Cuban Cardinal makes first visit to Los Angeles

Friday, June 23, 2006
Cuban Cardinal makes first visit to Los Angeles
By Ellie Hidalgo

Visiting with the Cuban community of Los Angeles for the first time,
Cardinal Jaime Ortega Alamino of Havana expressed his hope that Cubans
of faith remain united wherever they live.

"The love of Jesus unites us. It's a unity that no one can break," said
Cardinal Ortega in Spanish to a standing-room congregation of more than
800 people at Holy Family Church in Glendale June 18.

The cardinal, who served several terms as president of the Cuban
bishops' conference and now heads the Catholic humanitarian aid agency
Caritas Cuba, addressed the U.S. bishops at their spring meeting in a
closed-door session June 16.

Two days later, he celebrated the 12:30 p.m. Mass at Holy Family with
ten priests concelebrating, including several Cuban-born priests now
ministering in Los Angeles. Cuban Catholics and Holy Family parishioners
applauded as the cardinal made his way up the center aisle to the altar,
waving at well-wishers.

Celebrating the feast of Corpus Christi, Cardinal Ortega, 69, reflected
on how Jesus appeared to his disciples in the glory of his resurrected
body while still showing the scars of his passion and crucifixion.

Sacrifice is always present in the life of a Christian and in the
church, said Cardinal Ortega, who was detained in work camps in 1966
following the Cuban communist revolution of 1959 when priests were being
expelled or incarcerated.
'The church needs to be alive and present always. We can't be absent
from any society.' -- Cardinal Jaime Ortega of Havana

Today, Cubans on the island encounter severe travel restrictions from
the dictatorship government of Fidel Castro. In the United States, Cuban
Americans face tightened travel restrictions to Cuba as part of the U.S.
trade embargo against the island, allowing them to visit close family
members only every three years.

"Sometimes it's painful the different culture, the distance, the reality
of not being with loved ones when you want to," said the cardinal. "We
have a capacity to persevere through the difficulties of life."

The authentic Christian life, he added in his calm, baritone voice,
allows people to be able to suffer and still be at peace.

At the conclusion of the Mass, the cardinal offered a special blessing
to fathers on Father's Day.

Cardinal Ortega, an unhurried man with a ready smile, greeted everyone
who wanted to talk with him on the lawn outside the church and later in
the parish hall. Many embraced with emotion, recalling decades past when
they knew him in Cuba or received the sacraments from him.

Gisela Valle recalled how her cousin, then-Father Ortega, would not
leave Cuba after the communist revolution. "He said his obligation was
to Cuba. He wanted to fight for the church in Cuba," said Valle, a
parishioner of Beatitudes of Our Lord Church in La Mirada with her
husband Gerardo.

Mario Tepanes, a parishioner of St. Timothy Church in West Los Angeles,
said he thought the cardinal's first visit to Los Angeles "is an
affirmation of the Cuban faith community here." Tepanes said he
participates in the annual Cuban Mass in Los Angeles honoring Cuba's
patron Our Lady of Charity of el Cobre.

Cuban-born Father Diosdado Martin, chaplain to the LA Cuban Catholic
community, said that the cardinal's visit signified the inherent unity
of the Cuban people. "Among Cubans, some of us are there and others of
us are here, but we are not separated," he said. "There's a lot of joy
with this gathering."

Following a reception in the parish hall that included cakes and guayaba
pastries from the popular Glendale Cuban bakery Portos, the cardinal
proceeded to answer handwritten questions for an hour. He pointedly
steered clear of political questions, saying he would leave those to
people who knew more about politics.

He did talk about the renovation of dilapidated churches and the
Catholic Church's evangelization efforts. Ever since the visit of Pope
John Paul II to Cuba in 1998, annual processions in honor of Our Lady of
Charity have swelled to thousands of people, he said. However, the
Castro government, still in power more than 47 years, does not allow the
church to open any Catholic schools.

Cardinal Ortega, well versed in the history of former communist Eastern
Europe, said he has consulted with bishops who lived through that
period. "The church needs to be alive and present always. We can't be
absent from any society," he said. "We can't act with methods that
aren't out of love. We as Christians have to have the same style as Christ."

The cardinal pointed out that around the time of Pope John Paul's visit
to Cuba, the pope asked Fidel Castro to talk to the communist Vietnamese
government about allowing the Catholic Church in Vietnam to appoint new
bishops, a request Vietnam granted the church.

Strategy, said Cardinal Ortega, is important. "Look how John Paul II's
visit to Cuba served to help open up new bishops in Vietnam. Our
attitude has to be totally pastoral and Christian," a path he
acknowledged can be very difficult.

"I understand your impatience," added the cardinal. His solution has
been to keep returning to the Gospel. "The day that the cross is taken
away from Christians, it will no longer be the church of Christ," he said.

Members of the greater Los Angeles Cuban community said the cardinal
witnessed the Christian life of patient suffering and joyful hope.

Ada Fernandez-DeLaRosa, a member of the Agrupación Catolica Cubana
Caridad del Cobre (an association of Los Angeles Cuban Catholic groups)
said she was moved by the cardinal's serenity in the face of adversity.
"His peace gives him a lot of strength. This is hopeful for the church
in Cuba," said Fernandez-DeLaRosa, adding that the cardinal also
conveyed a message to Cubans in the Diaspora. "He's calling us to be
stronger in the faith and also in charity."

http://www.the-tidings.com/2006/0623/cuban.htm