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Monsignor Agustin Roman Catechesis Hall dedicated

New hall adjacent to Ermita will be used for adult catechesis

Monday, February 07, 2011
Marlene Quaroni - Florida Catholic

MIAMI – Archbishop Thomas Wenski blessed a new hall Feb. 6 dedicated to Auxiliary Bishop Emeritus Agustín Román that will be used to teach catechesis to adults. The hall is adjacent to the Ermita de la Caridad, built in 1973, and faces Biscayne Bay in Coconut Grove.

The Monsignor Agustín Román Catechesis Hall is part of a two-story building that was the original sanctuary housing Our Lady of Charity in the 1960s. The one-story building was expanded over the years and became a convent for the Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul and the Father Felix Varela meeting room and offices on the second floor.

This year is the 50th anniversary of the arrival of a replica image of the Virgin, which was brought to Miami from Cuba in 1961. It is also the 400th anniversary of the discovery of the original statue, which three men found floating in the Bay of Nipe in Cuba. The statue was enshrined in El Cobre, Cuba where it remains today in the national shrine basilica of Our Lady of Charity.

 

Archbishop Thomas Wenski is traveling to Cuba this week and will visit the shrine on Thursday. Retired

Miami Auxiliary Bishop Agustín  Román, founder of the Miami sanctuary, was unable to attend the hall’s dedication, however, he sent a message which his secretary, Deacon Manolo Perez, which was read to those attending the event. Bishop Román’s statement detailed the history of the shrine in Miami and thanked Our Lady of Charity’s Confraternity for keeping alive devotion to the Virgin. He also thanked Archbishop Wenski, past rectors of the Shrine and the current rector, Father Juan Rumin Dominguez, for their contributions to Ermita.

“I will call this hall, “Despertar” or “Awaken,” said Auxiliary Bishop Emeritus Román in his statement, “because it opened so that all can awaken the seeds of faith of their baptism in this archdiocese and live a life together with Mary and Christ, united in charity.”