Father Melvin Díaz Aponte, pastor of Immaculate Conception Church in Guayanilla, Puerto Rico, and Carmen Alicia Rodríguez Echevarría, the principal of the parish school, have been named as the recipients of Catholic Extension Society’s 2025-2026 Lumen Christi Award. The annual award is our highest honor given to people who radiate and reveal the light of Christ present in the communities where they serve.
Established in 1978, this annual award is a reminder of the positive and transformative impact of the Catholic Church in our society. To learn more about Father Díaz and Rodríguez’s mission to rebuild Immaculate Conception school and parish after devastation from earthquakes and hurricanes, watch the video and read the full story below.
Father Melvin Díaz says that at Immaculate Conception parish and school in Guayanilla, Puerto Rico, the community approaches each day and challenge with this saying in mind:
“Grain by grain, the hen fills her belly.”
It’s the English-language equivalent of expressions like “slow and steady wins the race,” or “Rome wasn’t built in a day.”
Large goals are achieved through the completion of small goals and a consistent, daily effort. Step by step, a community working together can get the job done, no matter the challenge.
But you won’t find many parish and school leaders that have had to confront challenges like this one.
However, that is what Father Díaz was faced with at Immaculate Conception. The historic parish that he serves as pastor – built in 1841 and a landmark space to gather and worship in Guayanilla – collapsed during the earthquakes that ravaged Puerto Rico in January 2020.
Since then, the parish has been forced to worship in a tent next to the rubble. What’s more, the church destroyed half of the parish school, including the children’s recreation area.
After the earthquake, many families moved away, and economic downturn in Guayanilla ensued. Years later, much of the town and church have been left unrepaired as the community navigates federal and state regulations.
Watch the video below to view the destruction that faced Father Díaz and Immaculate Conception.
As he stood in the rubble in the days that followed the initial earthquakes, Father Díaz recalls a boy who was a student at the school approaching him with the question:
“Father, why is the church on the ground?”
Father Díaz didn’t expect this question. But he knew instantly that seeing the parish in such a state of despair had made quite an impression on the young boy. And that the boy’s question had a deeper meaning. Calmly, Father Díaz gathered himself and answered the boy’s question, telling him,
So that you and I can lift the church up.”
Putting God’s children first
Father Díaz realized that what may be most important in rebuilding Immaculate Conception church and school is having a safe place for children to thrive, amid the devastation this community has witnessed. These children deserve a place where they can grow in their faith and education—something that has been passed down through families for generations at the historic, nearly 200-year-old parish.
So, Father Díaz decided that the first step in his ‘grain-by-grain’ approach to rebuilding Immaculate Conception would be to revive the parish school.
Immaculate Conception School’s enrollment had dwindled to only 90 students. Many local people had left the area after the earthquakes. He needed not only a sound strategy to revitalize the school, but a partner to help him implement it.
Father Díaz needed a co-leader who understood the community and how badly the devastation at the church and school affected its people. Someone who could relate to their pain and their dreams for the future. A person who had a real connection and love for Immaculate Conception.
Homegrown talent
Father Díaz found the perfect leader to help him: Carmen Alicia Rodríguez Echevarría, who graduated from Immaculate Conception School in 1998. She completed her bachelor’s degree in education under an athletic scholarship, specializing in secondary mathematics from the Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico. In 2008 she received a master’s degree in educational supervision and administration. And most recently, she received her doctorate in education.
Simply put, Rodríguez is a homegrown talent. And so, she had a specific understanding of the challenges her community now faced. But more than that, she believed in Immaculate Conception with all her heart. This is her parish, and her home.
So, when her pastor Father Díaz asked her to help rebuild the school and parish following the 2020 earthquakes, she emphatically said yes and has never looked back.
Together, she and Father Díaz have turned around the school, in spite of still operating in a half-destroyed space. “We believe the community trusts our process because it is not entirely dependent on one person,” Rodríguez said. “This is a collaborative effort. Everyone here is involved.”
Steady progress
Thanks to the leadership of Rodríguez and Father Díaz and the relentless efforts of their students and parish families,, enrollment has gone from just 90 students in 2020 to over 200 by 2023, and has remained steady. Since they grew the enrollment so quickly, with only half the space available prior to the earthquake, they needed to be creative.
