Born: Santiago, Chile
Joined the Missionaries: 1979
What drew you to the Missionaries of the Precious Blood?
I am an alumni of St. Gaspar College in Santiago, Chile. I met the missionaries since early childhood. St. Gaspar’s is a school that goes from early Play Group grade up to high school.
What is your current assignment?
I am the pastor at St. James the Less Church in Columbus, Ohio where I am volunteering for five years.
What is the most challenging aspect of your assignment?
To deal with issues of immigration especially when it comes to experience on how some of our not documented Hispanic parishioners are being picked up by Ice and sent back to their country of origin while spending many years of hard work making a living and raising a family in the U.S., paying taxes and doing good for the country and contributing.
What is the most rewarding aspect of your assignment?
To see how people can have solidarity and support with one another, particularly in times of stress.
What did you do before joining the Missionaries?
I was studying geography at the University of Chile.
What do you enjoy doing in your spare time?
I like to read, watch movies, visit with friends, eat a good meal…
Aside from St. Gaspar, who are some of your favorite Saints?
St. Francis, St. Benedict, St. John XXIII
What is your favorite prayer?
The Prayer of Saint Francis.
Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy.
O, Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love; For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; it is in dying that we are born again to eternal life.
What is your favorite:
Book: La Misión en Chile by Claude Bowers
Food: Barbecue pork ribs
Movies: Casablanca, Chocolat, Doctor Zhivago
Holiday: Easter Sunday
TV Show: The Honeymooners
Would you rather go skydiving or snorkeling?
I loved snorkeling…I would try it again!