AT THE CROOSROADS 27 & 28

At the Crossroads 27


Hail, the Spirit of Solidarity in Haiti

This is a great journey of the spirit, a privileged communion of souls! Before I left our parish, I had received lots of expressions of support from children and adults, from persons I’ve learned to know, from familiar people and from faces I vaguely remember. A few expressed their fears and concerns for my security in Haiti; a couple thought a formal and official notice of my Haiti trip was necessary to arouse support; and some just kept their quiet. And there were many more who wished they could come along….the MSC Lay Associates, the National Alliance for Filipino Concerns which I head...

My sister’s co-supervisors and staff knew it was she who was capable of volunteering for Haiti, and they asked her to bring them t-shirts that say: “I survived Haiti”. Aboard the plane from Miami to Sto. Domingo were volunteers for Haiti: teenagers, young adults and adults, single and married couples! From the different parts of the US and the world, they happily met for the first time, sharing too their little fears that are now overcome by the fact that they are not alone! Some were attached to non-government organizations, others were sponsored by church- and faith-based institutions. Ah, there was David from Pittsburgh. He quit from his job; raised his own funds; and left his family, friends and loved ones. His mother thought that was neat; his father said he was crazy! And Jackson, a Haitian from Jacmel, now a US citizen in Orlando. Like other Haitians in the plane, he was coming home to help his family rise again. Yes, each one bore the spirit of their families, friends, churches, communities and nations: to be in solidarity with the victims of the earthquake in Haiti.

At Port-au-Prince I first made an ocular orientation on damage of the city and its suburbs. Buildings, churches, offices, stores and super markets and houses collapsed. Those that did not fall are uninhabitable. People are in “tent cities” spread in the different pockets of empty spaces and huge parks. Young and old people and children are out in the streets; vendors plying their wares in the streets; others are flocking remittance centers for money from abroad. I see people lining up for drinking water. I am told it could be dangerous out there: prisoners from jails are roaming around, armed; people in their tents, hungry and thirsty, could demand food and water from tourist-looking strangers. Traffic is heavy; streets cracked, littered with rubbles. Bulldozers are cleaning up. People are working on the canals, repairing fallen houses, repainting homes. There is much activity, much noise, much gloom, much idleness, much hope, much despair, much confusion, much uncertainty, much life, much death.

Beneath the ruins of a fallen building is a beloved, and a memory of one who is missing, and will be missed, of one who is neither dead nor alive, but is simply gone! Above the ground are the living, haunted by the terror of the tremors, eking out a living, looking for a home, wanting and needing to rise and be whole, once again! – Fr. Ben Alforque, MSC

At the Crossroads 28


The Church in Port-au-Prince, Haiti Today

Bishop Joseph Lafontant is now taking care of the church of Port-au-Prince. There are 125 diocesan priests who survived the earthquake; 8 were confirmed dead, including Archbishop Joseph Serge Miot; but the exact number of deaths among the clergy is not yet known. 5 priests are known to be injured. 15 seminarians of religious congregations died; 2 religious priests and some 35 sisters were confirmed dead. It will probably take some time to really determine the number of deaths among the clergy, sisters and seminarians, even after the assembly of the diocesan clergy last February 3, and of the religious congregations last February 6. Many parishioners and parish leaders perished in the earthquake; close estimates will probably come only after the memorial celebrations to be held in all parishes of the Dioceses of Port-au-Prince and Jacmel from February 12-17.

From the diocesan seminarians that survived, only 28 seminarians in their final year of priestly formation will continue. A place will be found for their continued formation.

75 churches collapsed, including the cathedrals of Port-au-Prince and of Jacmel. 12 churches were destroyed in the city of Port-au-Prince alone. The pastoral centers are also gone. Sacraments are being celebrated in creative ways, in patios and open spaces, without the church buildings. The pastoral care of the people has not stopped. Accompaniment by the priests and the religious continues in the midst of destruction, in the “tent cities and among the injured and the hungry”. The diocesan radio is back on the air. It also serves to accompany the people.

The need to save church archives or whatever is left has become paramount. This means finding a new suitable place for the archives. Then there is a need too to rebuild the libraries for the continuing formation of the 28 seminarians. Finally, an inventory of the things needed to celebrate the sacraments in the destroyed parishes and to replenish what is lacking have to be done.

From the reports of 52 priests, it is clear that thousands of the parishioners are living in the tent cities. The estimates are some 1.2 million people, in the city of Port-au-Prince alone and another 1 million may be found in the surrounding cities outside of the capital. People by the thousands have been encouraged to go to the provinces. And many have done so. Though the exact number of those who have gone to the provinces have yet to be determined, at the present there are problems arising from this movement from the city to the countryside, like land availability and tools for economic productivity. Concluding almost every report was a persistent question: Where is the promised aid? – Fr. Ben Alforque, MSC