Fil-Am priests become ‘twin brothers’ after kidney donation

Fr. Francis Garbo is 'my hero and now my twin brother,' shares Fr. Ray Reyes


By: Cherie M. Querol Moreno - @inquirerdotnet

INQUIRER.net US Bureau / 07:27 PM February 17, 2026

SAN FRANCISCO – Prayer is at the heart of the inspirational relationship between two Filipino American priests.

St. Augustine Catholic Church Pastor Rev. Raymund Reyes and Mission Dolores Basilica and Mission San Francisco de Asis Pastor Rev. Francis Mark Garbo have known each other for almost three decades, connected by their birthland, faith and vocation. Twenty days into this new year, the two became more than brothers of the cloth.


“Father Francis is a saint, my hero and now my twin brother,” Reyes told Inquirer.net USA, exulting Garbo for having given him the “gift of a second life” – a healthy new kidney.


An organ donation by one priest to another within the archdiocese was unheard of until then. Most successful matches are between blood relatives, which Reyes and Garbo are not.


Both are healing a month later to the relief of a community that had prayed for favorable outcome when word first went out about Reyes’ life-threatening condition.



Health challenge


That same year Reyes was diagnosed with stage 3 chronic kidney disease when he began experiencing loss of energy, shortness of breath and severe edema. His doctor advised him that he would eventually need dialysis. Otherwise his best option was to find a living kidney donor. He was advised that a transplant was a treatment but not a cure.


Reyes opted to try peritoneal dialysis, a self-administered procedure following strict protocols once a day. He later had hemodialysis, where his blood was filtered through a machine three times a week. Neither changed his condition; in fact he required hospitalization three times for severe infection. 


He had been registered with the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) through Stanford and California Pacific Medical Center (CPMC) Sutter Health lists for a donor. 


In 2025 his symptoms worsened as he faced the ultimate option for survival.


Ever hopeful, the Pampanga native, in consultation with Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone, widened the search to include relatives, parish staff and friends. 

Parishioners noticed a difference in his appearance but did not ask why he had lost weight and his face was ashen, he shared.


“At first I was not telling anyone the reason, believing I could handle the matter. But the situation came to a point that I couldn’t do anything anymore and had to ask for help,” he said. He asked a doctor parishioner to accompany him to UC Davis to apply for transplant there. He found another source of hope in a parishioner working in the CPMC kidney program.


Personal appeal


“It converted me,” he disclosed the impact of sharing his plight. “As a priest I owe it to the parishioners to know what’s going on in my life. Besides I need them to pray for me. They ask me to pray for them, why can’t I ask them to pray for me.”


Reyes wrote an appeal-and-share letter posted on his Facebook account and in the church bulletin, detailing his condition and the steps he had taken to “keep my life healthier and longer other than dialysis.”


The letter was circulated throughout the archdiocese, covering the counties of San Francisco, San Mateo and Marin.

“For the first time I felt the solemnity of the people, and I can tell you the remarks and text messages I’ve received thanking me for giving them hope and strength that on top of my treatments I was there for them. And that I also served as an inspiration for them, functioning as a priest despite what I’m going through.”


One moment he “questioned God why I was suffering when I could serve him more if he were not letting me go through this,” he said. That’s when he received a text from another priest reminding him of “diaconia” or “service – our first calling, we are meant to serve people.”


“Remember there will come a time when you have no more ability to help, maybe because of illness or old age that would stop you from being able to serve,” Reyes quoted his peer’s counsel. “But ministry doesn’t end there because there is ‘maturion’ or testimony, a time to witness the love of God through others.”


Though humbling, the reversal gave him a new perspective, deepening his empathy for homebound parishioners and patients whose confession he heard at dialysis clinics – a new congregation he has embraced.


Community prayer

Fr. Francis Garbo (left) and Fr. Ray Reyes (right) concelebrate Mass with their mentor Monsignor Fred Bitanga, one of the first Filipino pastors in the Archdiocese of San Francisco. Photo from Fr. Mark Reburiano

The news spread swiftly in the Filipino American community. 


