MIAMI | No one would expect an archbishop to host a poker run featuring motorcycles, leather jackets and combat boots. Yet Archbishop Thomas Wenski did just that Feb. 24 in order to help those who are struggling with substance abuse.

The beneficiary of the first Archbishop�s Poker Run was Catholic Charities� St. Luke�s Center, a residential and outpatient treatment facility located next to St. Mary Cathedral in Miami. Participants paid $25 to ride from about 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., covering a 90-mile circuit that took them from Palmetto Bay to Miami Gardens, with five stops in between � as far south as Homestead and as far north as Weston. At each stop, participants drew a card, eventually completing a poker hand. The biker with the best hand received a $500 gift certificate from the final stop, Peterson�s Harley Davidson, which was hosting a 59th anniversary party.

Bikers also received a commemorative black and white t-shirt bearing the logo for the event � an endearing caricature of a miter-wearing Archbishop Wenski riding his motorcycle.

The day began with 8 a.m. Mass and a bike blessing for those who chose to participate. By the time the archbishop began celebrating the Mass, the parking lot of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary-St. Richard Church was decorated with colorful bikes of all kinds. Inside, the pews were filled by parishioners and bikers from various parts of South Florida.

Ann Biegen was among them. A parishioner at Our Lady of the Holy Rosary-St. Richard, she made a point of thanking the archbishop personally for dreaming up the poker run and having it benefit St. Luke�s.

�I�m telling you � if it would not have been for St. Luke�s my daughter would have been dead. St. Luke�s saved my daughter,� Biegen said. �I think hosting the poker run event is an awesome idea. It�s very cool that our archbishop rides a motorcycle... It really brings him down to our level.�

�I�ve been a biker for about 10 years now,� said the archbishop, who rides a Harley-Davidson Street Glide. �I thought it would be great to have a poker run to support charities of the archdiocese.�

He added that he hoped the poker run would bring attention to St. Luke�s while allowing participants to have a good time.

A total of 67 bikes, with 83 riders, registered for the run, according to the archdiocesan Office of Development, although the number of participants fluctuated from stop to stop, anywhere between 75 and 100.

Having never organized a poker run, the development staff received invaluable and enthusiastic help from Rene John Sardina, president of the Miami chapter of the Chrome Knights Motorcycle Association. Sardina and his fellow bikers acted as road captains for the run � planning the route, leading and tailing the pack and ensuring riders� safety along the way.

�Going down the road, people were shocked to see 75 bikes or so, and as soon as people saw the archbishop, they put on their car brakes, took their cell phones out, hands were waving in the air, and it was all very interesting to see,� said Sardina. �I�d say this experience is like the cathedral meets a rock band.�

At each stop on the run, the riders could obtain refreshments as well as a poker card: Robert Is Here, a fruit stand in Florida City; Dade Corners Market Place on Tamiami Trail; and Caf� 27 on U.S. 27 in Weston. But the second stop of the run was at the Schoenstatt Center in the Redlands, where riders received physical as well as spiritual nourishment.

Casa Schoenstatt is a small shrine dedicated to Mary, the �mother thrice admirable,� a Marian devotion that originated in Germany in 1914. As soon as the archbishop and the bikers arrived, they were greeted by a multitude of well-wishers and led to the shrine, where the archbishop entered for a moment of prayer.

Father Luis Rivero, the director of campus ministries for the archdiocese, said participants in the poker run encompassed �the diversity of walks of life, and they are coming together for this wonderful cause.�

He himself has been riding for three years � a three-wheeled Spyder. �There is a stereotype if you look at bikers,� he said, �yet they are some of the nicest people I have ever met.�

He added that events such as the poker run can attract a younger crowd of people and help them understand that following Christ also can be �fun.�

At the final stop, Peterson�s Harley Davidson in Miami Gardens, the winner of the poker run was announced: Marco Hernandez. St. Luke�s was a winner too, benefitting from about $2,000 raised by the run. The experience also made the archbishop more accessible to an expanded group of people.

�People don�t really get to know him, and as soon as he came out of Mass, it was unexpected how he had his riding leathers on,� said Sardina. �Archbishop is showing different facets of himself, and one of them is a very humanistic one.�

Many of the riders said they were looking forward to next year�s run, including Archbishop Wenski. �This is the first poker run, and I hope it will be the first of many,� he said.