24665: Hermantin (news) Memories of the pope: 'A special moment, and it was private'

[sak-pase@bimini.ws]

leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>


Posted on Tue, Apr. 05, 2005
Memories of the pope: 'A special moment, and it was private'

Marlene Desdunes, the youngest member of the adult choir at St. Mary's 
Cathedral, was trying to do what she had been told: sing and ignore 
distractions. In the audience, not more than 10 feet away, Pope John Paul II 
sat in rapt attention.

''I heard this little voice calling to me, but I wasn't going to turn 
around,'' she recalled. ``I had been warned not to move.''

The voice was coming from a corner, and when she turned slightly, she 
spotted the Rev. Gerard LaCerra, the cathedral's rector, furiously motioning 
to her. At first, the 17-year-old thought it was a trick, but LaCerra became 
so insistent she managed to slip out back during the next hymn. It was a 
wise move.

She was being pulled away to help the pope rehearse a speech in Creole.

''I was scared,'' she said. 'At first I thought: `Oh my gosh! What's going 
on? And why did they pick me?' ''

AT THE CHAPEL

LaCerra and a female Secret Service agent led Marlene to a nearby chapel. 
Stunned, she took a seat next to the pope. They quickly agreed on the best 
way to help him with his Creole. She would read the speech first; he would 
repeat it back.

``It was perfect in the first reading, and I told him that, but he looked at 
me as if he thought I didn't want to correct him. But he really didn't need 
any correction. He was very quick, very good.''

The meeting was soon over, but before the pope was whisked away, he blessed 
her and gave her a crystal-bead rosary with the Vatican's seal. She didn't 
tell a soul. Her parents didn't know she had met with the pope until LaCerra 
visited them later.

''I didn't think anyone would believe me. It was so surreal,'' she said.

As soon as word got out, however, she became something of a celebrity -- 
though she didn't want her moment appropriated by the media.

``It was a special moment, and it was private. It's like a wedding day. You 
remember it always.''

Since then, Marlene Desdunes has married. Her last name is Grant now; she 
has three children and is a teacher at Biscayne Elementary in Miami Beach. 
The pope's rosary was buried with her father.

Except for her mother and a small group of people from church, no one else 
knows she spoke with the pope. Her husband found out only after a visit from 
a reporter. Those 10 minutes in 1987, however, gave her a purpose.

HER SKILLS

Marlene grew up speaking four languages -- English, French, Spanish and 
Creole. She realized she could use those skills to help other people, as 
John Paul had.

''I had been thinking then about being a teacher, and meeting him confirmed 
that,'' she said. ``His visit really made me understand how I wanted to live 
my life.''

So what does she remember best about the pope? ''He was extremely gentle, 
soft-spoken, like a lamb,'' she said. ``You really had to listen 
carefully.''