Extension magazine - Fall 2023

28 INSPIRE
Lumen Christi Finalist
Extension | Fall 2023 29
A baby
sleeps
under a
caretaker’s
watch while
her mother
studies.
Girls in crisis
pregnancies
as young as 11
years old find
support at St.
María Eufrasia
Home in Arecibo, Puerto Rico.
The home’s motto, “One person
is worth more than the whole
world,” is written prominently
in Spanish above a mural of a
pregnant girl in the middle of
its central courtyard. The staff
lives these words every day.
The girls come with unimaginable
backstories. Their pregnancies
have resulted from assault,
abuse, coercion and even
forced prostitution in some
cases. What these
girls share in common
is that they
all independently
decided to see
their pregnancies
through before arriving
at St. María
Eufrasia, where
they receive help
to pursue that
goal. They are referred
to the home
by the Puerto Rican
government’s
social services.
Once there, they live in a secure
environment, surrounded
by support staff 24 hours a day.
More importantly, the girls can
get away from the violence and
betrayal they have been unjustly
subjected to in their short lives.
EDUCATED AND ENCOURAGED
The residence, which sits
on top of a hill with a sea view,
elicits a certain sense of calm in
The mural at St. María Eufrasia Home says “One person is worth more
than the whole world.”
ST. MARÍA EUFRASIA HOME |
DIOCESE OF ARECIBO, PUERTO RICO
Abused, pregnant
teens heal and prosper
at this loving center
the chaos these girls are escaping.
It houses up to 15 girls and
their babies at a time. Each
room is furnished with a bed
and crib and has its own private
bath. The girls learn the skills
of motherhood in a supervised
and communal environment.
The current facility was built
with support from Catholic
Extension in 2001. Since the
early days of St. María Eufrasia’s
founding in the mid-1980s, over
1,000 pregnant girls under the
age of 18 have been helped.
The girls need assistance
not only with their own ongoing
emotional and educational
development, but also
with caring for the babies they
have decided to bring into this
world. Psychological counseling,
health services, tutoring, career
support and up to two years of
housing are all part of what they
receive at St. María Eufrasia.
Founded by the Sisters of
the Good Shepherd, the home
is named after their mother
foundress, St. Mary Euphrasia.
Sisters Socorro Contreras and
Marta Villalobos continue to live
on-site among the girls and their
babies. For the past two years,
Raquel González, a lay woman,
has led the home. She has been
an employee for eight years.
A full-time social worker also
works at the home.
In addition to the dedicated
staff, several volunteers care for
the babies while the girls go to
school and receive tutoring and
counseling. These
caretakers attend to
the babies with the
same love, smiles
and tenderness one
would expect from
an aunt or grandmother.
SURROUNDED BY LOVE
There are many success stories
to celebrate at St. María
Eufrasia. Currently, one resident
is preparing to attend university
this year, with dreams
of being a physician’s assistant.
Many other former residents
are gainfully employed,
live on their own and are in
healthy relationships.
Some of the people responsible
for abusing the girls
have been convicted of their
BELOW (From left to right) Diocesan representative Mariluna Román
Rodríguez embraces the home’s staff: Sisters of the Good Shepherd
Socorro Contreras, Cristina Calderón and Marta Villalobos.
2023 u 2024
Lumen
Christi
AWARD
FINALIST
crimes and are thankfully
behind bars.
Meanwhile, the babies
spend their first years of
life surrounded by love.
As they blissfully snooze
in their cribs under the
watchful eyes of caretakers,
their young mothers
are hard at work on their
personal and educational
goals in the hopes of eventually
providing for them.
Arecibo is a very poor diocese.
Most of its buildings are
still damaged from Hurricane
Maria in 2017, and collections
have plummeted since
the pandemic. Yet even a poor
diocese with few resources is
making a powerful statement
by operating a ministry like St.
María Eufrasia, which signals to
the rest of society that no matter
the cost, it is essential to
care for the least among us.