This is the second in our series of highlighting the tremendous staff we have at Priests for Life, and of showing the good example they set of being happy warriors for life, and working together as a good team in the Priests for Life Family.
Ruben Obregon build the computer network at Priests for Life, started its email system and website, and basically taught Fr. Frank how to use a computer.
Ruben was born in a military hospital in Albuquerque, New Mexico and grew up primarily in Germany, but he also spent time in Colorado Springs, Los Angeles, and Huntsville, Alabama. Currently he lives in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin.
Ruben came to Priests for Life just one year after Father Frank Pavone became the national director. Ruben shared the organization’s vision to empower Catholic priests to be passionate advocates for the unborn. He was already involved in the pro-life movement, and had rescued the unborn via direct action.
“I came to work for Priests for Life back in the fall of 1994, moving from Los Angeles to Staten Island New York,” he says. “I jumped at the opportunity to help get the clergy equipped to address abortion, something that I felt was desperately needed.”
Ruben’s duties in the early days” involved doing anything the organization needed, with an emphasis on technology. As time went on I helped the organization grow its technology infrastructure as well as helped to develop its applications and databases.”
Ruben has worked as a full-time employee, a part-time worker, and is now a consultant for the ministry.
“The staff works well together and we know each other’s strengths and weaknesses and we can help each other,” he says. “That makes for a very good team environment.”
Having worked with Father Frank and Janet Morana for so many years has been a positive experience, Ruben says.
“He is very talented and intelligent, and has an extensive grasp of technology,’ he says of Father Frank. “All of that contributes to the organization’s broad use of technology to aid in the mission. Janet taught me quite a bit about how non-profits operate, especially in terms of inventory, volunteer management, and logistics. She welcomes employees and helps them land at their new jobs after relocation, both professionally and personally - something that makes all the difference in the world. It’s a practice that I consider to be invaluable, and something that I have adopted myself.”