Florida Catholic | Wilma Energizes Parish

Wilma energizes Miami parish

Newly renovated St. Kieran owes much of its current beauty to hurricane damage.

YÉDICA LEAL | SPECIAL TO THE FLORIDA CATHOLIC

Published: 12.07.07

Bishop John Noonan gives two-year old Michael Anthony DeSimone a high-five after a special Mass to bless renovations at St. Kieran Church. Father Marcos Somarriba holds Michael, whose parents are choir members at the parish.
MARLENE QUARONI | FC

MIAMI | When hurricanes Wilma and Katrina damaged large portions of St. Kieran church, its pastor, Father Marcos Somarriba, took it as a great blessing.

“I thank St. Katrina and St. Wilma for refurbishing our church,” he said jokingly, referring to the insurance money the church received as compensation for the damages caused by the 2005 storms.

The church on Biscayne Bay adjacent to Mercy Hospital, the Shrine of Our Lady of Charity and Immaculata-La Salle High School, has been completely renovated. Miami Auxiliary Bishop John Noonan blessed the renovations Nov. 18.

RENOVATIONS
• The pews were restored and reupholstered.

• The carpet was replaced by porcelain tiles and the main aisle set off by a strip of red marble.

• Marble tiles now form a backdrop for the altar. An image of Christ crucified, a piece created for the original church, was restored and hung behind the altar, now accentuated by a wooden frame.

• The rectory’s roof was replaced and the church’s roof was repaired. Hurricane-resistant windows were installed in the rectory, as was a central air-conditioning system for the church and individual units for the rectory.

• The Blessed Sacrament chapel was completely remodeled. An icon of the face of Christ on Veronica’s veil will adorn the door of the railing that protects the Eucharist, which will be enclosed in a transparent urn, allowing people to view it at all times.

• The church’s interior and exterior were painted.

“The church needed attention,” Father Somarriba explained. “It had been at least 20 years since anything had been done.”

St. Kieran was founded in 1967, when a group of faithful began meeting in the chapel of Assumption Academy on Brickell Avenue, a school for girls that later closed. Today’s church building was dedicated in 1979, and 10 years later the parish celebrated the liquidation of its mortgage.

In 2005, Father Somarriba was named pastor, taking over for Salesian priests who had staffed the parish since 1984.

“We sit amid a sea of wealth, but we are a humble community,” Father Somarriba said, referring to the parish’s location near the upper-class enclaves of Brickell and Coconut Grove.

During the busy 2005 hurricane season, the church was flooded and the carpeting and pews were damaged. The air-conditioning system was defective and the roof leaked.

“The pews were rotting and the lights would turn off during Mass,” said Father Somarriba, who removed the carpeting himself with the help of his brother and some priest friends.

“It couldn’t wait any longer,” he explained.

“Father Somarriba got moving and did something that should have been done a long time ago,” said Edwin Ardila, a parishioner since 1990 and currently a lay ecclesial minister. “If something had not been done quickly, we would have been in danger of losing everything.”

The remodeling has brought a sense of rebirth to the community, both physically and spiritually.

The Blessed Sacrament chapel now remains open daily from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. and a new altar to St. Jude was unveiled at the end of October.

“It has been a blessing for me because repairing the house of God gave us the opportunity to repair our spiritual house,” Father Somarriba said.

A small parish gift shop dedicated to St. Anthony also was opened, and more apostolates will be formed as the community continues to grow.

“It is my desire to repair hearts that are broken, tired, overwhelmed and sad,” Father Somarriba said.

St. Kieran serves as a spiritual home for more than 700 registered families, as well as adults who attend formation classes at the shrine, people who visit Mercy Hospital and students from Immaculata-La Salle.

“We have added a touch of beauty and spirituality to the Lord’s house,” Father Somarriba said. “We have transformed the church for the spiritual benefit of parishioners and to motivate them to live their lives in the image and likeness of Christ.”

During the month of December, every parish family will receive a plea from Father Somarriba asking for help in defraying the costs of the remodeling, since insurance money covered only 70 percent of the amount spent.

Costs were diminished by generous donations from the DeSimone and Ricardo Villar families, and Father Somarriba said he is also grateful to Camilo Padreda and Bob Brown for their ideas and help.

“I ask all parishioners this Christmas to commit themselves to their parish, so that together we can eliminate this financial burden,” Father Somarriba said.

Yédica Leal writes for La Voz Católica, the Spanish-language monthly newspaper of the Archdiocese of Miami.

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Wilma energizes Miami parish

Newly renovated St. Kieran owes much of its current beauty to hurricane damage.

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