Honduran cardinal cheered by students in Westchester
Oct 24, 2005
The Catholic cardinal of Honduras, who has been a pilot, a linguist, a musician and a potential pope, harked back Friday to another role from his past _ chemistry teacher.
(Associated Press Writer, October 14, 2005) Cardinal Oscar Andres Rodriguez Maradiaga visited Salesian High School to mark its 85th anniversary by celebrating Mass and blessing a suite of new science laboratories.
"This is a most appropriate environment for me," he said in one of the labs. "I was a chemistry teacher before I became a bishop."
He sprinkled holy water, hung crucifixes in each room and told students, "Open your minds to science and to good."
The cardinal is a priest of the Salesian order, like the founders of the high school, and a longtime friend of the school president, the Rev. Patrick Angelucci, who said he helped Rodriguez Maradiaga learn English when they were in the seminary.
"I was practically born a Salesian," the cardinal said. "This is my family."
The 430 Salesian students _ all boys, in uniform gray slacks and blue shirts _ gave him a rousing welcome in the labs and at Holy Name of Jesus Church, just off campus. They called him "Cardinal Oscar."
The Mass ended with the students presenting a Salesian soccer sweatshirt to the cardinal, who unfolded it and displayed it from the altar.
Rodriguez Maradiaga, 62, began his visit by speaking to the senior class about his life, impressing them with his varied background and his challenges in Central America.
"Drugs is the biggest threat to the younger generation," he said. "Not just in Latin America, but throughout the world."
"He doesn't care about the drug lords threatening his life," said Nicholas Sabino, 17. "He has to have bodyguards and wear civilian clothes." Kenneth Ciardullo, another 17-year-old senior, said the cardinal reminded them "that he was once just an ordinary Salesian kid like us."
"It's good to know men so high up in the world are concerned about us," he added.
Rodriguez Maradiaga, who was returning to Honduras from a trip to Germany, said he was sorrowing for recent hurricane damage in neighboring Guatemala, where 200,000 homes have been damaged or destroyed and 1,482 people are dead or missing.
"We have started a collection, though we ourselves are poor," he said. "We took up a collection for New Orleans too."
A cardinal since 2001, Rodriguez Maradiaga is considered a moderate in a region known for producing radical priests. He was mentioned as a papal possibility before the election of Pope Benedict and is young enough that he could be considered again.
"When it comes, it comes from God," he said Friday.
Honduran cardinal cheered by students in Westchester