First day will be grueling, but travelers say it's worth it
Amid media onslaught, pilgrims leave for Santiago
Monday, March 26, 2012
* Ana Rodriguez Soto
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Photographer: ANA RODRIGUEZ-SOTO | FC
Teresa Peterson, communications director for the Diocese of Orlando, interviews Keith Koenig and his wife, who are on the Cuba pilgrimage. He is owner of City Furniture and has donated mattresses for the pope to sleep in while in Cuba.
MIAMI — This morning, everyone got their 15 minutes of fame.
The news crews were out in force at Miami International Airport as pilgrims from throughout Florida and the rest of the nation began arriving for their flight to Santiago de Cuba, where they would travel to El Cobre before attending the papal Mass in the late afternoon.
As the group of more than 300 arrived for check-in — some as early as 4 a.m. — it seemed no one was spared an interview with the media. The surprising thing was that no one seemed to mind. Nearly everyone was willing to talk.
“This is for Jose Arguilagos,” said Michael Woodford of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish in Coral Springs, who was traveling with his wife Albertina.
Woodford’s eyes swelled with tears as he remembered the Cuban American who served as godfather to his youngest daughter and was killed a number of years ago in a violent incident in South Miami.
The Woodfords are not Cuban, but “we love the Cubans. My brother married into a Cuban family and we wanted to be in solidarity with (the people),” said Albertina.
The couple have been on pilgrimages before, she added, but “for us, this hit so close to home. This is a much more emotional experience. And I really, really want to see this pope.”
Sister John Norton, longtime principal and now coordinator of special events at St. Thomas Aquinas High School, also is making the trip. An Adrian Dominican, she said she taught at St. Patrick’s on Miami Beach between 1963 and 1966, when the Cuban refugees began arriving. She has stayed in touch with those students over the years and “they’re thrilled that I’m going,” she said.
Never mind that she is 87 and the first day of the trip will be grueling — the pilgrims are not scheduled to arrive at their hotels in Havana until well past 1 a.m.
“I’m not concerned,” Sister Norton said. “I’m very anxious to have this opportunity to see Pope Benedict.”
Juan O’Naghten, a member of the Order of Malta, has now been to Cuba nearly a dozen times. He was born there but never thought he would go back, let alone these many times. He has traveled there to oversee the works of the Order on the island and he and his wife, Mariana, represented the Archdiocese of Miami this January at the Mass celebrated in El Cobre to mark the opening the Marian year — the 400th anniversary of the finding of the image of Our Lady of Charity in the waters off the Bay of Nipe.
This time, they came with other family members — Juan’s brother, Luis Miguel, and his sister, Maria Cristina, both of whom were born in the U.S. and had never traveled to Cuba.
Maria Cristina said she wanted to go this time “to back the pope and his vision of giving hope to the people. I hope to give them tangible proof that there are people outside of Cuba praying for them every day.”
The news crews were out in force at Miami International Airport as pilgrims from throughout Florida and the rest of the nation began arriving for their flight to Santiago de Cuba, where they would travel to El Cobre before attending the papal Mass in the late afternoon.
As the group of more than 300 arrived for check-in — some as early as 4 a.m. — it seemed no one was spared an interview with the media. The surprising thing was that no one seemed to mind. Nearly everyone was willing to talk.
Photographer: ANA RODRIGUEZ-SOTO I FC
Sister Isabel Rincon, a Dominican sister who works at Gesu Church in Miami, shows off her native colors before boarding the flight to Santiago de Cuba.
Woodford’s eyes swelled with tears as he remembered the Cuban American who served as godfather to his youngest daughter and was killed a number of years ago in a violent incident in South Miami.
The Woodfords are not Cuban, but “we love the Cubans. My brother married into a Cuban family and we wanted to be in solidarity with (the people),” said Albertina.
The couple have been on pilgrimages before, she added, but “for us, this hit so close to home. This is a much more emotional experience. And I really, really want to see this pope.”
Sister John Norton, longtime principal and now coordinator of special events at St. Thomas Aquinas High School, also is making the trip. An Adrian Dominican, she said she taught at St. Patrick’s on Miami Beach between 1963 and 1966, when the Cuban refugees began arriving. She has stayed in touch with those students over the years and “they’re thrilled that I’m going,” she said.
Never mind that she is 87 and the first day of the trip will be grueling — the pilgrims are not scheduled to arrive at their hotels in Havana until well past 1 a.m.
“I’m not concerned,” Sister Norton said. “I’m very anxious to have this opportunity to see Pope Benedict.”
Photographer: ANA RODRIGUEZ-SOTO I FC
The media interview Cuba pilgrim and Miami businessman Carlos Saladrigas before he gets on the plane to Cuba.
This time, they came with other family members — Juan’s brother, Luis Miguel, and his sister, Maria Cristina, both of whom were born in the U.S. and had never traveled to Cuba.
Maria Cristina said she wanted to go this time “to back the pope and his vision of giving hope to the people. I hope to give them tangible proof that there are people outside of Cuba praying for them every day.”
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