San Francisco resident Nellie Hizon said she included Reyes in her “prayers and continued to ‘monitor’ his progress through other contacts, email and social media.”


Soon she “received many requests for prayers as a search for a donor match was on,” said the vice chair of the Archdiocesan Pastoral Council under Archbishop George Niederauer.


St. Augustine Praise & Glorify Choir member Nannette Nepomuceno had heard about the search and was “cautiously optimistic that Father Ray would find a kidney donor.”


“There may be a number of willing donors but may also turn out to be incompatible when matched,” pondered the Daly City resident, a Bay Area medical researcher and an MD.


Fr. Francis was among confidantes who would check on the ailing Father Ray.


Parallel beginnings


The two priests did not know each other when they came to this country to visit relatives in the late 1990s. By then the Archdiocese of San Francisco was home to several priests from the Philippines, including Monsignor Fred Bitanga, the first of three Filipino Pastors at St. Patrick Church, whom newcomers sought for advice.


Fr. Ray arrived in the fall of 1997 and began his work in 1998 at Bitanga’s parish in San Francisco’s South of Market district, where many Filipino and other recent arrivals settled. He started as assistant before becoming parochial vicar in 2003. Later he was assigned to St. Isabella in San Rafael, Marin County, then back to St. Anne of the Sunset as pastor.


In 2014, Reyes was appointed Vicar for Clergy until 2020, concurrently in his first year at St. Augustine. 


Fr. Francis began his service in the spring of 1998. Originally from Manila, he first served as parochial vicar at St. Andrew Parish in Daly City, where Filipinos outnumber all populations of color. He moved on to Our Lady of Loretto in Novato, Marin County, then back to the Peninsula in St. Timothy Church in the City of San Mateo.


In 2015 he was named 17th pastor of the historic Mission Dolores and Mission San Francisco de Asis founded in 1776.

Now in their 60s and faith community leaders, Reyes and Garbo became even closer these past eight months of their shared spiritual and physical journey.


Unknown to Fr. Ray, his confidante Fr. Francis was undergoing tests for a donor match. Photo from Fr. Ray Reyes

Through a parish and a Sutter Health kidney program announcement, Garbo learned about Reyes’ search for a kidney donor. He reviewed the online screening form and began to complete the questionnaire but wavered. He was unsure about details regarding his family health history, but his desire to help remained strong as he continued to check in with Reyes, Garbo shared.


On one of the ensuing visits, he asked Reyes for an update on the search.


“Not lucky yet,” Fr. Ray replied, before adding, “How about you? When are you going to sign up?’” Reyes told Inquirer.net USA he was joking, not realizing the power of his words. Because hearing it pushed Garbo to complete the registration form when he got home from the visit.


Garbo was willing to donate a kidney without knowing his blood type or if he was an ideal candidate.


What followed seemed preordained as Garbo passed all tests, showing he was a potential match. Reyes was informed of the development but not the person’s identity.


Blood brothers


Fr. Francis himself went to St. Augustine to break the good news to his friend. 


“I was really surprised,” Reyes shared. ”To tell you the truth priests were the least I expected to come forward because of their busy schedule, but four priests registered, including a retired priest.”



“Are you sure you wanna do this?” Reyes then asked, touched by the 28 years of friendship with the peer who was the answer to his prayer.


“He was the first one I would reach out to exchange views, not knowing this will be a part of it,” said Reyes, awed by the turn of the relationship. “The brotherhood that already existed between us through their late common mentor Father Bitanga solidified on January 20. Archbishop Cordileone told us we are not just brothers in the priesthood but also blood brothers.”


As he had done a few months before, Reyes posed a question to his friend: “What made you decide to do the evaluation and be a donor?”


This time it was Garbo‘s turn to jest, “Because you forced me,” and they both laughed, Reyes recalled. 


Garbo then turned serious: “It is because you asked me.”