[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 19 (Tuesday, March 3, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E275]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            HONORING THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN HISPANIC CHURCH

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, March 3, 1998

  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, today, I am proud to recognize the 
First Presbyterian Hispanic Church.
  The Cuban patriot Jose Marti once said: ``We need temples of love and 
humanity that free everything that is generous in man.'' Marti's vision 
was one shared by Reverend Ernesto Sosa, a constituent of my 
congressional district. Reverend Sosa, along with a group of dedicated 
leaders, founded the Primera Iglesia Hispana Prebysteriana, the First 
Presbyterian Hispanic Church on March 2, 1958, in Miami, Florida. This 
group of dedicated community leaders who for many years had fought for 
freedom and democracy in Cuba, returned to there in the hopes of 
establishing the church in their homeland. Their dreams were shattered, 
however, when the Castro dictatorship set itself on a course of 
religious oppression and persecution.
  The group returned to this great country where individual freedoms 
are not only valued but protected and when they would be free to 
complete their generous and noble task. The church began by 
establishing a center to assist new refugees, a place where regardless 
of race or creed, people were offered food, clothing and medicine. A 
year after the establishment of the center, a clinic and nursery were 
developed to provide additional services to the community. The center 
not only offered resources to the public, but spiritual guidance at a 
time when many of these families were suffering through the difficulty 
of being separated from their loved ones and adjusting to life in their 
new country.
  The Iglesia Prebysteriana Hispana de Miami eventually built a new 
temple to accommodate their growing congregation. The current pastor, 
Reverend Mardoqueo Munoz-Castillo, continues to lead the congregation 
in weekly Sunday masses. Today, after celebrating the fortieth 
anniversary of their founding, the church provides a variety of support 
resources to the public and, as always, important spiritual guidance.

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