Piura, Peru, Jun 27, 2013 / 10:15 am
Jim Harbaugh, coach of the San Francisco 49ers, recently completed a one-week mission trip to Piura, Peru, where he taught poor children about their Catholic faith and American football.
This is the fifth consecutive year that Harbaugh – whose team made it to the 2013 Super Bowl before losing to the Baltimore Ravens, coached by Harbaugh's older brother – has volunteered at the Peruvian parish of Santísimo Sacramento, which means Most Holy Sacrament.
The parish's pastor is Fr. Joseph William Uhen, an Oklahoma native serving in the Archdiocese of Piura. Harbaugh has been volunteering with Fr. Uhen since his time coaching at Stanford University.
This year, Harbaugh lead a group of Californian missionaries who helped build houses, visit the poor, the elderly and those jailed at the Río Seco prison, and successfully teach football to kids in a country dominated overwhelmingly by soccer.