Feature News

'An out-of-body experience'

Pilgrims to Cuba took time to explore old homes, churches and more during papal events

Monday, April 09, 2012
Tom Tracy - Florida Catholic

TOM TRACY | FC
Victor Lopez is pictured here in front of Havana's Cathedral before the Mass celebrated by Archbishop Thomas Wenski March 27.

HAVANA — On the morning after arriving in Havana following Pope Benedict XVI’s Mass in Santiago de Cuba, Bill Brown of St. Timothy Parish in Miami accepted an invitation to go pray with a group of Havana Catholics.

What Brown did not expect was that the church basement where the group would meet would be the same church, Corpus Christi, not far from his hotel in Miramar, where he grew up with until he left Cuba more than 60 years ago, at the age of 15.

“That is where I had been confirmed. Inside, I knelt down where I used to receive holy Communion as a little kid. It almost like an out-of-body experience,” Brown said. “Of all the churches they could have taken me to it was that one.”

“Seven or eight of us prayed together,” he continued, “and I thought to myself that this is the same God and the same Spirit. They wanted to proclaim the name of Jesus to their brethren there and that was very encouraging.”

Brown, who has a long involvement with the Charismatic Renewal and who is a regional director for Covenant Communities, a lay association in Miami, said he also took time to find his way back to his childhood home on the outskirts of Havana’s western suburbs.

A nanny who had once cared for young Brown had lived in the old family house there until she passed away, and now several other families had split the house into apartments. The inhabitants remembered who Brown was and had communicated by mail with him once or twice over the years. But what happened next, Brown couldn’t believe.

“I was talking to a lady who lives there and in the middle of our conversation she pulled out this broken box of old pictures of my family from 50 years ago, and she said, ‘Take whatever you want,’” Brown said.

He took some of the pictures but not all. “These pictures were part of their history too; I told her maybe next time I come I will take some with me.”

Brown took a picture of himself when he was three years old and dressed in a baseball uniform, along with pictures of his parents, a grandfather, and some old newspaper clippings. In the hallway, he was shown a bookshelf and told, “Here are all your books.”

“But I didn’t want to take anything because I felt that was their link to us,” Brown said. He hopes to return later when he can spend more time at his former house, and he is hoping to find for more church to church evangelization opportunities in Cuba.

Victor Ivan Lopez, a Miami exile who was credited with helping bring Boy Scouting from Cuba to South Florida following the revolution, traveled to Cuba with the same group organized by Miami Archbishop Thomas Wenski.

After the pope’s Mass in Havana, Lopez strolled past the University of Havana, and pointing to a monument to a fallen student under the Batista dictatorship, recalled how the institution served as a hotbed of student activism over the years. The day before, Lopez had gone out to his birthplace 25 miles southeast of Havana.

“I got a taxi and went to the church with some money and rosaries for the parish, and I visited one cousin with a pair of shoes,” Lopez said, “and I went to see a deacon I had gone to school with. I spent that time in Cuba very well, I am very happy.”

He left Cuba in 1962 and had been away 25 years before making periodic trips beginning in 1988.

“My wife says when I get in a plane and go down to Havana I am a different person. I am fish out of water when I am outside of Cuba. I congratulate Archbishop Wenski for doing the right thing and for organizing the trip, and he did what he was supposed to do.”

All Fields Are Required
Name:
Email:
Phone Number:
Address:
How did you hear about us?
Your Message:
Enter Code >

Feature News 'An out-of-body experience' Pilgrims to Cuba took time to explore old homes, churches and more during papal events Monday, April 09, 2012 Tom Tracy - Florida Catholic TOM TRACY \| FC Victor Lopez is pictured here in front of Havana's Cathedral before the Mass celebrated by Archbishop Thomas Wenski March 27. HAVANA — On the morning after arriving in Havana following Pope Benedict XVI’s Mass in Santiago de Cuba, Bill Brown of St. Timothy Parish in Miami accepted an invitation to go pray with a group of Havana Catholics. What Brown did not expect was that the church basement where the group would meet would be the same church, Corpus Christi, not far from his hotel in Miramar, where he grew up with until he left Cuba more than 60 years ago, at the age of 15. “That is where I had been confirmed. Inside, I knelt down where I used to receive holy Communion as a little kid. It almost like an out-of-body experience,” Brown said. “Of all the churches they could have taken me to it was that one.” “Seven or eight of us prayed together,” he continued, “and I thought to myself that this is the same God and the same Spirit. They wanted to proclaim the name of Jesus to their brethren there and that was very encouraging.” Brown, who has a long involvement with the Charismatic Renewal and who is a regional director for Covenant Communities, a lay association in Miami, said he also took time to find his way back to his childhood home on the outskirts of Havana’s western suburbs. A nanny who had once cared for young Brown had lived in the old family house there until she passed away, and now several other families had split the house into apartments. The inhabitants remembered who Brown was and had communicated by mail with him once or twice over the years. But what happened next, Brown couldn’t believe. “I was talking to a lady who lives there and in the middle of our conversation she pulled out this broken box of old pictures of my family from 50 years ago, and she said, ‘Take whatever you want,’” Brown said. He took some of the pictures but not all. “These pictures were part of their history too; I told her maybe next time I come I will take some with me.” Brown took a picture of himself when he was three years old and dressed in a baseball uniform, along with pictures of his parents, a grandfather, and some old newspaper clippings. In the hallway, he was shown a bookshelf and told, “Here are all your books.” “But I didn’t want to take anything because I felt that was their link to us,” Brown said. He hopes to return later when he can spend more time at his former house, and he is hoping to find for more church to church evangelization opportunities in Cuba. Victor Ivan Lopez, a Miami exile who was credited with helping bring Boy Scouting from Cuba to South Florida following the revolution, traveled to Cuba with the same group organized by Miami Archbishop Thomas Wenski. After the pope’s Mass in Havana, Lopez strolled past the University of Havana, and pointing to a monument to a fallen student under the Batista dictatorship, recalled how the institution served as a hotbed of student activism over the years. The day before, Lopez had gone out to his birthplace 25 miles southeast of Havana. “I got a taxi and went to the church with some money and rosaries for the parish, and I visited one cousin with a pair of shoes,” Lopez said, “and I went to see a deacon I had gone to school with. I spent that time in Cuba very well, I am very happy.” He left Cuba in 1962 and had been away 25 years before making periodic trips beginning in 1988. “My wife says when I get in a plane and go down to Havana I am a different person. I am fish out of water when I am outside of Cuba. I congratulate Archbishop Wenski for doing the right thing and for organizing the trip, and he did what he was supposed to do.”

Feature News

'An out-of-body experience'

Pilgrims to Cuba took time to explore old homes, churches and more during papal events

Monday, April 09, 2012 Tom Tracy - Florida Catholic

Boy y Girl Scouts en Cuba – Retos para su renacimiento

Monday, April 09, 2012
Tom Tracy - Florida Catholic