Priest, principal share award for rebuilding church and school after earthquake

(OSV News) -- After an earthquake reduced their parish buildings to rubble, a priest and a Catholic educator teamed up to rebuild their beloved church and school -- starting with the children whose faith was formed there.

Now, Father Melvin Díaz, pastor of Immaculate Conception Parish in Guayanilla, Puerto Rico, and the parish school's principal, Carmen Alicia Rodríguez Echevarría, have been named the recipients of Catholic Extension Society's 2025-2026 Lumen Christi Award, selected from more than 40 nominees.

The award, which will be formally conferred on them in November, provides $100,000 to be split between the honorees and their nominating diocese. Catholic Extension said the funds, which will be shared by the recipients and the Diocese of Ponce, "will assist in the continual efforts to rebuild the school and historic parish."

Established in 1978, the annual honor -- the title of which is Latin for "light of Christ" -- is the highest conferred by Catholic Extension. The Chicago-based nonprofit, founded in 1905, organizes support for some 15 million faithful whose Catholic communities are in the poorest regions of the U.S., including offshore U.S. territories.

Back in late December 2019, a series of earthquakes and aftershocks touched off in Puerto Rico, continuing into the new year, with a magnitude 6.4 earthquake striking the island's southwest on Jan. 7, 2020.

The historic Immaculate Conception Church, located in the coastal town of Guayanilla -- the patron of which is the Virgin of the Immaculate Conception -- saw its two bell towers collapse, and its tumbling walls crush the parish school.

Hours after the quake, Father Díaz told The New York Times the church had withstood a 1918 earthquake -- and assured one of his parishioners on the scene, "We will rebuild."

And, said Catholic Extension president Father Jack Wall, that task started with small steps -- literally.

"Father Melvin had a vision of revitalizing the school and church that would begin with the children," said Father Wall in an Oct. 2 statement announcing the Lumen Christi award. "To accomplish this, he needed a trusted partner, which he found in a former student to
lead the school, Dr. Carmen Rodríguez."

Catholic Extension said in its Oct. 2 award announcement that Father Díaz and Rodríguez "recognized they have the power to help their community move forward.

"Together, they decided that this church would take on a new mission and purpose: reviving their school," said the society.

Through their "relentless efforts," the pair managed to grow post-quake enrollment from 90 to 229 -- even amid Hurricane Fiona in 2022, a storm that "caused even more drastic damage," Catholic Extension said in its release.

And when enrollment outgrew the halved space left in the wake of 2020 disaster, Father Díaz and Rodríguez "got creative, transforming old storage rooms into classrooms," said the society, describing the priest and the principal as "a powerful team" with a "shared mission to build a better future for the children."

"God gave her to our community when we needed her the most, in the most difficult moment post-earthquake," said Father Díaz of Rodríguez. "I have to recognize the light of Christ in her because of her loyalty and her communication, which is so sincere and frank with me."

For her part, Rodríguez said that the priest is "always offering a smile, a greeting, a hello with everybody.

"I thank him for the confidence he has given me over these years," she said.

Bishop Rubén A. González Medina of Ponce said that the two possess an "ability to maintain hope in a community battered by 1,000 problems," and that their presence "is giving hope.

"Poor, simple, yet joyful communities like ours remain affected by the earthquakes and hurricanes," said the bishop. "So here we are, little by little, moving forward. Moving forward with our eyes fixed on Jesus."

The priest and the principal said their community will deeply appreciate the award.

"It will help our community as it moves forward -- and most important are the children," said Rodríguez. "We have so much hope in the present and for the future."