When Fr. Judge first visited the island of Puerto Rico in 1923, he didn’t speak a word of Spanish! However, this small hindrance did not stop him. His desire to reach out to the poor and abandoned people he found there transcended the existing language barrier.
Beginning in the late 1950s we served in Coamo, a municipality located in the southern region of the island as well as in the capital of San Juan. Through the 19070s and 1980s, our priests and Brothers expanded to Canóvanas, an agricultural zone where sugar cane was cultivated and produced, and to the suburbs of El Comandante. Today, our missionaries serve parishes in the Diocese of Fajardo-Humacao, including the area of Loíza, where we oversee the sacramental needs of the thousands of Catholics who live and reside in these impoverished areas.
