He said his father got involved in helping children leave Cuba because of his beliefs in education, in standing up for democratic principles and in instilling those principles in his Cuban students.
�He felt that you were the true heroes,� Baker said, referring to the children and parents of Pedro Pan.
Archbishop Thomas Wenski was in the fourth grade at Sacred Heart School in Lake Worth when the Pedro Pan program began. Even though he did not know anything about it, he and his classmates had been taught to pray the Our Father and the Hail Mary in Spanish.
One day the pastor and two of the sisters who taught at the school brought two children from Cuba into the class, �more than likely Pedro Pans,� Archbishop Wenski recalled.
�You could see their nervousness dissipate as they heard us pray in their own language,� the archbishop said.
Photographer:
Archbishop Thomas Wenski reflects on the legacy of Msgr. Bryan Walsh, whom he succeeded as executive director of Catholic Charities for the archdiocese until his appointment as bishop of Orlando in 2003.
Photographer:
Chris Baker, son of James Baker, the headmaster of the Ruston Academy in Havana who was a key player in Pedro Pan.
Years later, as a high school student at St. John Vianney Seminary in Miami, some of his classmates were Pedro Pan.
�We were consciously aware that their parents were still in Cuba,� Archbishop Wenski said. In fact, the father of one of his classmates was imprisoned on the island. And it was those very classmates who taught him to speak Spanish.
Until then, however, Msgr. Walsh was a far-away figure. �We knew of his work and we had great respect for him.�
It was not until he was ordained a priest and began working with him that he got to know him better, Archbishop Wenski said. �People would say, �You�re the Bryan Walsh of the Haitians.� I began to appreciate more and more what that meant and what responsibility had been put on my shoulders.�
In 1995, the archbishop would succeed Msgr. Walsh as director of Catholic Charities. Last year, he also succeeded another �key figure� in the Pedro Pan exodus, Miami�s first archbishop, Coleman F. Carroll.
�It was he who enabled Msgr. Walsh to do the work that he did,� Archbishop Wenski said.
He added that the most important thing Msgr. Walsh taught him was �how to be an advocate, how to be involved in the public square.�
�The Church has to be involved in the public square. That, I believe, is Msgr. Walsh�s greatest legacy, because he was not afraid� to speak out on behalf of anyone whose human dignity was threatened.
�The fact that there was even a Pedro Pan was because of this man of vision,� Archbishop Wenski said, �a man of vision because he was also a man of faith.