We continue here our series highlighting the members of the Priests for Life Family who serve or have served on our staff and pastoral team.
His name is Enric Cairme but most folks at Priests for Life knew him as Rico.
A native of Manila, Philippines, he moved to Staten Island with his parents and two sisters when he was 5 years old.
Rico first came to Priests for Life as a volunteer, helping with security and other tasks at the 2013 March for Life. The following year, still as a volunteer, he was tasked with documenting the annual D.C. event in photos. He took thousands. In the spring of 2014, Rico was added to the full-time roster and in the three years that followed he became an invaluable member of the staff.
Among his duties: He helped organize and run the resource department; was in charge of building maintenance; helped with hospitality for pastoral team meetings; recorded radio spots with Father Frank Pavone and Janet Morana; set up and manned the Priests for Life booth at pro-life events; helped with social media, and a million other tasks.
Rico came to Priests for Life from a retail background and found that working for a pro-life ministry was much more than a job.
“I have so many friends who are single moms, who didn’t choose abortion, and I am so grateful for that,” he says. Working in pro-life gave him a new appreciation for the passion and commitment of the young people in the movement.
“It was eye-opening,” Rico says. “These are the people who will help shape what’s to come.”
Rico says Priests for Life “is run like a tight ship because Father Frank always has his procedures in line and he knows them backward and forward. If we ever had a question about our jobs, we knew where to find the answer.
Rico describes Janet as “a guardian angel” for the staff.
“She has a big heart, a giving heart, just like Mother Teresa.”
He also had praise for his co-workers who, although aware of the every-day challenge of standing up to the culture of death, “still had a smile on their faces every day at work. That was the silver lining to every dark cloud.
Unable to make the move to Florida because of family commitments, Rico is now doing sales and marketing for a UFC gym. But he says the truth he learned at Priests for Life will always be with him.