CNA Staff, May 4, 2020 / 14:53 pm
When he was just 15 years old, Fr. Geison Gerardo Ortiz Marín had to quit school and find a job to help support his family.
Faced with a difficult economy, Ortiz's family was struggling financially. He quit school and found a job opportunity at a neighboring family's bakery, where he worked for five years.
The priest told ACI Prensa, CNA's Spanish language news partner, that he learned important life skills from the job, such as "knowing what it is to meet a schedule, getting up at dawn and working overtime. In short, it was an enriching experience."
He took those life skills with him when he entered seminary at age 21. He has now been a priest for 10 years and serves as pastor of Saint Rose of Lima parish in Ciudad Queseda in northern Costa Rica.