Parish Program Uncovers Wrongdoing

Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Community in Lakewood, New Jersey, has one of the largest Hispanic communities in the Diocese of Trenton and is staffed by Divine Word Missionaries.

First, the teacher. She is Milagro Belloso. A native of El Salvador, she is 56 years old, has been married for 30 years, and is a primary school teacher by profession. Fifteen years ago, she went on a retreat. During one of the small group sessions, an Hispanic gentleman asked her to read a bible passage for the group. It was not until later that she realized why he had asked her. He could neither read nor write.

After that encounter, she began taking notice of all the other members of her Hispanic community who were unable to read or write. She knew she wanted to do something, but did not know where to start. She decided her first step would be to enroll in a class that taught her how to teach language skills to adults. 

The next person in our story is the pastor. He is Fr. Pedro Bou, SVD, a native of Puerto Rico who grew up in Chicago. He has been serving in this part of New Jersey for more than 40 years. Like Milagro, he, too, had become increasingly aware of the growing number of Hispanic immigrants who were unable to read or write their native language. And he, too, wanted to do something about it. 

He approached Milagro and asked if she would consider starting a program. Looking back on his invitation, Milagro says it was a moment of enlightenment. She thought, “This is it. This is the moment I have been waiting for!” She had found a way not only to help the community, but also to do it with the support of the Church. She gave Fr. Pedro a resounding, “Yes!”

Milagro has been leading the program since 2017. She says there are beautiful stories that give her chills when she recalls the ways in which the program has helped people. 

Through his regular participation in the program, Rafael began to learn how to read and write numbers. Along the way, he noticed that something did not seem right about what his friend had written on his timecard. In fact, much to his dismay, he discovered that his friend was not writing down what he had told him. He was shortchanging him! If Rafael told him he had worked 40 hours for the week, his friend would write down 30 hours, and give himself credit for the other 10 hours.