Bishop's heart is in Havana

By APRIL WITT
Herald Staff Writer

Bishop Agustin Roman, who has vowed never to return to Cuba until Fidel Castro falls, was in Havana Wednesday in his heart.

``I am dreaming constantly,'' the white-haired bishop said, beaming as he sat in an office in La Ermita de la Caridad, the Miami shrine to the patron saint of Cuba. ``I am living this moment with my imagination.''

``The church is a community,'' Roman said, his voice booming with conviction and emotion. ``The church is a union. When one person is in one place, all people are in this place.''

As Pope John Paul II entered Havana, Roman remained where he has spent the past 32 years: at the pained center of Miami's exile community.

At 69, Roman -- who was expelled from Cuba at gunpoint in 1961 with only the white cassock on his back and a prayer book -- is the spiritual leader of Miami's exile community. He is a beloved teacher, consoler, and the personification of his community's suffering, joys and dreams.

Throughout Wednesday, hundreds of exiles flocked to Ermita de la Caridad to be with Roman, kiss his hand as a sign of reverence, and pray with him for the success of the papal visit.

Among them was Gustavo Subirats, a Miami plumber who left Cuba at age 10 through Operation Pedro Pan.

``Today is one of the most important events the Christian world has ever seen,'' said Subirats, who sat in a pew listening to Roman speak. ``Christianity will overcome evil.''

Roman, as always, was both the exiles' eloquent leader and humble servant, leading them in prayer -- when he wasn't stooping to pick up litter from the lawn of the waterfront shrine that he helped them build.

``A priest must be with his people,'' Roman said simply.

But Roman's spirit soared across the Florida Straits to his homeland, and he envisioned the pontiff traveling the streets he knew so well as a student in Havana. ``It is extraordinary how I enjoy that,'' he said. ``Tomorrow, I will be with the Holy Father in Santa Clara. Friday I will be with the Holy Father in Camaguey. Saturday I will be with the Holy Father in Santiago de Cuba, crowning the Blessed Mother.

``The imagination is a gift from God,'' he said. ``To see the Holy Father visiting a church that has suffered for four decades, this is a blessing. If I had the opportunity to see the Holy Father in person, I would say to the Holy Father, `Thank you for that.' ''

Pain mixed with joy

But the first day of the papal visit was painful as well as joyous, a reminder of the suffering central to the exile experience, the bishop acknowledged.

``He is devastated in a sense not to be there,'' said Rafael Peñalver, a Miami attorney who is close friends with Roman. ``For every Cuban priest this is like a dream to see the pope in their homeland, especially after what the church has suffered and struggled.''

Roman declined to return to Cuba as a pilgrim during the papal visit because the same repressive communist regime that jailed him and tried to crush the Roman Catholic Church by expelling its priests and seizing its institutions, remains in power.

He was 33 in the spring of 1961 when Castro's soldiers forced him from his rectory at gunpoint. He feared he was being led to his execution. Instead, he was herded onto a Spanish ship along with 132 other priests and exiled.

``We lost everything but the altar and the church buildings,'' Roman recalled. ``All the schools that the church had built in 500 years were lost. The sisters were put out of the convents. We lost the nursing homes, hospitals and houses for orphans.''

``It's painful, and I don't like to talk about it,'' Roman said. ``I don't want to feel any hate because as Christians, we cannot be against other people. We need to celebrate the Eucharist every day clean.''

`Other plans'

After his expulsion, Roman spent years searching his morning paper for the news that Castro had fallen. On Wednesday, he was full of hope, not predictions. ``Now, I don't see the future,'' he said quietly. ``I only see the present. I only see that the Lord has had other plans than my plans. He changed my plans in this world. And always I say to the Lord, amen.''

Minutes before the pope was scheduled to land in Havana, Roman was in the sanctuary of the shrine handing out pamphlets on the church's history in Cuba. He urged the assembled to teach it to their children.

At 4 p.m., as the pope's plane was due to land, Roman knelt before the blessed sacrament exposed on the altar and led his flock in reciting the rosary, contemplating the glorious mysteries of the faith. They prayed for the pope and their homeland. They sang a chorus of the Battle Hymn of the Republic.

Some wept, but Roman reminded them that it is in heaven where they'll find eternal happiness. It is from heaven, Roman said earlier, that he is certain to view Cuba once again.

``I would like to see Cuba before I die,'' he said. ``But I know that when I am in heaven I will see Cuba even better.''