St. Thomas the Apostle Parish is ‘like a big family’

After five decades and six pastors, the parish has expanded from its original size and location but has retained its family atmosphere.

DANIEL SOÑÉ | FLORIDA CATHOLIC CORRESPONDENT

Posted: 06.14.09

For St. Thomas the Apostle Parish’s 50th anniversary Mass, the church was filled to overflowing capacity and necessitated an additional event tent for the crowd.

DANIEL SOÑÉ | FC
For St. Thomas the Apostle Parish’s 50th anniversary Mass, the church was filled to overflowing capacity and necessitated an additional event tent for the crowd. According to Archbishop John C. Favalora, the overcrowding at the parish May 30 was an exciting sign of how the Catholic population has grown.

MIAMI | The spirits and interior of St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic Church contrasted nicely with the gray, drizzling skies during the parish’s 50th anniversary celebration on the vigil of Pentecost.

The interior of the main sanctuary was festooned in Pentecost red and white. Because the main sanctuary could not hold the entire congregation, a large, white, air-conditioned event tent was erected just outside the entrance. Spirits were high for the celebration of the parish’s history, stretching back to the beginning of the Archdiocese of Miami.

According to Archbishop John C. Favalora, the overcrowding at the parish May 30 was an exciting sign of how the Catholic population has grown. “It is an exciting year to remember because 50 years ago, the diocese was much smaller. This shows how fast the Catholic population has increased here,” the archbishop said.

Over five decades and six pastors, St. Thomas the Apostle has expanded from its original size and location. It was once a very small church where the parish school is today. According to the parish’s history, the church and school were in the same building: Masses were celebrated on the first floor, classes were taught on the second.

Holding electric candles, Nicolas Suarez, left, and Guillermo Molero line up with fellow St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic School second-graders during the May 30 Mass marking the parish’s 50th anniversary.

DANIEL SOÑÉ | FC
Holding electric candles, Nicolas Suarez, left, and Guillermo Molero line up with fellow St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic School second-graders during the May 30 Mass marking the parish’s 50th anniversary. The students stood in the aisles and raised their candles whenever the host was raised during the consecration.

“Our playground used to be a big concrete sewer pipe. Now, there is a jungle gym with a roof over it and everything,” said Mike Nogle, a graduate of the school.

The more the parish grew, the more familylike and interconnected it became with its neighbors as well as other dioceses around the state and the world. One of the main concelebrants at the Mass, Bishop Manuel Valarezo Luzuriaga, is from the Galapagos Islands, a Pacific archipelago more than 600 miles from mainland Ecuador.

Bishop Valarezo said he met Father Daniel I. Kubala, current pastor of St. Thomas, when “he visited on two occasions while on mission. I am here on behalf of the churches and missions there in gratitude for his work. I am happy to celebrate this parish’s 50th anniversary with him.”

Bishop Thomas Wenski of the Diocese of Orlando was the homilist for the celebratory Mass and likened the parish to an oasis in the desert.

“St. Thomas the Apostle, sometimes known as ‘Kubala Land,’ offers us rivers, and fountains, and wonderful gardens,” Bishop Wenski said, referring to Father Kubala’s addition of a meditation garden for which the parish is well known.

Bishop Wenski said both the gardens and parishioners inspire and cultivate worship to the Creator.

Among the parish family members who returned for the celebration was Father Alejandro Rodriguez Artola, parochial vicar of Our Lady of Lourdes Parish and an alumnus of the school.

“I was class of 1977. My sister’s class was the first fifth and sixth grade. My brother’s class was the first seventh and eighth grade. I also had my three sacraments here,” Father Rodriguez Artola said.

After the celebratory Mass, the congregation both inside and outside the main church gathered at the family center for a reception. Just beyond the family center was a network of party tents with tables, a dance floor, caterers and tables with silverware and glass so that the celebration could continue despite the disagreeable weather.

Father Kubala encouraged all to attend, as there was enough food for 1,200 people. “This parish is like a big family. I’m so excited to celebrate,” he said.

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