Remember when...? for December 2018

By Florida Catholic staff - Florida Catholic

MIAMI | The following feature highlights a month in archdiocesan history, as the Miami archdiocese continues its 60th anniversary celebration. Here are some of the historical highlights for December. 

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1959

• Bishop Coleman Carroll blesses the Aquinas Center at the University of Miami, whose aim is “to help make saints” and “prepare men and women to become Catholic leaders of society.” The center is meant to be used by faculty and students at the university; and its first chaplain is Msgr. Thomas Comber. The center will ultimately become St. Augustine Church and Catholic Student Center in Coral Gables. 

 

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1960

• The diocese reports that in 1960 alone, it spent $7.7 million in construction projects, with $6.3 million of the total already completed. Another $8.2 million in construction spending is planned for 1961, for a combined two-year total of $15,972,101 on a total of 46 building projects in the 16-county diocese, including 24 new churches and 20 new schools.

 

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1971

• Dec. 14: Father Rene Gracida, a priest of the Diocese of Miami, is appointed auxiliary bishop of Miami. His ordination to the episcopacy takes place Jan. 25, 1972.

 

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1979

• Dec. 4: Archbishop Edward McCarthy, testifying before the U.S. Select Commission on Immigration and Refugee Policy holding hearings in Miami, says the failure of the U.S. Attorney General to use its discretionary powers to admit Haitian refugees can only “spawn the well-founded suspicion that the treatment received by the Haitians is the result of institutional racism.” He reminded the commission that the U.S. is a signatory to the United Nations’ Convention on Refugees, which states that “an alien with a well-founded fear of persecution cannot be expelled.”

 

1981

• Dec. 26: Archbishop Edward A. McCarthy and Auxiliary Bishop John Nevins fly to Havana, Cuba for the installation of the new archbishop of Havana, Archbishop Jaime Ortega. Msgr. Bryan O. Walsh is denied entry to Cuba by the Castro regime.

 

1982

• The Religious Heritage Committee of the Miami Citizens Against Crime, under the direction of Father Donald Connolly, launches a “Back to God” campaign. Two types of bumper stickers with the messages, “Keep Christ in Christmas” and “Crime Solution: God and Family,” are printed and distributed through Catholic and Protestant churches of South Florida.

 

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1983

• The archdiocese marks its 25th anniversary with an outdoor Mass at the Orange Bowl in Miami.

 

1987

• Auxiliary Bishop Agustin Roman becomes the center of attention as he succeeds in bringing a peaceful end to Cuban inmate riots in Oakdale, Louisiana, and Atlanta, Georgia. For his impact and efforts, he is named ABC News’ “Person of the Week” and “Floridian of the Year” by the Orlando Sun-Sentinel.

 

1990

• A Spanish-language radio program, “Amanecer” (Dawn), makes its debut on WWFE, 670 AM, where it will occupy the 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. time slot on weekday mornings. The program is conducted and sponsored by a group of lay Hispanic Catholics, who call themselves Pax, and whose goal is to use the media as an evangelization tool. The program will ultimately give rise to the archdiocesan radio station, Radio Paz 830 AM.
• According to the official 1991 Kenedy Directory, the Archdiocese had 654,000 registered Catholics in 1990, about 20 percent of the population of Dade, Broward and Monroe counties. It gained 16,700 new members since last year.
• Dec. 4-9: Thousands of people attend � and thousands of rosaries are handed out � at the Festival of Faith, held at the Miami Beach Convention Center. Dozens of archdiocesan ministries, groups and parishes fill up 80,000 square feet of the center with 150 colorful booths depicting their activities. Throughout the four-day event, free workshops are offered on a variety of topics, priests are available daily for confession, and adoration of the Blessed Sacrament takes place around the clock. Exhibits depict the history of the Church in Florida and the archdiocese, as well as portraits and statues of Our Lady under more than 20 devotions. The Vatican also  is represented with a collection of historical artifacts. Archbishop Edward McCarthy hoped the festival would spur Catholics to re-commit themselves to their faith � and to sharing it with others � on the 500th anniversary of the arrival of Christianity in the New World. He called the festival “a great display of what an alive Church is and how it touches people's lives.”

 

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2009

• Dec. 10: Father Fernando Isern, a priest of the Archdiocese of Miami, is ordained and installed as bishop of Pueblo, Colorado.