felipe Estevez of St. Augus- tine, who chairs the seminary's board of trustees, praised Bishop- elect Toups' leadership of the semi- nary over the past eight years. He noted that "renovation and expansion of the seminary" was the motto Bishop-elect Toups chose when he was named president and rector. And in fact, with the support of generous donors, he oversaw over $15 million in new construction and major renovation over the past eight years. But, Bishop Estevez wrote, Msgr. Toups was clear that when he spoke of "renovation and expansion" he was talking about much more than the physical look of the seminary. "Going back to his first stint at the seminary, he was responsible for promoting the development of priestly character, lived within a
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CLASSIFIED ADS
Seminary rector named bishop in Texas
deep love for the Church," Bishop Estevez wrote. "In close collabora- tion with the bishops and the entire board, he has renewed and reno- vated the faculty and the sense of mission of the seminary." Bishop-elect Toups was born on March 26, 1971, in Seattle, Wash- ington, and was ordained to the priesthood on June 14, 1997, for the Diocese of St. Petersburg. He at- tended Florida Southern College (now univer- sity) in Lakeland before entering St. John Vian- ney College Seminary in Miami and earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in philosophy and theol- ogy in 1993. He then attended the Pontifical North American College in Rome and obtained a Bachelor of Sacred Theology and Licentiate of Sacred Theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University, and a Doc- torate in Sacred Theology from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum). His assignments after ordination include: parochial vicar at St. Fran- cis Cabrini Parish in Spring Hill (1997-2001); doctoral studies at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas (2002-2004); assistant dean of students (2004) and dean of students (2004-2006) at St. Vincent de Paul Regional Seminary; the Administrative Council, Faculty Council and Seminary Formation Team, and professor of sacramental and liturgical theology at St. Vin- cent de Paul Seminary (2004-2006). Between 2007-2010, Msgr. Toups served as associate director of the Secretariat for Clergy, Consecrat- ed Life, and Vocations at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in Washington. In 2010, he returned to Florida and served as pastor of Christ the King Parish in Tampa (2010-2012) before being named president and rector of St. Vincent de Paul Seminary in 2012. Bishop-elect Toups has also served as a member of the National Board of the National Federation of Priests' Councils (1997-2001), and as Observer for Region IV to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' November meetings from 2000-2002. His appointment was announced June 9, 2020, by Arch- bishop Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the United States. Bishop-elect Toups will be Beau- mont's sixth bishop. He succeeds Bishop Curtis J. Guillory, 76, a member of the Society of the Divine Word, who reached the manda- tory retirement age for bishops. The Diocese of Beaumont is comprised of 7,878 square miles and has a to- tal population of 643,798 of which 68,597 are Catholic.
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Franciscan sisters leave Miami
Msgr. Toups Pictured here at a farewell meeting with the Miami Associates of the Franciscan Sisters of Allegany, front row, from left: Shirley Raymond, Sister Michele Dolyk, Sister Lucy Cardet, Sister Colleen Brady and Sister Jo Streva; back row, from left: Margaret Rorick, Carol Lang, Maria del Carmen Saavedra, Diana Benitez, Daisy Canizalez, Elysee Manshia, Pat Fairfield, Ella Pulido, and Lisa Lamar.
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