By Ana Rodriguez Soto - The Archdiocese of Miami
A young Father Bryan O. Walsh: His signed visa waivers were copied all over Cuba by parents desperate to get their children off the island to avoid Communist indoctrination after all private and religious schools were shut down by the government.
James Baker, headmaster of the Ruston Academy in Havana: His students' parents, many of whom were involved in trying to overthrow the Castro regime, were worried about the fate of their children should they be captured and jailed.
�It was really at his funeral in Miami that I realized much more fully the impact he had on so many,� O�Brien told a ballroom-full of Pedro Pans, whom his uncle�s visa waivers had saved from communist indoctrination in Cuba. �He was Uncle Bryan. He wasn�t the saint we all expect him to become.�
Chris Baker, the son of Ruston Academy�s headmaster, James Baker, was away at college when his father began trying to get some of his students out of Cuba.
�We were not allowed to go home for Christmas in 1960,� recalled Baker, who speaks perfect Spanish, having lived in Cuba between 1944 and 1959.
Roisin Ferry, a niece of Msgr. Bryan O. Walsh, tapes the talk of her brother during the conference.
Dermot O'Brien, a nephew of Msgr. Bryan O. Walsh, remembers his "Uncle Bryan" at the conference.
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.
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.
Chris Baker, son of James Baker, the headmaster of the Ruston Academy in Havana who was a key player in 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.�
Photos by Ana Rodriguez-Soto | FC
Memorial Mass planned for Msgr. Bryan O. Walsh
Msgr. Walsh was a key player in Operation Pedro Pan and a respected leader in the interfaith, ecumenical and civil rights movements in South Florida.
Archbishop Thomas Wenski will celebrate a Memorial Mass to mark the 10th anniversary of the death of Msgr. Bryan O. Walsh on Tuesday, Dec. 20, at 7 p.m. at St. Michael the Archangel Catholic Church, 2987 W. Flagler St., Miami.
Msgr. Walsh was a key player in Operation Pedro Pan and a respected leader in the interfaith, ecumenical and civil rights movements in South Florida.
Members of Operation Pedro Pan Group, the now grown children of that Cuban exodus, invite everyone in the community who was touched by Msgr. Walsh to attend the memorial Mass.
For more information contact: [email protected] or visit www.pedropan.org.
