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The Fernandez brothers, from left, Paul, Carlos and Luis, reunite with the youngest daughter of the Rowan family, Kathy Rowan, during El Festival de Esperanza, which celebrated the 60th anniversary of Catholic Charities, Diocese of Nashville, at Saint Elle, an event space on Third Avenue South in Nashville on Wednesday, April 27, 2022. The Fernandez Brothers were three of several children taken in by Catholic host families in Nashville in the 1960s as part of Operation Pedro Pan, which was a response to unrest in Cuba because of Fidel Castro. Rowan's parents took in all three boys for 18 months before they were reunited with their father in late 1963. They were later reunited with their mother, in Miami, in 1966.
Aid for child refugees launched Catholic Charities
‘It made us better people’