As a recent convert to the Catholic faith, Andrea Brown is especially attentive to how God is calling her. After watching the new film “Cabrini,” the powerful story of how Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini began her worldwide ministry to serve the poor in the slums of New York City, she was taken by the action and determination of Mother Cabrini.
“It inspired me,” said Brown, a resident of the San Bernardino Mountains. “I feel like, as a believer, God wants me to step out.”
Brown went to see “Cabrini” with friends from St. Frances Xavier Cabrini Parish in Crestline, one of two in the Diocese that claims Mother Cabrini as its namesake.
“Her accomplishments are even more amazing than we realized,” said Doreen Kennedy, a parishioner of the Crestline church. “We all came out of the movie awed by the portrayal of our patron saint.”
The movie was welcomed with equal enthusiasm by parishioners of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini in Yucaipa. The local chapter of the Catholic Daughters of the Americas organized a viewing party at Harkins Theaters Mountain Grove 16 in Redlands on the movie’s opening weekend March 8-10. More than 50 from the parish attended.
“The message is clear,” Father Santos Ortega, pastor of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, Yucaipa, said of the movie. “With God’s will, you can do anything.”
As “Cabrini” begins, the Italian nun is proposing to expand her ministry to impoverished children worldwide, beginning in China. She is initially denied permission by the Vatican but after repeated appeals, Pope Leo XIII consents but asks Mother Cabrini to begin in the Five Points borough of New York City, home to poor Italian immigrants. The cruel treatment of Italian immigrants at that time is highlighted and some who viewed the movie saw parallels with today’s rhetoric against immigrants from Mexico and Central and South America.
“We’re all immigrants. America was built on immigrants,” said Della Hernandez, who attends The Holy Name of Jesus Parish in Redlands but joined the Yucaipa group. “We need to show each other love.”
The movie also portrays Mother Cabrini’s clashes with male-dominated Church leadership and local politicians as she continued to try to expand her ministry to include building hospitals and schools. “I didn’t know about the hardships she faced with the bishops and the Pope,” remarked Tom Cowan, St. Francis Xavier Cabrini, Yucaipa parishioner.
Said Hernandez, “she was a powerful woman, she had a strong voice and she used it. All of us women should be empowered by that.”
Mother Cabrini also overcame ill health that persisted through most of her life to make her dream of a worldwide ministry to the poor a reality. She was canonized as the first American saint in 1946. That same year St. Frances Xavier Cabrini Parish in Crestline was founded. Kennedy noted that Cabrini’s charity work was so well-known and appreciated in the ecumenical community that the statue of her at the entrance to the church was donated by the local Baptist community of Crestline.
The new movie is point of pride for local Catholics and a call to ministry and awareness today, Bishop Alberto Rojas said after seeing it, himself.
“It is a powerful life lesson for all that continues to be current throughout the times, not only in the United States but in many other parts of the world,” he said. “Yet, this is exactly what we all, and many people with means, need to see and have some compassion for the poor and the immigrants. There are many people around the world escaping and moving to other countries in order to save their lives; and the Catholic Church must continue to be on their side in the name of Jesus Christ.”