Defending the faith, helping the poor

By Jim Davis - Florida Catholic

CORAL GABLES | The dual calling of the Knights of Malta — serving the sick and poor, and defending the faith — snapped into focus as the order's Cuban Association held its annual White Cross Ball.

The association raised more than $140,000 during the gala at the Riviera Country Club, money bound for its feeding and medical projects in Latin America and the Caribbean.

The 230 listeners also heard Archbishop William E. Lori of Baltimore, the 2016 recipient of the group's Tuitio Fidei award, sound a call to defend religious freedom.

The two-pronged emphasis may seem divisive, but members said they merge in the way a Knight responds to God.

"For me, they go together in the Catholic faith," said Juan J. Calvo, president of the Cuban Association. "I contribute my time and abilities to help the needy. And to defend my faith at a time when some people are questioning my beliefs."

The 'whole man'

The black-tie affair on Oct. 8 — the Knights wear their signature black habits, emblazoned with Maltese crosses, only on liturgical occasions — drew not only Cuban-Americans but Cuban churchmen. Those included retired Auxiliary Bishop Alfredo Petit and Father Juan Carlos Fuentes Fiallo, both of Havana.

"The Knights of Malta have had a huge impact on the parishes, with its projects for those in need," Father Fiallo said of the 62 church-based soup kitchens and dining rooms in Cuba. "Not only in material aid but the totality of the person. The Church presents values and truths that promote the whole man."

The Tuito Fidei award, in its 11th year, was established to recognize those whose public actions witness the principles of the faith. Past recipients have included Cardinal Sean O'Malley of Boston; Thomas Monaghan, founder of Ave Maria University; and Cardinal Oscar Maradiaga of Honduras, president of Caritas International.

Archbishop Lori, the 2016 honoree, was chosen for his leadership in religious freedom while he was bishop of Bridgeport, Conn. In 2011, he was appointed chair of the U.S. bishops’ newly formed Ad Hoc Committee for Religious Liberty.

After an invocation by Archbishop Thomas Wenski of Miami — himself a Tuitio Fidei awardee, in 2010 — Archbishop Lori paid homage to his listeners, exiles or children of exiles from Cuba.

"You and your families know first-hand what it means to lose your civil liberties," said Archbishop Lori, also chaplain of the federal association of the Knights of Malta. "You know the damage it does to families and society when a government undermines religious freedom."

He recounted the event that got him into the religious freedom battle: a 2009 bill in Connecticut to reorganize Catholic parishes in that state. The bill would have deprived not only the bishop, but every pastor, from running his own parish, he said.

The bill failed after a public outcry, "but it was a real wake-up call for me," Archbishop Lori said. "I realized that our religious freedom really was under attack."

He wrote a pastoral letter on the topic and learned that other bishops were complaining of similar encroachments. That led to his formation of the ad hoc committee, with the blessing of the national bishops' group.

But he urged his listeners to resist politicizing religious freedom. "It should not be a partisan struggle. Rather, it is a profoundly human issue. Freedom is a beautiful gift, but it is also fragile."

Lovin' spoonfuls

After dining on chicken scarpariello and spiced gulf shrimp, the attendees called out pledges for donations to the Knights' charity, Cuchara de Amor. Emcee Al Salas added later that a separate online appeal netted $6,000-7,000 for victims of Hurricane Matthew in eastern Cuba.

Cuchara de Amor, which means "Spoon of Love" — for the big wooden spoons that many cooks use in Cuba — was founded four years ago by Aurora and Jose Garrido.

"We wanted to find a way to get people to donate to the soup kitchens — how to make it real?" said Jose Garrido. His solution: asking people to sacrifice five weekends on the town, at $200 each, for a total of $1,000 to feed 20 elderly people for nearly a year in Cuba.

Another way to make it real is the thank-you gift for donors: a wooden spoon wrapped in burlap.

Each year, the Cuban Association provides more than 700,000 meals to 13,000 elderly people on the island. But that's just one of its many projects around the Caribbean Basin.

In the Dominican Republic, teams of doctors, nurses, physician assistants and other volunteers go on three-day medical missions, with specialists in fields like cardiology, oncology, pediatric neurology, gynecology, even dentistry. Each pays his or her own way, at $700 each.

The Knights also send donations to Honduras and Nicaragua. And early this year, they began rotating medical teams at a new clinic for indigenous peoples in Colombia.

Nor are the poor in Miami forgotten: The Cuban Association supports the St. John Bosco Clinic at Corpus Christi Parish and the Food Bank and Health Program at St. John Bosco Parish in Little Havana.

The young Knights

The association's reach extends across the Atlantic as well, through a biennial mission to Lourdes, France. The Miamians join fellow Knights and feed patients at hospitals, then bring them — in wheelchairs, if necessary — to the baths at the spring where Mary appeared to the young Bernadette in 1858.

All of this and more runs on a tiny budget of $1 million a year, largely because of a lack of bureaucracy. Rather than hire people to do the work, the Knights literally take matters into their own hands.

"This is not a charity where you just give, and the money goes through a central administration," said Emilio Alonso Mendoza, a lawyer who takes part in the Santiago missions. "It's a hands-on charity, where you participate. It's a wonderful charism of helping."

Also at the White Cross Ball were members of the next generation, 25 to 40 years old. Even a few teenagers attended, such as Victoria Pinter, 17, president of the Malta Youth Corps at Carrollton School of the Sacred Heart in Miami.

"Young people see themselves with a lot of potential to change people's lives," Victoria said of the 20-member club. "The Malta Youth Corps presents us a perfect opportunity to do so."

Echoing the sentiments was Sofia Rodriguez, the club's vice president, also 17. "We want to be passionate about something. We want to make a difference."

Both teens said they planned to go on a mission to Cuba with the Knights this school year.