2006 'People of Impact' in our community
(Originally posted on December 31, 2006)

Victor Caviedes’ passion is for ministering to the immigrant populations of Southwest Florida — and he has a special place in his heart for illegal immigrants, whom he says face more hostility than ever.
Caviedes serves as priest at Jesus the Worker Catholic Church and San José Catholic Mission in Fort Myers.
At Jesus the Worker, in east Fort Myers, he said Mass on April 10 for people who participated in the “Great Hispanic March,” which drew at least 75,000 marchers, by official estimates.
At an immigration forum sponsored by The News-Press he spoke about drawing immigrants away from the sins of gambling, pornography and prostitution to a spiritual path to better themselves and their families.
He even traveled to Guatemala on at least two occasions to bring ashes of the victims of tragedy and donations to their families.
“These people are treated poorly, exploited and are marginalized daily, because the society in which we live in refuses to offer them a better quality of life,” he said in a recent interview with The News-Press. “This reality requires our church to stop and think, bring them renewed enthusiasm, raise their spirits and return to them their dignity as children of God.”

— Martha Hill, mailbag editor---