MIAMI — Nearly 350 riders hailing from all corners of Florida revved their motorcycle engines in the parking lot of a Doral church, as they waited for the signal to start their ride. The chilly temperatures that plagued South Florida for a week warmed up to a nice 70 degrees. Perfect for a Sunday ride.
No, these aren’t the Hell’s Angels gathering for a meetup. Quite the opposite. The leader of this pack is Miami’s top Catholic, Archbishop Thomas Wenski.
The Archdiocese of Miami hosted its 13th annual Archbishop Motorcycle Ride Sunday, which began with an early morning mass at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church in Doral and was scheduled to conclude with a group ride to St. Justin Martyr Church in Key Largo, where riders were greeted with food trucks and music.
The event brings together hundreds of religious motorcycle lovers, while raising funds to benefit St. Luke’s Center, a drug and alcohol rehabilitation facility operated by Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Miami.
“It’s a good, wholesome way of passing time with other motorcycle enthusiasts,” Wenski said in an interview with the Miami Herald.
After a quick blessing from Wenski, the bikers put up their kickstands and began the 50 mile trek to Key Largo, with the archbishop astride his black Harley Davidson Street Glide.
As the Catholic Church’s top leader in Miami, Wenski has made a name for himself over the years as a prominent spiritual leader with a passion for helping the under served. Wenski — who speaks fluent Creole and Spanish — has been a long-time advocate for Haitian and Latino communities in Florida.
But the Archbishop, who turns 75 this year, is also known for his passion for riding motorcycles.
“We have an undeserved reputation,” he said. “Sometimes people think of bikers as being somewhat edgy, but most bikers are actually professionals … you have a lot of doctors or accountants and lawyers that are bikers, because those bikes aren’t cheap.”
In a sea of black leather and denim, many of the bikers sported jackets inscribed with the name of their motorcycle clubs. “Emmaus Bikers, Catholic and Proud” read one jacket, named after the Catholic spiritual retreat. “Knights on Bikes” is a Catholic motorcycle group with members from the Knights of Columbus.
John Clavijo, who has been to several of the biker mass events, waited with friends near his bike before the ride began. He said the annual group ride is a great way to merge his love for motorcycles with his Catholic faith.
“I guess I’m like a reborn guy,” Clavijo said. “Matching the bike riding with my spirituality … It’s fun.”
Clavijo said it was the “Walk to Emmaus Retreat” that brought him back to his faith.
“I was going through some really bad times … I was in a really depressed state,” he said. “This brought me back to life.”
All proceeds and donations from the ride will go toward St. Luke’s Center, an alcohol and drug recovery center that offers addiction treatment services and residential programs for adults. The center is operated by the Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Miami.
“I’ve had people in church come up to me and tell me that St. Luke’s helped their son or their brother. So it’s a very worthy ministry for helping people to conquer drug addiction and addiction to alcohol,” Wenski said.
As the pre-ride mass came to a close, Wenski brought local police and safety officers on stage to review some safety precautions for the ride.
Wenski said he always had an interest in motorcycles as a child. But it wasn’t until the age of 50 that he began riding as a hobby. He said he remembers seeing a big group of bikers riding down I-95 in Broward one day coming home from a Haitian mass.
“I said, ‘Boy that looks like fun,’” Wenski said.
His first bike — sold to him by his lawyer friend who lives in Ocala — was a Honda Shadow. Wenski eventually sold it to buy a Harley Davidson and never looked back. He recalls some of his favorite moments riding around sunny South Florida, including 10 years ago when the Port of Miami Tunnel was first opening. He claims he was the first motorcycle rider to go through it.
