The prelature was 14,000 square miles (36,000 km2) and its area was about two thirds mountains and one-third desert. When McNabb came to the area there were no telephones, roads or electricity. There were 140,000 people in the territory and almost all of them were Catholic. There were only a few diocesan priests and six Franciscan priests from Sicily. He was not fluent in Spanish and so he utilized the services of an interpreter until he became fluent.
Because so many of the people in the diocese lived a long way from parish churches or chapels, and there were so few priests to minister to them, a pastoral plan was developed to establish small Christian communities and train lay people as catechists. McNabb stated, "When I left (Chulucanas), there was only one priest for every 14,000 people, but you had 23,000 of the laity collaborating on parish ministry in a common program. So, there was someone in ministry for every 23 people."[citation needed]