Perfect Fit - Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez looks delighted with the soccer team sweatshirt that Salesian students presented him at the end of the Mass he offered at Holy Name of Jesus Church in New Rochelle.

        From the labs he dedicated to the Mass he celebrated, from distributing rosaries to accepting special gifts, Cardinal Oscar Andrés Rodriguez Maradiaga, SDB, of Tegucigalpa, Honduras, seemed to enjoy every minute of his two-day visit last month to Salesian High School in New Rochelle for its 85th anniversary.
        That’s not surprising since the Cardinal himself is a Salesian.
        “Its like being in my family,” he told CNY.  He noted that he began his Salesian education in Tegucigalpa at age 6 and went on to a high school novitiate.  “I still continue to be united to my Salesian family, and so this is a privilege and a great joy to be here today.”
        He asked to greet the readers of Catholic New York with this message:  “It’s beautiful to follow Christ and to be a committed Christian in this society.”  
        The Cardinal blessed the high school’s newly renovated science wing Oct. 14th and celebrated Mass at nearby Holy Name of Jesus Church.
        “He’s very down-to-earth,” said Michael McNamara, a senior.  “He’s somebody you could talk to.”
Erik Spink, a junior and the director of the in-school television news station, said that the Cardinal “acts like he’s known us our whole lives.”
        “All the Salesians are like that,” he added.  “It’s a real family atmosphere.”
      With students, teachers and administrators, the Cardinal climbed three flights of stairs from the first floor chapel, where he’d talked with seniors, to the science wing on the fourth floor.  The wing has two large laboratory classrooms for biology and chemistry.  In the chemistry lab, the Cardinal noted that he had taught chemistry before becoming a bishop.  In each lab he hung a crucifix and offered a prayer “that the Lord will open your minds to science and to the good.”
        Cardinal Rodriguez was ordained in 1970, became a bishop in 1978 at age 35, was named Archbishop of Tegucigalpa in 1993 and was made a cardinal in 2001.
        Fr. Patrick Angelucci, SDB, school President, said it was significant for the students that Cardinal

The cardinal, a member of the Salesian Congregation that sponsors Salesian High, blesses the lab in the school's new science wing.

Rodriguez comes from the Third World.  Many Salesian students come from areas where they have “a deep connection with those who have less than we do,” he said.  “That always touches their hearts, so knowing that the Cardinal comes from a Third World country, they were very interested in what he had to say, and what experiences he would share with them,” he added.
        Students walked the short distance to Holy Name of Jesus Church for the mass.  The parish was founded in 1929 and at first used the school facilities for mass, and Salesian priests continue to assist there.
        Cardinal Rodriguez, in his homily, drew on his experience as a pilot and spoke of the need for direction, in the air and in one’s life.  He noted the usefulness of the Global Positioning System, which uses satellites, and said it is necessary to have a “spiritual GPS” with three “satellites” – the word of God, the Eucharist and the Virgin Mary.
        He told the students that if they listen to the word of God they will never become lost.  “You will experience every day of your life that God is near to you, that He loves you, that He wants the best for you.”  Receiving the Eucharist, he continued, means “we are not empty inside, we have the love of God in our lives.”  He assured the students that the Lord will direct their actions and keep them on “the path of love, justice, true freedom, and especially peace.”  He urged them to stay close to the Blessed Virgin, “Mary Help of Christians,” a devotion especially beloved in the Salesian tradition.
        He asked them to imitate the athletes who carry the Olympic torch and carry the “torch of faith” to the next generation, as it was passed on to them.  When he concluded, there was sustained applause.
        At the end of mass, the Cardinal received two gifts.  Louis Calvelli, Vice President for Advancement and an alumnus, presented an anniversary medallion, and Michael Jacopino, a senior, presented a Salesian Soccer sweatshirt.  John Flaherty, the Principal, said he would remember the Cardinal’s “challenging us to be grateful for what we have, but also to help those who don’t have.”
        “That challenge was very clear to all of the young men who were here today,” he said, and he added that the visit, “made us all proud to be part of this 85-year-old tradition.”  He cited the Salesian ideal of making each school not only a school, but also a home, a church, and ‘a playground” where lifelong friendships are formed.
        Earlier in the day, the Cardinal had led an informal question-and-answer session for seniors in the school chapel.  He offered encouragement and advice, and talked about his own interests in flying and playing the saxophone.  Asked about challenges he faces, he cited drug lords and their corruptive trade.  He told the students, “I beg you, never enter drugs,” and warned them that drugs would rob them of their freedom.  
        He blessed dozens of simple black rosaries in a basket, then handed one to each of the boys.  “Don’t have the rosary just as an ornament,” he told them.  “The rosary is to be prayed.”
        The Cardinal told CNY that Salesian schools aim to help students become, in St. John Bosco’s words, “honest citizens and good Christians.”  He said that he sensed in the students at Salesian High School “a great thirst for spirituality and for God” which the school had given them.  How do they compare with boys in Honduras?  “They have a common denominator, that is, to be young,” the Cardinal said.  “To be young is to be enthusiastic about life, to have hopes for the future, to have dreams…to be something or somebody…Of course, in my country, poverty is a great obstacle for many of them, but they have, as well, a Salesian school, where they can find the same ideals that the American young generation has.”