By Florida Catholic staff - Florida Catholic
Editor’s note: The following is a new feature highlighting a month in archdiocesan history, as the Miami archdiocese kicks off its 60th anniversary celebration. A “White Gala to Honor the White Collar” will take place Oct. 20, 2018, with proceeds benefiting the two local seminaries. Here are some of the historical highlights for March. Click on the images to see the entire edition.
1959
- The Voice publishes its first edition as the official newspaper of the Diocese of Miami. It will continue publication until November 1990, when it joins the statewide Florida Catholic family. The first edition includes a page in Spanish, the precursor to today's La Voz Católica.
1977
- Archbishop Coleman Carroll announces that St. John Vianney Seminary in Miami, at the time a junior college, will turn into a four-year college seminary beginning with the 1977-78 academic year.
- Terry and Mimi Reilly and their three children visit South Florida in preparation for their permanent move here in the summer, when they will assume leadership of the newly created Family Enrichment Center.
1980
- Archbishop Edward McCarthy invites divorced and separated Catholics to the archdiocese's first "Come Home" conference, aimed at reaching those who are divorced or remarried outside the Church. Jointly sponsored by the offices of Evangelization, Family Life and the Tribunal, the conference seeks to dispel misinformation about the Church's marriage annulment process and stress that divorce, by itself, does not mean excommunication.
1983
- A bronze Pieta executed in 1958 by Yugoslavian sculptor Ivan Mestrovic was relocated to the Pastoral Center from Our Lady of Mercy Cemetery. Surrounding the 4-ton, 10-foot-high statue are six granite relief plaques of heroic churchmen who opposed Communist persecution. The garden in which the Mestrovic works are situated is named for the late Archbishop Joseph P. Hurley, sixth bishop of St. Augustine, who commissioned the art.
1985
- March 24, eve of the feast of the Annunciation: Archbishop Edward McCarthy announces a program of aid to all pregnant women in financial need who are considering abortion. He makes the announcement at the archdiocese's annual Pilgrimage for Life and Mass of reparation for the sins against human life. The archbishop precedes his announcement by lighting a perpetual flame for the unborn on the grounds of Annunciation Church in Hollywood. “We've been (helping women) all along,” explains Father Daniel Kubala, director of Respect Life for the Archdiocese, “but we're making it public (now). If it's a financial reason they're going for an abortion, we'll help them.”
- St. Thomas University dedicates its new law school March 24, with a Mass concelebrated by Archbishop McCarthy and the Vatican representative to the U.S., Archbishop Pio Laghi.
1988
- St. Thomas University becomes the first Catholic college in Florida to be affiliated with a diocese when the Augustinian Order, which founded it in 1962, turns over its sponsorship to the Archdiocese of Miami.
- St. Louis Parish in Pinecrest donates $1,000 to members of neighboring Bet Shira Congregation to help repair the damage caused by anti-Semitic vandals who smashed windows and spray-painted the synagogue's walls with hate messages and swastikas. St. Louis also displayed a Star of David on its lawn as a symbol of solidarity.
- Lay Ministry marks its 10th anniversary with a Mass that brings together its founding director, Dr. Mercedes Scopetta and its current one, Zoila Diaz, as well as hundreds of those who have gone through the program. The 10-year tally: 2,000 people trained as Good News Evangelizers; 500 trained for ministry to the sick and shut-ins; 600 graduates of the two-year School of Ministry, of which 300 were commissioned to five-year stints of work as lay ministers in the parishes.
1990
- After four years in Miami, Auxiliary Bishop Norbert Dorsey is appointed bishop of the Diocese of Orlando in central Florida. He succeeds Bishop Thomas J. Grady, who retired at age 75.
- Parish Social Ministry's third annual conference focuses on the subject of homelessness. Guest speakers include David Fike, a professor in Barry University's School of Social Work who conducted an in-depth study on Miami's homeless; Dr. Pedro Jose Greer, who established the Camillus House Health Concern to treat the homeless; and Sister Clare Fitzgerald of Boston University, who said Christians who hear the cry of the poor and ignore it cannot call themselves Christians.
- Genesis, the shelter for homeless AIDS patients sponsored by the archdiocese's Catholic Community Services (now Catholic Charities), announces a fundraising drive to collect $300,000 to continue to provide housing and medical services to 22 AIDS patients who have nowhere else to go.
1991
- Archbishop McCarthy takes part in three listening sessions with different groups in the archdiocese, to get a better grasp of the "real life" problems of people. Organized by the Family Enrichment Center, the sessions are geared toward “suffering families,” single and married young adults, and African-American Catholics.
1995
- Archbishop John C. Favalora blesses the first of five Varela Centers for Cuban and Haitian children coming from Guantanamo, this one at Immaculate Conception parish in Hialeah. Others will open at St. Benedict and St. John parishes in Hialeah; St. Brendan in Westchester; and St. Michael in Miami. The centers will remain open until the end of August so that the children will be familiar enough with English and life in this country not to fall behind when the school year begins in September. The archdiocesan opened the centers in conjunction with the Ad Hoc Committee for Family Reunification and Biprisa, a coalition of private schools.
2014
- March 19: Bishop Peter Baldacchino is ordained to the episcopacy and installed as auxiliary bishop of Miami.