Old storage units became classrooms, the teachers’ lounge shrunk, and with the help of Catholic Extension Society’s supporters, new air conditioning units were installed in the formerly unused upper floors, so that children would have a place to learn free from the scorching heat and suffocating humidity that is common in this Caribbean coastal town.
“Rising up has not been easy, but we have to focus on what is most important. That is having a safe space for our students to receive a good education and formation,” Rodríguez said.
And furthermore, Father Díaz is immensely grateful that Rodríguez accepted his offer to serve at her alma mater and for the love she has in her heart for Immaculate Conception and Guayanilla.
Carmen arrived at our community when she was meant to. She was a gift from God to us when we needed her most.”
Meanwhile, the parish and school have continued to participate in Catholic Extension Society’s Disaster Recovery program, which has helped more than 600 churches and schools across the island gain access to $400M in federal funds to rebuild churches and schools damaged in recent natural disasters.
The patience and tenacity of parishioners at Immaculate Conception is starting to pay off. After five long years of staring at a pile of rubble that used to be their church and school building, the first construction work kicked off last month at Immaculate Conception’s historic church. The school is also placing bids for architectural design for a new building that will be more resilient to future seismic activity. It’s a sign of hope to the people of Guayanilla. The mayor (below, left) even came out to greet the construction workers at the church, realizing that the rebuilding of this church and school wasn’t just good for Catholics, but his entire community.
And now, as the recipients of Catholic Extension Society’s Lumen Christi Award, Father Díaz, Rodríguez, and the Diocese of Ponce will receive a $100,000 award, split between the honorees and their nominating diocese. The funds will assist in the ongoing efforts to sustain the school and fund their portion of costs needed to rebuild their historic parish and school.
“This award will surely be meaningful to the community,” Father Díaz said. “We can only imagine their immense gratitude upon finding out this award is for our community.”
Bishop Rubén A. González Medina of the Diocese of Ponce, who nominated Father Díaz and Rodríguez for this award, recognizes that it has been teamwork that has led to the steady progress at Immaculate Conception over the last five years. Grain by grain, as Father Díaz would say.
“What I know of these two human beings, one a priest and another a committed laywoman, is their ability to maintain hope in a community battered by 1,000 problems. Their presence there is giving hope,” said Bishop González Medina. “Poor, simple, yet joyful communities like ours remain affected by the earthquakes and hurricanes. So here we are, little by little, moving forward. Moving forward with our eyes fixed on Jesus.”
Watch Bishop Medina discuss further the tremendous efforts and successes of Father Díaz and Rodríguez in the video below.
Motivated by the children and each other
Two things that stand out above all about Guayanilla’s dynamic duo is the mutual admiration they have for one another, and their biggest motivation for rebuilding Immaculate Conception Church and School are the children of the community.
“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,” Father Díaz said of Rodríguez.
Connecting to the children of her own family, Rodríguez said of Father Díaz, “Feeling his support is very important. I have a special needs son who just beams with joy when he sees Fr. Melvin.” As a mother of three children, including one with autism, I’ve also used my role to spread the message that there are no barriers that limit us professionally.”
“The students love him. He indisputably wears a smile on his face for everyone,” she continued.
Immaculate Conception’s foundation is rock solid. Stronger than ever. And that is a result of the dual leadership of Father Díaz and Rodríguez. Grain by grain, brick by brick, and student by student, they are helping Guayanilla to rise from the earthquake.
Furthermore, Father Díaz and Rodríguez are fulfilling the promise he made nearly six years ago to the young boy who asked him why the church was on the ground: so we can lift it up together.
“Our people will receive the award with so much enthusiasm. It will help our community as it moves forward—and most important are the children,” Rodríguez said. “We have so much hope in the present and for the future.”
Catholic Extension Society builds up vibrant and transformative Catholic faith communities among the poor in the poorest regions of America. Donate to our mission to support Catholic leaders like Father Melvin Díaz and Carmen Alicia Rodríguez Echevarría.
