Meet the priests we support
Father José Refugio is pastor of the parish of the Immaculate Conception, located in the Prelature (mission diocese) of Nayar in the state of Durango in northern Mexico. His parish is huge: several hundred square miles. His parishioners are almost all Tepehuana Indians. Father José Refugio is a humble and hard-working priest, very conscientious about his mission. He almost never leaves his parish area. He regularly visits the different villages of his parish, sometimes on foot and sometimes on horseback. Most of the paths are inaccessible to cars. He battles with incipient diabetes because of poor nutrition. His sole source of income is the collection at Mass, which never adds up to more than $50 a month.
CANELA supplements Father José Refugio's income with a $250 grant every month.
Father Misael is the pastor of Our Lady of Guadalupe parish in the diocese of Zacatecoluca in the Central American country of El Salvador. His parish was founded 11 years ago and still lacks many essentials. For example, there is no real church building or rectory. Father Misael lives in a small room with a makeshift wall separating it from a larger room, currently being used for celebrating mass. The parish community is still small and cannot cover Father Misael's modest living costs. Most of the parishioners are poor farmers.
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CANELA supplements Father Misael's income with a monthly grant of $200.