Alex Gaitan, a Catholic priest who led the immigration ministry of the Archdiocese of Newark and volunteered as a chaplain at the Delaney Hall Detention Facility, died on Sunday in an accidental drowning in El Salvador, according to his parish, the archdiocese, and others.
“We thank God for the gift of his life, his missionary vocation, and his tireless service to migrants and the most vulnerable,” read a post on the Facebook page of his parish, St. Joseph’s Roman Catholic Church, near Jersey City’s Journal Square neighborhood. “We unite in prayer with his mother and family, the Claretian Missionaries, the community of St. Joseph’s Church in Jersey City, and all those whose lives were touched by his ministry.”
The Claretians are an international Catholic order established in Spain in 1849 in part to provide books to the poor…