Florida Catholic | Legal Center For Migrants

Migrants to get legal help

Order of Malta opens health and legal center for migrant workers.

DANIEL SOÑÉ | FLORIDA CATHOLIC CORRESPONDENT

Published: 11.16.07

Archbishop John C. Favalora hands the scissors to St. Thomas University law professor, Mark J. Wolff, a member of the Order of Malta, as Father Patrick H. O'Neill applauds and Father Pedro Garcia looks on.

After cutting the ribbon at a new health and legal center at the Father Patrick H. O’Neill Center for Health and Legal Services at St. Ann Mission, Archbishop John C. Favalora hands the scissors to St. Thomas University law professor, Mark J. Wolff, a member of the Order of Malta, as Father Patrick H. O'Neill applauds and Father Pedro Garcia looks on.
DANIEL SOÑÉ | FC

NARANJA | Migrant workers face many challenges. Among them are low wages, language barriers and lack of immigration status.

Now, migrants living in Naranja, a suburban section of Homestead, will be able to find help at the Father Patrick H. O’Neill Center for Health and Legal Services, a project of the Order of Malta.

Also known as the Knights of Malta, the group is a nearly 1,000-year-old lay religious order of the Catholic Church. The health and legal center at St. Ann Mission, 13875 S.W. 264 St., Naranja, is named after the Knights’ local chaplain, Father Patrick H. O’Neill.

The center will provide a wide array of medical, legal and even dental services to migrant workers, and is a culmination of hard work and collaboration among volunteers from St. Ann Mission, the Knights of Malta and the Archdiocese of Miami.

The center was named after Father O’Neill because of his dedication to the needy and the spiritual support he has given to the Knights of Malta over the years.

“Many of the great things he does, many people don’t know about,” Archbishop John C. Favalora said.

“I can only accept this dedication in the name of the poor,” said Father O’Neill. He also directs the archdiocesan Office for Ecumenism and Interfaith Relations.

He and Father Pedro Garcia, pastor of St. Ann Mission, said the new center is critical for migrant workers in south Florida.

“The other day, I saw 13 migrant men picked up by the immigration police to be deported. I could only imagine the economic catastrophe and the broken families that would result from these men being shipped away. This place is essential to them,” Father O’Neill said.

Volunteer professionals from various medical fields will provide the migrant workers with a wide array of health services.

Volunteer attorneys will help them understand and protect their rights.

St. Thomas University law professor Mark J. Wolff, south Florida area chairman for the Order of Malta, said the group made the center a top priority because of the vulnerability of migrant workers in Naranja.

The center also is in keeping with the order’s long tradition of helping the poor and the sick.

“We will not only have doctors, but through the Human Rights Institute at St. Thomas University, we will have lawyers come to help people. We will also have a dentist. It is practically a full-service center,” Wolff said.

The multiservice center also provides an opportunity for medical and legal professionals to practice the essence of their professions.

“This is why you become a doctor: to do this,” said Mercy Hospital cardiologist Dr. Jose Joachim Centurion.

“The rest puts food on the table. This is being a doctor.”

Return to Archdiocese of Miami Front Page

Migrants to get legal help

Order of Malta opens health and legal center for migrant workers.

Other Stories