Priest celebrates 50 years of sheltering neglected children in Mexico

Published: 2008-03-12

OAXACA, Mexico (CNS) -- His young voice cracked several times, but the little boy courageously finished Franz Schubert's "Ave Maria" and welcomed the enthusiastic applause of the audience. It was the highlight of the choir's performance at the 50th anniversary celebration of the "Ciudad de los Ninos," a shelter for abandoned children in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca. "Ciudad de los Ninos" is Spanish for City of the Children. For Father Jose Miguel Perez Garcia, founder for the shelter, the late-February event was the culmination of a long and difficult fight to restore the dignity of more than 2,000 orphans and street children over the last half century. "The fact that we exist mirrors our society," said the almost 80-year-old priest from a small village not far from Oaxaca, capital of the state with the same name. This agricultural state with 3.5 million inhabitants is experiencing a huge wave of migration to the United States caused by poverty and political neglect.

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