COUNTYWIDE : Something Is Sacred at Hospital

Every detail of Brenda Cardenas’ first Communion outfit was perfect. She had tiny lacy gloves and matching tights, white patent-leather shoes, a veiled headpiece and a dress with layers of white satin and lace, everything a 7-year-old girl participating in the Catholic ceremony could wish for.

But when Brenda made her first Holy Communion earlier this month, there were several obvious signs that it was not a typical ceremony--thin plastic tubes led from an oxygen tank into her nose, and her dress was carefully fanned out around her wheelchair to avoid becoming entangled with various other tubes.

The setting was not a church but a colorful playroom at Children’s Hospital of Orange County, where Brenda has been a patient for the last two months.

Brenda has cystic fibrosis, a chronic genetic disease that affects the lungs and other organs. Patients are unable to digest food properly and have difficulty breathing. Brenda, whose condition was diagnosed when she was a baby, has been in and out of hospitals since.

Considering the problems with her illness, Brenda’s family had given up on plans for her to make her first Communion, a Catholic sacrament that usually occurs when a child is seven or eight. Her mother had inquired at their church in Huntington Beach and was told that her daughter would need to attend religion classes and be able to speak and read English, requirements that Brenda’s illness made impossible.

But help came in the form of a fellow patient, a slight youth with cropped hair and an angelic face that belies a mischievous nature.

When 12-year-old Eddie Arrioja, who is also Catholic and also has cystic fibrosis, found out that Brenda wanted to make her first Communion, he was determined to get involved.

“She seemed like she really wanted to do it. Being a Catholic, this is how I can help,” Eddie said.

Eddie called the priest and nuns at his church, Holy Family Cathedral in Orange. With the help of Sister Beatrice Pieper of Holy Family and nurses at the hospital, Eddie arranged to have an altar set up in the playroom.

Within days, the arrangements had been made. On March 9, about 50 people gathered in the fifth-floor playroom to witness what Father Craig Butters, the officiating priest, called “an extremely moving moment of grace.”

Although Brenda was unable to participate in the lengthy preparatory instruction program that leads to first Communion, Butters did not hesitate to perform the ceremony. He said Brenda’s desire to participate was enough for him.

Although Brenda was too weak to talk much during the ceremony, Butters said he sensed contentment and spiritual fulfillment from the little girl.

“She seemed consoled by the nourishment she received through (Communion),” he said.

Brenda’s mother, Carmen Cardenas, agreed that the event was important to her daughter. “She was very happy; it was a special day for her.”

Butters, associate pastor at Holy Family, said Eddie’s efforts on Brenda’s behalf were in character for the boy.

“Eddie is a saintly young man. These kinds of things happen when he is around,” Butters said.

For his part, Eddie is reluctant to make a big deal of what he did.

“He likes to play it down,” said Ed Arrioja, Eddie’s father. “But he did this all on his own, we didn’t do anything.”