�Thanks for the walk'

By Cristina Cabrera Jarro -

Photography: CRISTINA CABRERA | FC

MIAMI| Susan Abell walks with a youthful pep. With some training, both on a physical and spiritual level, her stride carried her through the last stretch of the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage in September.

Accompanied by Christina Poo, of St. Augustine Parish, Lily Prellezo, of Epiphany Parish, Sadie Sosa, of St. Augustine Parish, and Mayra Parlapiano of St. Louis Parish, the women walked the Camino’s final portion, a 75-mile stretch from Leon to Santiago, Spain, in 10 days.

In doing so, they raised more than $13,000 for St. Mary Cathedral School.

To thank them, the school community invited Abell and the benefactors to a Mass of thanksgiving at the end of November.

The readings at the Mass, which coincided with the end of the liturgical year and bore apocalyptic undertones, presented a starting point for the homily preached by Father Christopher Marino, the cathedral’s rector.

“God is here right now. How am I responding to God’s invitation to walk in His way?” he asked. “We need to recognize that God is in our midst. And that is what Susan and her co-pilgrims and all of the benefactors did.

“Somebody took a good idea from a big organization to help a small charity. What they have done could cause all of us to think more about Jesus. Clearly, Susan and her friends walked with and for Jesus,” Father Marino said.

Abell, who worked as a marketing director and Key Biscayne branch manager for Coldwell Banker, was first drawn to St. Mary Cathedral School via Legatus, an organization for Catholic CEOs and business professionals. At one of the group’s monthly dinners, she met Sister Michelle Fernandez of the Servants of the Pierced Hearts of Jesus and Mary, the principal of St. Mary School.

Sister Fernandez spoke about the state of Catholic education so passionately that, after retiring, Abell offered to tutor at St. Mary’s, where “it has been my treat,” she said.

Her one-on-one tutoring is just what St. Mary’s struggling students need. “By the end of last year we could see how much the kids had improved,” Abell noted.

The school has also seen an increase in enrollment from 370 students last year to 407 this year.  

“The neighborhood is changing. New buildings are being constructed,” said Sister Fernandez. “I am excited and grateful because we need to hire more teachers.”

Unfortunately, the poverty level in the neighborhoods surrounding the school and cathedral are alarmingly high. That means the school itself is struggling with finances. Yet it remains a beacon of hope in the community. And Abell wants to keep it that way.

“St. Mary’s is like an oasis for these kids. Many of them live in unsafe neighborhoods,” she said. “When the gates are closed here, they are safe and they don’t have to worry.”

That’s what prompted her to go on the fundraising site gofundme.com and Facebook, to spread the word to family, friends and acquaintances that she would be walking the Camino to benefit St. Mary’s.

“I didn’t know some of them, but they sent anyway,” Abell said. Her goal was to raise $10,000. Her final total was $13,770.

“I felt like I earned every penny. I thought of the kids and their future and they deserve it,” she said.

At the end of the Thanksgiving Mass Nov. 20, Abell and her benefactors presented the school with a giant Go Fund Me check. Students erupted in cheers, applause and a chorus of thank-yous.

Abell admits that she would probably not walk the Camino again, but only because she fears that she could not replicate the experience.

“Everyone is in a good mood. Everyone says ‘Buen camino.’ The entire time you look at the countryside, the forests, the fields and you wonder how people can say there is no God. When you arrive at Santiago it’s like Disneyland. Everyone walks into the square hugging and screaming.”

She continued: “As Father Marino said, ‘Everyone does it for different reasons.’ My friend did it for thanksgiving, I did it for charity. It truly has been a wonderful experience.”