Francisco Lopez fled his homeland of El Salvador in 1985, arriving in Texas as a refugee of the Central American nation's uprising and civil war.

A trained electrical engineer, he adapted to life in Houston and began working in a new field - social services for migrants and displaced peoples. He saw a need then in Texas.

And he sees a need now in Oregon.

Lopez, 36, is Catholic Charities of Western Oregon's new Latino services program manager, overseeing the El Programa Hispano offices in Canby and Gresham since January.

The non-profit agency provides mental health, housing and health care referral programs and support groups at its 422 N.W. Ninth Ave. office. It has served between 800 to 1,000 people per year since opening in 1996.

Catholic Charities hopes to open a center in Washington County in the future. Lopez estimates there are 300,000 Catholics affiliated with his agency's Western Oregon region, of which about 140,000 are Latinos.

He met his wife, Brena, in Houston, and the couple decided to return to her home state of Oregon in 1998. She works for Oregon Legal Aid's farmworker division in Woodburn, and the couple are expecting their first child in the summer.

Lopez said he sees a transition taking place.

"I see the Latino communities in Clackamas, Multnomah, Marion and Washington counties transforming," he said. "People are moving more toward full integration, and they are settling down and establishing roots."

Lopez estimated the Canby population is currently made up of about 18 percent to 20 percent Hispanics and Latinos, a large increase in the last decade.

"It's a phenomenon - not just in Canby, but communities all along the (Highway) 99E corridor are becoming more diverse," he said.

"Many Latinos who are farmworkers want to stay, want to establish roots. Changes in immigration and welfare laws in '96 made it more difficult for migrant farmworkers to go back and forth across the border, and they are finding it easier to find work in Oregon than in California."

Lopez said he hoped latent anti-immigrant sentiment is lessening.

"It's not just growers who benefit from the labor of these farmworkers," he said. "I think we all benefit, whether we are eating strawberries, buying tulips or buying Christmas trees. Many of us would not do the work for $6.50 an hour, or live in their living conditions."

Lopez said 289 registered farmworker camps in Oregon are home to about 10,000 migrant farmworkers, mostly from Mexico.

In all, about 150,000 foreign farmworkers are planting and picking crops and potting plants in the state, and the vast majority of them live in unregistered camps, shared apartments, mobile homes and in cars, he added.

"The camps are not supposed to be open all-year round," he said. "Why are they? Because the families have no other place to live. That's why we're providing affordable housing because $6.50 an hour doesn't go very far with medical bills, food, gas and children's needs.

''That's why churches, the state, government, growers and our communities need to take a hand with providing medical and housing assistance, like the Casa Verde project . . . This is a community responsibility."

Oregon currently has one of the 10 fastest-growing Latino populations in the U.S., and Latinos' purchasing power in Oregon is estimated at $1.7 billion, higher than in Washington and Idaho, said Lopez, citing a Wall Street Journal report.

He said more efforts need to be made to encourage budding entrepreneurship, and he points to the growing number of Latino-owned stores and restaurants in the region as proof that minority businesses can find a market for their products and services.

Housing, medical and social services are key areas to address if low-income migrant families are to avoid the pitfalls of poverty, Lopez said.

Double-digit high school dropout rates, lack of representation on school boards and city councils, and adhering to driver licensing and insurance rules are also important issues to tackle, he added.

"We have to teach people not just their rights, but their responsibilities," Lopez said. "We have laws to respect, and we have to try to make our system more accessible, even to those who speak English."

He said the Roman Catholic church needs to adapt its strategies and work plans to reflect the need to help non-English speaking parishioners.

"We are an immigrant church," he said. "When they came from Ireland, Poland and Italy through Ellis Island in New York in the past the church accompanied their integration into the new country.

''Now, in 2000, we have a new immigrant group - Latinos. As we did with the Irish, Italians and Poles, we need to accompany their integration. As a church, it is our moral and Christian responsibility to accompany the new immigrants as we have done in the past . . . We serve anybody who comes to our door. They do not have to be Catholic. Our doors are open regardless of someone's belief, race or ethnicity."

OREGON CITY - About 30 people gathered last week to light candles of hope in recognition of Child Abuse Prevention Month at the Clackamas County Juvenile Department in Oregon City.

The Clackamas County Board of Commissioners named April 6 as "CASA Child Advocate Day" in Clackamas County. Barbara Johnson, director of Clackamas County CASA, opened the program with a quote from Eleanor Roosevelt.

"It's better to light one candle than to curse the darkness," Johnson said, quoting Roosevelt.

Candles were lit as a symbol of hope for the abused and neglected children who are currently under the jurisdiction of the county dependency court.

Each year, more than 800 abused and neglected children are placed in limbo while Clackamas County courts decide their fates. CASA volunteers are appointed by judges to research the specifics of each child's case and to advocate in court for the child's best interests. Volunteers are also responsible for assuring that children are placed in safe homes.

"I feel privileged and honored to be here," said Doug Poppen, director of the Clackamas County Juvenile Department. "CASA does such a wonderful job in the county."

Clackamas County Circuit Court Judge Deanne Darling said the role CASA volunteers play in the system is "pivotal" to her role as judge. "CASA's help is critical in my ability to do the best I can for the children," Darling said. "The light at the tunnel comes when we can save a child so they do not abuse their children."

CASA of Clackamas County is a member of the National Court Appointed Special Advocate Association, which consists of more than 840 programs in 49 states that advocate for abused and neglected children.

"Every day, our volunteers work to bring hope into the lives of children," said Michael Piraino, CEO of the National CASA Association. "That is why we are lighting candles in courthouses across the country to remind all of us there is always hope for a child."

At the end of the vigil, a large candle was lit and will remain in the courtroom throughout the month of April.

"This is to remind us that hope and light will never die," Darling said.