[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 9]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 12081]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




       HONORING FATHER ENRIQUE MENDEZ NORMA ON HIS 80TH BIRTHDAY

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, June 14, 2004

  Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I rise to honor a 
great man of our community, Father Enrique Mendez Norma who will be 
turning 80 this Friday.
  Father Mendez was born in Santiago de Cuba on June 18, 1924, and 
spent the early part of his educational life at ``Hermanos de La 
Salle.'' He received his secondary education at ``El Colegio Dolores,'' 
a Jesuit institution in his hometown, and graduated with a degree in 
Arts and Sciences. On July 3, 1940, just after his 16th birthday, he 
enrolled in the Salesian seminary at Guanabacoa. Shortly thereafter, he 
was sent to Central America to complete his novitiate, marking the 
beginning of a brilliant career as an educator. Four years later he was 
transferred to the San Julian School in Guines, where he taught as a 
cleric from 1945 to 1947. Following yet another move to Aptos, 
California, where Father Mendez initiated his theological studies, he 
then relocated to Turin, Italy in 1951 and was ordained a priest on 
July 1, 1952. Later that year, he returned to Cuba and received a 
doctorate in Pedagogical Studies from the University of Havana.
  After a short stay at the San Juan Bosco School in La Vibora, he 
returned to Guines in 1955 to take the reigns as director of the 
Salesian San Julian School, where he had previously spent time as a 
seminarian. In 1959, he was officially named ``Adopted Son'' of his 
resident town and continued his impressive educational career in 1960 
by receiving a doctorate degree in Arts and Philosophy from the 
University of Santo Tomas de Villanueva. He remained in Guines until 
May 1961, when Cuba's private educational institutions fell under the 
dictatorship's control and he was forced into exile.
  From there, Father Mendez moved to Puerto Rico, becoming director of 
the San Juan Bosco School from 1963 to 1969. Later in 1969, he received 
a Master's in Education from the University of Puerto Rico, where he 
was subsequently hired as faculty in the university's Humanities 
Department. In 1970, Father Mendez held a similar position as professor 
of humanities at the University of the Sacred Heart in Santurce, and in 
1972 he received another Master's Degree in Hispanic Studies from the 
University of Puerto Rico. In June of 2000, he was recognized by the 
House of Representatives of Puerto Rico for having been designated by 
the University of the Sacred Heart as Professor Emeritus of that 
institution.
  Since 1963, Father Mendez has served as Spiritual Director and 
Chaplain of the American Military Academy and has held the same title 
for the Circulo Cubano de Puerto Rico since 1970. Over the course of 
his long and decorated professional and clerical career, Father Mendez 
has impacted the lives of countless young men and women who have 
attempted to live by the principles and values he has always preached. 
As a result, Father Mendez has gained the respect, admiration, and 
gratitude of all those who have had the good fortune of learning from 
him.
  From all the people you have touched by your kindness and example, 
Father Mendez, happy 80th birthday.

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