When Pope Francis, while touring the Middle East in 2018, called on “all people of good will” to open their churches, buildings and hearts to those in need – especially the children – it felt to Father Raul Marquez as though the Pope was speaking directly to him.
Born in Colombia, Father Marquez was raised by a mother who worked seven days a week to provide for the family. And while he began attending school at the age of six, with “very little supervision and support at home” he struggled to advance.
“My mother started looking for a boarding school for me and found one where I could live Monday through Friday and go to school while receiving the support I needed to study,” Father Marquez recalled. “At this boarding school I had food, board and adult supervision. As a result, I was able to improve my school performance, graduated from high school and [college], and finally join the seminary.”
Which is why, when Father Marquez heard the Pope’s words, it was the creation of a school, not so different from the one he had attended in Colombia, that sprang to mind.
“I am convinced that education is a right of each child,” he wrote on the school’s website. “Along with providing an education for our children, we also must provide the right environment for them to be able to learn. When families cannot provide that environment because of their lack of resources, we are called to help them. Francis House will provide the spiritual, emotional and economic support to 12 little girls for them to succeed.”
But it cannot provide those benefits for free, which is why on April 15 from 4 to 10 p.m. at St. Peter Catholic Church – where Father Marquez is Pastor – he will hold the Francis House Gala, a “red carpet charity dinner” and silent auction.
“Or if they want to they can support by donation,” DeeAnne Aboud, a friend and former parishioner helping advertise the event, said. “Because the day of the Gala is also Padre’s birthday.
Acquainted with Father Marquez since 2010 when he was given his first assignment as Parochial Vicar of Immaculate Conception in Stayton – where she attends – Aboud has made it her work to support the Francis House mission.
“The circle of love that is involved here…it gives me goosebumps,” Aboud said. “Just think of the impact he will make with Francis House.”
It’s an impact that’s already underway with 12 students, aged six to nine, currently attending the little blue school.
Like eight year old Liz Guadalupe – the youngest of eight children – who, before coming to Francis House, lived in a social housing project with her mother, her brother and an infant nephew “in conditions of extreme poverty” with “food shortages and lack of the basic needs”.
“Two of her oldest sisters are already living in a house for poor girls outside the city…” a biography of Liz listed on the school’s website reads. “Her mother is the only economic provider for the family doing laundry for people who hire her from time to time.”
It’s a story not so far from that of Father Marquez’s own and why Francis House – and its continued support – is a venture close to his heart.
“The dream is that each of these girls will benefit from all our efforts providing them a safe home where they can be children and experience the love and care of God,” he wrote.
Francis House Gala
Charity event supporting Francis House, a girls boarding in Colombia.
St. Peter Catholic Church 5905 S.E. 87th Ave., Portland
Saturday, April 15, 4 to 10 p.m.
Tickets $100, call 503-777-3321
Donations: mail to St. Peter’s with “Francis House” in the memo line or made at www.stpeterpdx.org/church.
