"A Gift to the Cuban People" A Mass of Thanksgiving for Pope John Paul II's 1998 visit to Cuba will be celebrated at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, September 8, 1998 at the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart, Newark. Archbishop of Newark Theodore E. McCarrick be the celebrant. After the Mass Archbishop McCarrick will crown a statue of Our Lady of Charity, the Patron Saint of Cuba, just as the Pope did on his visit to Havana. Director of the Hispanic Apostolate for the Archdiocese, Father Jorge Chacon, was in Cuba with Archbishop McCarrick and Auxiliary Bishop David Arias during the 1998 Papal visit. He said the Mass is a wonderful way to give thanks for the hope the visit has given the Cuban people. "The visit allowed the people and the government to hear a new message, one of reconciliation and dialog," he said, "It was a gift to the Cuban people there and here." Fr. Chacon explained that Cubans make up the second largest Hispanic group in the Archdiocese. He added that after the Miami area Northern New Jersey is home to the second largest concentration of Cubans in the nation. "The Mass allows Cubans and Latinos to unite in prayer," he noted, "it will be a beautiful expression of faith." Fr. Chacon said the crowning of a statue of Our Lady of Charity will be a significant event for Hispanics in the area as well. "For the Hispanic people the Virgin Mother has an important place in their hearts, she is the protector of the faith," he said. "Our Lady of Charity is for the Cuban people what Guadalupe is for the Mexican people." Catholic tradition holds that a statue of the Virgin Mary was spotted by two Indian brothers and a 10-year-old African slave in the early 1600's on their way to the copper-mining settlement of El Cobre. They spotted her floating in Nipe Bay with the inscription, "Yo soy la Virgen de la Caridad (I am the Virgin of Charity)." The three travelers carried the statue to El Cobre, where it became an object of veneration whose image spread throughout the island. Pope Benedict XV declared her Cuba's patron saint in 1916 and September 8 became her feast day.
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