Our Lady of the Lakes: 50 years of family

By Jim Davis - Florida Catholic

Click here for a slide show of the art at Our Lady of the Lakes Church and School.

MIAMI LAKES | Irma Tejeda sat quietly in church until her mother noticed something: The girl's dress was wet. When the 9-year-old was called to Mass, she'd hopped out of a lake and hurriedly donned her dress over her swimsuit.

Now a kindergarten teacher at the parish school, Tejeda laughed over one of her many memories at Our Lady of the Lakes, the church she has attended since 1969. After more than four decades, she is still immersed in the parish that recently observed its 50th anniversary.

She loves the worship, the fellowship, and the singing of songs like "Water and the Spirit," she said. “It really feels like family. It's my home away from home."

About 600 members of that family gathered at a Mass Dec. 8, to wrap up the church's anniversary celebration, along with Archbishop Thomas Wenski.

"For 50 years, Our Lady of the Lakes Parish has been a place where Jesus Christ is encountered, celebrated and shared," the archbishop said in his homily.  He prayed that the observance would make the church "a model of a reconciled and reconciling community of faith, hope and love."

Father Jose Alvarez, pastor at Our Lady of the Lakes since June 2011, allowed himself a touch of pride for his flock.

"It doesn't belong to me � it belongs to the Lord," he stressed. But he confessed to being "proud of the people � their life, their love, the dedication they bring. They build up the Kingdom of God."

 

Mass upstairs, moos downstairs

Our Lady of the Lakes was founded as a mission of Hialeah's Immaculate Conception Church. But just as Jesus was born in a stable, the first 321 parishioners at Our Lady of the Lakes first worshipped on the second floor of a converted barn. (The building was also used for community plays.)

"We could hear mooing from the ground floor," recalled Deacon Al Mindel, a founding member.

But not for long: The congregation soon moved to a school, then a storefront and a Protestant church, then built a multipurpose hall and rectory � then dedicated a chapel in mid-1969. They added a permanent church building in 1984, then a school in 1987.

At the anniversary Mass, Archbishop Wenski revealed his own early link with Our Lady of the Lakes.  Forty-three years ago St. Benedict Church in Hialeah, where he was a deacon at the time, was meeting in a public school. So the parish used the chapel at Our Lady of the Lakes for weddings.

"I've been coming to Our Lady of the Lakes probably more than most of you," Archbishop Wenski said, drawing laughs.

Asked "What's so special about the church?", members talked about a natural advantage of Miami Lakes: a planned community somewhat removed from the urban clutter of central Miami-Dade and the warehouses and light industries of surrounding unincorporated areas.

The town is also a magnet for younger families, Father Alvarez said. That imparts energy and spawns an array of activities � and children for the next generation.

 

Married to the lyrics

As with Tejeda, the music at Our Lady of the Lakes drew the school’s principal, Ricardo Briz to the parish, and helps keep him there. Raised in South Florida, he studied in Pittsburgh, then returned.

"I loved the music � it was meaningful and [it was] married to the lyrics," he said. "I learned later of the cathartic power of music, that it purifies you. I leave church energized."

The many ministries also drew Nirma Piña. She remembered being asked three years ago to coordinate a monthly program of food, entertainment and arts and crafts for the elderly. It's one of a range of ministries at Our Lady of the Lakes.

Cursillos, Emmaus, Life Teen and the Legion of Mary are active at the parish. Some members fill baby bottles with donations for the Respect Life campaign. Others assemble Thanksgiving baskets in November and toys in December, donating them to other parishes or the nearby Marian Center School for children with learning disabilities.

One group, the Dads Club, raised thousands for a new scoreboard for the school. And girls at the school meet weekly to make rosaries for shelters or for a sister school in Haiti.

"It's so active a parish," said Piña, who also runs the church's marriage ministry, along with her husband, Alicio. "Whatever you want to get involved in, you'll find."

Another point of pride for the parish is the school, with its emphasis on the "whole child." Its 500 students get a rounded program of sports, music and service projects as well as traditional subjects.

"Spiritual, physical, academic � that's our mission statement," said Barbara Picazo, the assistant principal. "When they graduate, they become full participants in the community."

 

Church is for guys, too

It worked for German Garcia, who graduated in 1998. He also volunteered at the church as an altar server and later an extraordinary minister of Communion. A graduate of Msgr. Edward Pace High School and Nova Southeastern University, he was hired back at Our Lady of the Lakes School six years ago. He works as athletic director and physical education teacher as well as seventh-grade religion teacher.

"They welcomed me back, almost like I'd never left," said Garcia, 33. "I still see parents that I knew as a child."

Several parishioners mentioned the annual festival as an engine of growth and fellowship. Held each March, the four-day fair draws nearly 40,000 people, for carny rides and snacks like tostones, Filipino noodles and Jamaican jerk chicken.

Watching the men set up and break down the festival stuck in Alex Rivera's mind as a boy. "Just to be there with all the dads was such a cool thing," he said. "I saw that church work was not just ironing or arranging flowers. It was also nailing boards, moving tables, loading trucks."

He got into church work himself � as a lector, choir member, altar server and volunteer in the rectory � and finally as a priest. Ordained May 13, Father Alex Rivera is now a parochial vicar at Epiphany Church in Miami.

For Deacon Mindel, parish life comes down to the web of relationships that have formed over the decades.

"It's a longtime relationship that has grown through the years," said the deacon, who trains altar servers, serves at the Vigil Mass and runs a prayer ministry for the bereaved. "You occasionally face problems, solve them and keep going. There's a commitment to keep together."

Elsa Reus is doing all she can to help it continue. She's not only head of community and alumni relations for the school; she started a series of fundraising galas and children's fashion shows. At the church, she serves as a lector and extraordinary minister of Communion.

"Everyone has been there for me � the priests and parishioners � and I'm happy to give back," Reus said. "Church and religion have been part of my life forever. And I want to make it part of my children's and grandchildren's lives."

Correction: This article has been modified to reflect the fact that Nirma Piña was asked to lead, not start, a monthly program for the elderly. The program had been in existence for years, but needed a new coordinator.