Coconut Grove's 'little gem' marks 60th

By Priscilla A. Greear - Florida Catholic

COCONUT GROVE | For 60 years, St. Hugh Church has steadfastly provided vital spiritual and physical nourishment to parishioners, the neighborhood and international visitors, from centering prayer and grief ministries to classical music concerts and the Grove Outreach food pantry.

The elegant church, hewn of coral rock and Dade pine, softly shines Christ’s light from amid lush tropical foliage on Royal Road off Main Highway. The roughly 5,000-member parish has hosted over 8,500 weddings and over 12,000 baptisms and provided visitors a spiritual home when passing through Coconut Grove — including President-elect Joe Biden.

“People come from all over to visit us. Somehow, they get hooked to St. Hugh and they want to come back,” said the pastor, Father Luis Largaespada. He spoke while seated on a church pew near the new golden statue of St. Hugh crafted in Italy.

“People come from Venezuela, Mexico, Spain and have their weddings here. That for me is so amazing. They feel connected,” added the pastor’s assistant, Leticia Mercado. “Last year we had 17 destination weddings. They come back and have family here.”

The cosmopolitan, welcoming parish celebrated its 60th anniversary — as well as the 800th anniversary of the canonization of its patron, St. Hugh, bishop of Lincoln, England — Nov. 15, 2020. Archbishop Thomas Wenski celebrated an anniversary Mass with Father Largaespada and parochial vicar Father John Aduseh Poku.

“From building wells in Africa to a food pantry in the Grove, that shows a commitment to care for the widow, the orphan, the alien, the oppressed and the poor among us,” said Archbishop Wenski. “You have built community, a community of faith, hope and love, a community where Christ is known and adored.”

That community began in 1959 when white Catholics began worshipping at the Coconut Grove Playhouse and then Coconut Grove Elementary. Nearby, black Catholics attended Mass at G.W. Carver High School and at St. Augustine Mission School on Douglas Road and Franklin Avenue. St. Hugh’s building opened by 1961 with land donated by Liguori Matheson and named after her late husband, developer Hugh Matheson. At the same time, St. Augustine became St. Hugh School — the first archdiocesan integrated school.

Parishioner and Miami architect Murray Blair Wright designed the church with monastic simplicity inspired by St. Hugh’s life as a Carthusian monk. The building features 28 sloped wood beams overhead. The original St. Hugh statue still presiding was designed by parishioner Hubert Dumont.

 

INTEGRATION

Founding St. Hugh parishioner Mary McCray, an African American, had previously attended Mass at St. Augustine Mission School. “When they first opened the door, I was one of the first ones to go in,” recalled McCray. “Some went out of their way to make you feel welcome and others you could sense the resentment," she added, although "you could sit anywhere you wanted to sit.”

She has walked to St. Hugh for weekly Mass ever since. “I fell in love with my church. I got along with everybody. I didn’t have a problem. They were very cooperative with me, invited me to become members of certain groups.”

She served for decades as an extraordinary minister of Communion. “It really meant everything to me,” she said. At 93, she decided it was time to let someone else "take my place," but only because "my legs wouldn’t allow me to comfortably stand so long and all the bending and stooping.”

The late Adrian Dominican Sister Kathleen Donnelly led the school from 1974 to 2009, rebuilding it in 1982 on the church campus. The current principal, Mary Fernandez, joined St. Hugh in 1985.

“We’ve always had a multicultural environment I guess because we’re located in such a central area of Miami,” Fernandez said. “We’ve been known to be called the little gem in Coconut Grove because nobody realizes that we’re here. We are a small community but we’re very family oriented. That has been the beauty of this parish and school.”

She said she still feels Sister Kathleen’s presence. “She was quite a driving force for being a nun that grew up in a very different time in the South with segregation. She was very liberal and open-minded and she made the school what it is,” Fernandez said. “St. Hugh has always had an incredible reputation for academic excellence over these 60 years, one of the highest performing schools in the archdiocese.”

 

OUTREACH

With anniversary festivities cancelled due to COVID-19, parishioners turned to quiet reflection on the parish legacy and its namesake. Father Largaespada enlightened the community on its patron, a brilliant monk known as a great pastor, animal lover and builder of the Cathedral of Lincoln. Next in the works is a six-foot bronze statue of St. Hugh rising heavenward.

“We’re celebrating the love of the people of God, the love of God that have built this parish into what it is. So the ministries are an extension and the hands of St. Hugh,” said the pastor.

Myriad spiritual ministries range from Bible study to Amigos de Jesus y Maria children’s catechesis. Parishioners built at least 40 wells in Africa through Grove for Ghana and sent yearly medical missions to Ecuador through Mindo Futures, founded by parishioner Amanda Gaetan Chin. Their popular Grove Outreach food pantry, founded in 1989, opens with volunteers every Saturday morning at 6:15 on Grand Avenue. 

“It’s $6,000 monthly expenses in keeping the house, electricity, water. We have fed especially during COVID at least 350 people (every Saturday). The line will go around the block. People love the outreach and feel part of it,” said the pastor.

Founding member James Hartnett has helped lead the parish St. Vincent de Paul ministry for decades. And he’s still making house calls at 89. “You see the haves and have nots. You see people with a temporary bump in the road who drop to the bottom of the cave and try to climb out," he reflected. “We’ve fixed cars, we’ve sold cars, we’ve found jobs, we’ve helped people with cancer, you name it we’ve done it...It’s extremely rewarding.”

 

MUSIC

Music director Roberto Berrocal and former pastor Father Federico Capdepon launched the St. Hugh-Steinway Concert Series in 2012 featuring world class musicians. “The concert series has built an audience that is very loyal and enthusiastic,” said Berrocal, a classical pianist. “It is a moment of freedom, excitement and of deep emotions all without leaving the seat at St. Hugh. I believe that listening to classical music produces positive thoughts, gives hope and therefore the audience can leave transformed.”

Mass cantors Maria Antunez and Martin Nusspaumer are opera singers with international careers. Additionally, “I always arrange and improvise the hymns that are sung at Mass in a way that allows the congregation to engage and be uplifted spiritually,” noted Berrocal.

Lourdes Figueras chairs the concert series. “It’s Arsht Center quality, beautiful artists. Every year we have $6-8,000 that we donate to the charities. I love it. It’s so exciting and then we have a reception,” Figueras said.

Added Father Largaespada, "Beauty lifts up the spirit and connects you with God.”

Parishioner Elena Maribona leads a respect life ministry that holds monthly vigils at abortion clinic, supports the South Dade Pregnancy Center — and saved three babies last year.

Maribona said she appreciates Father Largaespada’s spiritual leadership. The church remains open for personal prayer, with visitors ranging from a take-out delivery driver to students from nearby Carrollton School of the Sacred Heart. “We are here on our knees all the time,” affirmed Maribona.

Amid the pandemic, the faithful continue to fill Masses to 30% capacity while others worship through sophisticated livestreaming — including the pastor’s mother in Nicaragua. Attendance is even up at daily Masses.

“It’s a blessing we’re alive even with the challenges of our times,” said Father Largaespada. “People are hungry, and the Lord is the bread of life.”