Staff

Fr. Ettore Rubin, CS 

Fr. Onorio Benacchio, lives  and helps at Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church, but his central responsibility is priest to the Brazilian Portugese speaking mission community of Sagrada Familia in Ft. Myers, Florida. He has served here for over 10 years.  Fr. Onorio was born in 1925 in San Nazario, Vicenza, Italy.  As a young man he joined the Congregation of the Missionaries of St. Charles / Scalabrinians in, 1937.  He was ordained in 1950.  He has served as a missionary in Brasil, Venezuela, in Clewiston, FL, and now in Immokalee and Ft. Myers.  Fr. Onorio is an accomplished linguist, speaking Spanish, English, Portugese, and of course Italian perfectly.  His favorite part of living and working here and at Sagrada Familia is that he truly loves working in this apostolate, and serving immigrants in need.  He feels he is where he should be serving the poor and the migrants.

Maria Marquez

Santos Aponte is our Office Manager, Church Secretary, and Receptionist.  She is the veritable hub upon which the various activities of the parish turn.  Santos is originally from Edcouch, Texas.  But has lived in Immokalee since 1981.  She came to Immokalee so long ago as a migrant worker, harvesting tomatoes.  Before her employment at our Church, she worked as an immigration specialist for Catholic Charities. She began working here in 2005.  Since then she has struggled to learn the complex responsibilities of her job, and to carry them out effectively.  She is a great success, and the face of the parish to many parishioners when they enter the office for the first time.

Fr. Fred Conoscenti

Here we see Santos and Maria, "las comadres," working together on a project related to the Carnaval Church fund raiser.

Click on the picture below to play with Tequila at the beach.

Click on the picture above to play ball with Tequila at the dog beach on Lover's Key, an hour from Immokalee.

Staff

Fr. Ettore Rubin, or Padre Hector as he is known to the people he serves here in Immokalee, is pastor of Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church.  He has served here for over 8 years.  Born in 1935, in Rovereto, Italy, near Trent.  As a young man he joined the Congregation of the Missionaries of St. Charles / Scalabrinians in, 1949.  He was ordained March 17, 1962.  He has served as a missionary to immigrants in Venezuela, Brooklyn, Newark, and here in Immokalee.  Fr. Ettore is an accomplished musician - organist and pianist - having studied as a young man and a seminarian in various music conservatories.  His favorite part of serving the Lord as a pastor of Our Lady of Guadalupe is the people, because they are 1st generation immigrants, with very little - many not even with papers to be here legally.  He feels he is doing the work of the Lord, and fulfilling the mission of his congregation.

Fr. Jean Woady Louis

Fr. Patrick O'Connor, or Padre Patricio as he is known in Immokalee, is the newest addition to our staff.  Fr. Patrick is an Oblate of St. Francis De Sales.  He was ordained in 1997.  Before coming here, he most recently ministered at St. John Neumann, in Reston, Virginia.  Fr. Patrick began studying Spanish about five years ago, and discovered a deep love for the Latino people and culture; especially for the needy immigrant community in the United States.  Feeling God's call to minister in this community, and with the permission of his religious congregation, Fr. Patrick accepted the invitation of Bishop Dewayne to come to Immokalee.  Fr. Patrick loves working here, because here he feels he is able to do best what Jesus taught us we should do as his followers - love God and love one another, especially by helping those most in need in our world.  And he feels close to the Lord in the people of Immokalee.

 Fr. Onorio Benacchio, CS

Maria Marquez is our Director of Religious Education.  Maria is originally from Valle Hermoso, in the State of Taumalipas, Mexico.  But she lived in Texas and in Immokalee beginning in 1958.  She began working with the Diocese of Venice in 1985, and began here at the Church, as DRE, 12 years ago.  Her responsibilities in the parish include running the religious education classes, recruiting and training catechists, conducting adult education and sacramental preparation, retreats, and many other related works.  Her favorite part of working at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church is that she loves to see the reactions of people when they begin to realize just how much God really loves them.

Santos Aponte

Fr. Fred Conoscenti, a priest from Naples, helps at the Church on Sundays with the 9:00 AM English Mass.  In Naples, Fr. Fred works with Hospice.

Tequila is the pet dog of Fr. Patrick O'Connor, but is quickly becoming the mascot of the entire Our Lady of Guadalupe Church community.  She is friendly, loves everyone - especially the kids, knows lots of tricks, and, unhappily for her master, likes living next to a soup kitchen - a lot!  (There are many food scraps to be had!)  Besides the soup kitchen, her favorite places to spend her time on the property are at the grotto of Mary, the field behind the buildings, and under the giant tree by the Church.  She is an unofficial minister of hospitality in the office, greeting everyone, from Fr. Patrick's door, when they arrive at the front desk.

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