Amigos de Jesús: AMIGO OF THE WEEK ~ Patricio ('Pato')

Patricio ('Pato') is a spiritual rock for Amigos de Jesus. Originally from Argentina, he became a part of the Amigos de Jesus family in 2010 when he met Fr. Den and began working in our U.S. office. He developed a religious education curriculum in Spanish for our kids, which they still follow today in their weekly 'pastoral' sessions. Later this year, Pato will be ordained a priest in Argentina specifically to serve at Amigos de Jesus in Honduras. He then will split his time between Honduras, the U.S., and Argentina, working to spread the mission of Amigos. Pato is an amazing man and well-loved by the kids and staff. We can't wait for him to join us as a priest!

Name: Patricio Lynch Pueyrredon

Occupation: I am in charge of the Pastoral program for Amigos de Jesus. I created one and this is the second year we are doing it here in different groups with the children. Every week I send the plan for each group.

Hometown: Buenos Aires, Argentina

How did you hear about Amigos de Jesus?: The first time I heard about it was in 2009. I met a former volunteer and this person talked to me about Amigos and because of this person, I traveled to the U.S. in 2010 to meet Father Den. We became close friends. He invited me to come to Amigos in 2012 and I fell in love.

What is your role with Amigos de Jesus?: I will be ordained at the end of this year as a deacon and then between April and June, I will be ordained as a priest (in Argentina) for Amigos de Jesus in Honduras. Every time I come here I give retreats for everyone: teachers, padrinos, children, volunteers, etc.

How many years have you been a part of the Amigos family? About 5, since 2010 when I met Fr. Den.

How many times have you visited Amigos? 5 times. I have also spent some time in the U.S. office. In addition to doing office work, it was there that I first created the Pastoral program for ADJ.

What is one of your favorite memories about Amigos de Jesus: One of the first things I loved when I came the first time was prayer circle. To listen to the prayers that the children always say—they are giving thanks, they are thankful. That was a huge question for me. To think how I was raised or how much gratitude I have in my prayers—I didn't have a childhood like them. In my prayers I wasn't grateful at all. So I think the children teach me how to pray. How to be thankful. Not just to ask things from God but actually be thankful for the things I have.

What is one of your favorite thing about Amigos de Jesus? My favorite thing about this place is that you can feel the presence of love here. It's really easy to feel loved. Just looking at the children in their daily life you can see the presence of love between us, which means that God is between us. That is the identity of God; God is love.

In Argentina: When I went back after my time in the office, we started some programs in Argentina. One program is we help at a day care center. Another one is we are working in a place where extremely poor people live, we are giving scholarships to a group of teenagers to help them to study and hopefully to send them to college through this program. Finally we are helping three young people; They are studying in college through scholarships we have provided. It’s a small beginning but it’s something.

What are you looking forward to in regards to Amigos de Jesus? I am excited about the potential growth for Amigos de Jesus. I think that God is trying to show us that ADJ is not just for Honduras. That he wants to bring Amigos to more countries and we need to pray about it. We need prayers and support.