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Before Pope Francis left Our Lady Queen of Angels School in East Harlem Friday afternoon, Sept. 25, for the trip through Central Park back downtown for Mass at Madison Square Garden, he assigned everyone some homework. It was an easy and joyous assignment.
“Pray for me,” said the pontiff who had come with the same message for a delegation of recent immigrants and refugees gathered to greet him in the adjoining gymnasium. He urged them always to dream and to never lose hope as they navigate life.
“Very near here is a very important street named after a man who did a lot for other people,” said Pope Francis. “He was Reverend Martin Luther King. One day he said, ‘I have a dream.’ His dream was that that many children, many people, would have equal opportunities. His dream was that many children like you could get an education. It is beautiful to have dreams and to be able to fight for them!”
The pope assured them their parents and teachers also had dreams their children would grow up and be happy. “It is always good to see children smiling,” he said. “Here I see you smiling. Keep smiling and help bring joy to everyone you meet.”
And he reminded them of the source for that joy. “Wherever there are dreams, there is joy, Jesus is always present,” he said. “Because Jesus is joy and he wants us to feel that joy every day of our lives.”
The Holy Father was greeted by hundreds of excited flag-waving and selfie-seeking children and adults as his little black Fiat pulled up in front of the compact, beige brick school building on East 113th Street at about 4 p.m. In the tenements across the street from the school, people crammed the open windows of their apartments for the chance to glimpse the pope. From one window hung a banner: “Welcome to Harlem Pope Francis. Please bless my two diabetic children Javier and Jerel.”
The elementary school serves Spanish Harlem. The community has long been home to the burgeoning Latino community, early arrivals from Puerto Rico being joined by newcomers from the Dominican Republic and more recently by an influx of immigrants from Mexico. Sixty-nine percent of children at Our Lady Queen of Angels are the sons and daughters of immigrants and many are non-Catholic. The pope’s visit to Our Lady Queen of Angels highlighted the historic mission of Catholic education to stress academic excellence and impart Catholic values to children, who often come from immigrant backgrounds.
Children, appropriately singing the hymn “Prayer of St. Francis,” greeted Pope Francis as he entered the building. The Holy Father playfully cupped his hand to his ear, exhorting them to sing louder. Speaking to the children in simple terms they could understand, Pope Francis equated the immigrant experience with finding your way in a new school.
“They tell me one of the nice things about this school is that some of its students come from other places, even other countries,” he said. “I know it’s not easy to have to move and find a new home, new neighbors and new friends...there is so much to learn and not just in school.”
The students proudly showed him their science projects, which centered on the theme of the environment and the dangers of global warming, issues important to the Holy Father, who spent a few moments with each student listening as they explained their handiwork.
Then the entourage moved into the adjoining gymnasium where they were greeted by a delegation of some 150 immigrants and refugees that are helped by archdiocesan Catholic Charities, joined by other invited guests and civic leaders, including Mayor Bill de Blasio and his son Dante.
A delegation of young soccer players that form a team entirely comprised of undocumented immigrant teenagers presented the Holy Father with his own autographed soccer ball and one of their brand new team jerseys. Before they presented the ball and jersey they put on an impromptu display of their soccer skills before a delighted Pope Francis.
Then a group of day laborers from Westchester presented the pontiff with a work belt and construction hard hat, symbolic of their work.
“I got the opportunity to give him a gift,” beamed Basilio Lopez, one of the day laborers, clearly enchanted to meet the Holy Father. “So I asked the pope, ‘Can I give you a hug? And he said, ‘Yes.’ I was so exited!” Lopez said he hoped the pope’s message of inclusion and welcome would alter the way immigrants are perceived by some in this country. “I hope in the future he can change hearts,” he said.
Those sentiments were echoed by a group of unionized car wash workers, all dressed in red T-shirts with their union’s name, the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU), on the front and their own names on the back.
“I wanted to say please work for immigration reform and to keep together the families,” said Refugio Demicia, a married father with two children who works at the Elmhurst Broadway Car Wash in Queens.
“My heart overflows,” beamed Stuart Appelbaum, president of the RWDSU, who accompanied the delegation. “The pope has become the leader in the world on issues of economic injustice. The message he conveys in meeting with the car washers today is that every worker, no matter what they do or where they are from is entitled to be treated with dignity and respect. I believe the pope is transforming the world. The pope has become the number one union organizer in the world.”
Unable to contain her joy, Yvette Cuico spontaneously broke into song before Pope Francis. The other women of her delegation, all dressed in colorful yellow and black gowns emblematic of their ethnic community, the Garifuna people of Honduras, soon joined her. The Holy Father smiled broadly as the women sang before him.
“For me it was emotional,” exclaimed one of the singers, Margareta Cabrais, “To see the pope I am very happy. This was a song for the Garifuna people,” she said.
Igncia Gonzalez, a married Mexican immigrant mother of three who lives in Yonkers, was part of a delegation of immigrant mothers who presented the Holy Father with the altar linens that would be used at the Mass at Madison Square Garden. She admitted she was initially nervous but that her nervousness melted away in the presence of Pope Francis.
“I don’t have words to express my feelings,” she told CNY. “I am so happy. I will never forget this day. Never!”
