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Parish News | Tuesday, June 27, 2017

‘Work and fraternity, all the time’

HIALEAH | In 1987, when the parish of Santa Barbara was about to be founded, Father Rafael Pedroso, the founding pastor, invited María Jiménez to become a member. At that time, Jiménez’s parish was San Lazaro, but she started attending Mass with her family at Santa Barbara. She never left.

"In the warehouse where we began, for the first time we had a kiosk where I started selling coffee and toast. We later had a group of people from different countries selling arepas, alcapurrias, everything," remembered Jiménez.

"Father Pedroso came with us to clean the site; everything was work and fraternity, all the time. That is what sets this parish apart," recalled Jiménez, who is of Dominican descent and a member of the choir.

Maria Mercedes Escobar, secretary at Santa Barbara Church in Hialeah Gardens, prays during the Mass celebrating the parish's 30th anniversary.

Photographer: JONATHAN MARTINEZ | FC

Maria Mercedes Escobar, secretary at Santa Barbara Church in Hialeah Gardens, prays during the Mass celebrating the parish's 30th anniversary.

"When you are in a parish, you feel like family, and that is what Santa Barbara is for me. It has been 30 years already. I am very happy here. My children grew up here, my husband is a lector and minister of Holy Communion; my youngest son teaches young adults catechumens," said Jiménez.

Santa Barbara, one of the first parishes founded west of the Palmetto Expressway, celebrated its 30th anniversary June 17. (See Archbishop Wenski's homily, in Spanish)

The church started in a repurposed warehouse on N.W. 87th Avenue, very close to the site where it is currently located. Archbishop Edward McCarthy established it in 1987 to serve western parts of Hialeah and the new city of Hialeah Gardens. On Nov. 25 of that year, Miami’s then Auxiliary Bishop Agustín Román blessed the facility.

"The parish was erected thanks to the pastoral effort of Bishop Román," said Father Alvaro Huertas, current parish administrator.

Bishop Román "knew his community of Hialeah. Most of the population was Cuban, so he tried to establish parishes with names of the saints that they knew," explained the priest.

Santa Barbara — “Changó” in Afro-Cuban syncretism — came to mind. But Santa Barbara was a young woman of Turkish origin who was martyred at the hands of her own father.

"Afterwards, the priests were in charge of educating the community," Father Huertas said.

In an interview with La Voz Católica at that time, Father Pedroso said that the area was expanding rapidly and "the challenges were many."

"First, to let ourselves be known; that the local people would know that we are the Catholic Church and that we are here. Second, to establish a complete evangelizing and sacramental formation program.”

The challenges have been fulfilled throughout these 30 years.

"The community keeps growing and the most important thing is to evangelize. At this time, discipleship is a vibrant community that works. We have improved what we had thanks to a community that loves its parish," said Father Huertas.

On Dec. 4, 2000, after waiting 12 years, Archbishop Emeritus John C. Favalora dedicated a new parish hall and a beautiful plaza on the 10-acre site. Plans called for the future construction of a school, a park, a childcare center and a church.

Since then, Mass has been celebrated and the sacraments offered in the parish center.

"It is a worthy place while we struggle to build the parish church," said Father Huertas.

Ministry leader Gladys Toucet, a native of Puerto Rico, recalls that when she moved to Hialeah 20 years ago, people were already working to raise funds for the construction of the church. "What we have is a multipurpose center. This is where we celebrate Mass, weddings, birthdays, Easter vigils, where we teach catechism, basically where everything takes place."

From the beginning, the goal of the community has been to build its church. "One of the major concerns as a pastor is the financial charge of building a church and all that entails," Father Pedroso told La Voz Católica when the new parish began. "I know that people, parishioners, will help me. I'm sure about that."

Father Pedroso retired in 2000. Father Miguel Gómez, who just retired as pastor of the San Isidro Mission in Pompano Beach, succeeded him. Father Huertas was appointed administrator in July 2013.

A new fundraising campaign began July 2016 for the construction of the church.

To that end, parishioners sell food at the kiosks every Sunday, which brings in a weekly income.

"We need someone to donate the funds. We dream big, our community is growing," said Juanita López, president of the parish's finance council."This parish center has

"This parish center has capacity for 800 people. This Easter many came who do not attend regularly. This makes us want to build our church as soon as possible," she added.

Father Alvaro Huertas, administrator of Santa Barbara Church, holds a City of Hialeah Gardens proclamation commemorating his parish's 30th anniversary. The proclamation was given to the church by Manuel Carrera, Emergency Management Coordinator for the city.

Photographer: JONATHAN MARTINEZ | FC

Father Alvaro Huertas, administrator of Santa Barbara Church, holds a City of Hialeah Gardens proclamation commemorating his parish's 30th anniversary. The proclamation was given to the church by Manuel Carrera, Emergency Management Coordinator for the city.

It can be said that the parish has two great intercessors, "the Divine Child Jesus, who has many followers, and Santa Barbara, who has many devotees not necessarily of Cuban origin," said Father Huertas.

He said plans along with the church’s construction, a shrine for Santa Barbara also will be built.

Currently, the parish community remains mostly Cuban, but there are many Colombians, Central Americans, Puerto Ricans and Dominicans.

It is a passageway community: Families stay for one or two years and then move to other places. "But people are still coming," asserted the priest.

There are 800 registered families, an average of 300 children in catechesis, and more than 20 ministries, including youth groups and the catechumenate.

"It is a community in which we all work together. There is always a lot of friendship, fraternity, a lot of help and enthusiasm in everything that is done. We see that the community grows a lot every year. I have been here for 24 years and I see it," said Olga Weber, a member of the parish’s "Why Catholic?" team and "PACT, For the Love of Christ" group.

Father Huertas said he hoped the 30th anniversary celebration would allow all the archdiocesan communities to get to know the parish and Santa Barbara better.

Santa Barbara Church is located at 6801 West 30th Avenue, in Hialeah. For more information, visit www.santabarbaradn.org or call 305-556-4442.

Lea la versión en español de este artículo aquí; y la homilía del Arzobispo Thomas Wenski el día de la celebración, aquí

Parishioners of Santa Barbara take part June 17 in the 30th anniversary Mass for the parish, celebrated by Archbishop Thomas Wenski.

Photographer: JONATHAN MARTINEZ | FC

Parishioners of Santa Barbara take part June 17 in the 30th anniversary Mass for the parish, celebrated by Archbishop Thomas Wenski.



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