The idea of matching a parish in Cuba with a parish in the Archdiocese of Miami has been discussed with Cuban priests in exile and with the Cuban bishops in Cuba, Auxiliary Bishop Thomas Wenski said.

``There is a lot of enthusiasm for it, but a lot of things have to be put into place before it could happen, namely the procedures of how to do it,'' Wenski said. ``It's still in a very germinal stage.''

Meeting with priests

To measure exile support for the idea of sister parishes, Archbishop John C. Favalora met earlier this week with a group of Cuban exile priests who opposed the archdiocese's plan for a Miami-Havana cruise ship to take pilgrims for the visit of Pope John Paul II.

This time, even some of the most conservative priests ``seem to see it with new eyes,'' Wenski said.

The remarkable events in Cuba during the Pope's visit have generated so much enthusiasm and interest in supporting the Cuban church, Wenski said, that the archdiocese will soon appoint a task force to deal with the flood of Miami-Cuba church issues arising every day.

Much of the activity is being fueled by the powerful testimony of exiles who, despite criticism from sectors of the exile community, went to Cuba for the papal visit and returned with moving stories -- and a strong feeling that they should help in some way.

``We are knocking on doors and asking for big donations,'' said Marivi Prado, a pilgrim who is president of Women for Human Rights International, the group organizing the food and medicine aid drive through Caritas. ``There is a genuine interest even from people who didn't want to help before. They realize the Cuban church has been struggling for decades and is now finally seeing the Masses filled with ordinary people.''

Sending aid to Cuba in the form of packages and money to relatives has long been a staple of exile, but it has been almost exclusively a family-to-family affair, often shunned publicly by hard-line exiles who say the aid helps sustain Fidel Castro in power.

Perspective is different

But many exiles -- prominent Catholics who also have a record as civic leaders -- now see the aid issue in a broader perspective.

They believe that channeling aid through the church is a humanitarian gesture that could bring political benefits as well. They see the church as the only independent institution on the island that can be a catalyst for change.

And they believe the Pope sent a clear message to exiles -- to open up and contribute in peaceful, constructive ways to the future of Cuba.

``If the Pope said to the people on the island, `No tengan miedo' -- Don't be afraid -- then why should we be afraid here in Miami?'' said Tony Prado, a developer whose political thinking on Cuba changed with the Pope's visit.

``We are going to help in any way we can,'' Prado said. ``The great accomplishment of the Pope's visit has been to legitimize the opening of a space and the possibility of establishing bridges and contacts.''

Prado, who is Marivi Prado's brother, now wishes he had traveled to Cuba like his sister. After 38 years of exile, he hopes to return soon -- and he's not alone.

Increase in travel

Travel agents who arrange trips to Cuba say the number of exiles visiting the island has visibly increased since the Pope's trip, despite a Clinton administration travel ban that forces exiles to take costlier and longer routes through Nassau and Mexico.

``I cannot keep up with our reservations. We are booked through Easter,'' said Vivian Mannerud, president of Airline Brokers, which started flights to Camaguey in February.

``A lot of people who were afraid to go before now aren't,'' Mannerud said. ``And a lot of people who went -- and didn't say they did -- now are saying it. People in this community had this fear of saying they went to Cuba. Since the Pope's visit, with the church encouraging family reunification, they are now publicly admitting it's the right thing to do.''

Some of the pilgrims are campaigning to persuade the Clinton administration to suspend the travel restrictions enacted by presidential order to punish the Cuban government after Cuban MiGs shot down two Brothers to the Rescue planes in 1996.

Pilgrims from New York, New Jersey, California and Chicago are urging other Cuban exiles to write to their representatives in Congress and to the White House asking that direct U.S.-Cuba flights be reinstated. The more liberal exile groups in Miami also want the ban lifted, but vocal, militant exile groups are against it, among them the powerful Cuban American National Foundation.

With direct flights, humanitarian aid to the church would be easier and cheaper to transport, church advocates argue.

A roundabout route

Just recently, a donation of 60,000 pounds of medicine had to be shipped from Miami to Canada, where it was put on a ship to Cuba. It quadrupled the cost, Wenski said. Another shipment of insulin, which requires refrigeration and is sensitive to transport, had to sit in Nassau for hours before it could go on to Havana.

Exiles who want to help the church -- and the Catholic archdiocese, too -- know they're walking the tightrope of politics on both sides of the Florida Straits.

On one side are exiles who believe that any aid could prolong the Castro regime. On the other is the Cuban government, which considers exiles a threat and is suspicious of any exile move, however humanitarian. And in the middle are the U.S. trade embargo and the travel ban.

Despite the difficulties, pilgrims and priests alike feel there's much that can be done from South Florida to aid the Cuban church.

The Rev. Fernando Heria, a pastor at St. Thomas The Apostle Catholic Church who returned to Cuba for a few hours after 36 years in exile to hear the Pope's Mass in Havana, preaches to his largely Cuban flock in Kendall what he calls ``the ministry of presence and silence.''

``Eventually, we are going to need to come to terms with the idea that we need to make our presence felt in Cuba,'' Heria said. ``We need to go there not with the idea of evangelizing them, but they evangelizing us. People in Cuba need to know we have not abandoned them, that we share in their pain.''

The reaction of his parish?

``Whatever negative experience I may have encountered prior to going to Cuba, they were totally resolved after the papal visit,'' Heria said. ``There was true reconciliation. I give thanks to God.''

One of those who changed his mind is Pedro Freyre, a Kendall lawyer and devout Catholic. While his wife Elena went to Cuba -- and is now one of the most active in the movement to support the Cuban church -- Freyre was one of the exiles who opposed the cruise and vowed not to return to the island while Castro remained in power.

Not anymore. When the opportunity comes, ``I'll swallow really hard and return,'' Freyre said.

``The Pope put a very sharp spotlight on the Cuban Catholic Church,'' he said. ``Everything during the visit -- even down to stuff like the singing -- was so remarkably well done, so spiritual. It sent a powerful message to Miami Cubans. Where before a certain distancing existed between the Cuban church and the Cuban community, you can sense those barriers coming down. The feeling is, man, these people are worthy of our support.''

Elena Valdes-Crespo Freyre, who said she saw prostitutes as young as 12 and 13 years old working along the famous Havana boulevard, wants to find a way to help the parishes in Havana get the young women off the streets. She's working with other exile women on formulating an outreach program to pass along to the church.

The pilgrims, she said, will work through representatives of Caritas, who will tell them what the church needs and how exiles can help.

Island's church wants help

The Cuban church wants exile help -- but it must be handled with humbleness and diplomacy, pilgrims and local religious leaders say.

``They don't want this to be a political movement,'' Elena Freyre said. ``They know aid is coming from the exile, but they don't want a big show made out of it. Nobody needs a show. Everyone knows where it's coming from.''

The philosophy, Wenski said, is to offer assistance but to act only following the direction of the Cuban church.

``It shouldn't be us on this side prioritizing for them, or we end up becoming the ugly American or the ugly exile,'' Wenski said. ``They are the ones in place, and they have to say, `This is the type of thing we need.' That's important, but it's lost on a lot of people.''

The Cuban bishops have just made a request for two things: copies of the Gospel according to Matthew to use in their door-to-door visitations, and portrait-size images of the giant Sacred Heart of Jesus displayed in the Plaza de la Revolucion during the Pope's historic visit.

``People in Havana are asking for them,'' Wenski said, ``probably in Miami, too.''