January 31st ,2010
Haiti Update
Father Wismick went to Haiti last week and shared some photos and his experience with us. He met up with Father Cine (in photo) and saw firsthand the destruction. Here is some of his account:
“I was on mission for a week in Haiti and toured the city of Port-au-Prince to get a sense of the damages of the earthquake. I am still having trouble fathoming what I saw. It is really impossible to assess all the losses resulted from the earthquake in a country which was already fragile. I saw many of the symbols of our proud Haiti such as the National Palace, the Notre Dame Cathedral, and the Supreme Court lied in ruins. I also saw all the major churches in Port-au-Prince such as Sacred Heart, Saint Louis King of France, and St Ann completely in the ground. I saw the Montfort theologate (where Fr Cine, Fr Chacha and myself lived when we were seminarians) collapsed. Also devastated are the chapel of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, known as a Marian site of pilgrimage, the mother house of the Daughters of Mary, the major Diocesan Seminary, countless of private houses, stores, government buildings, schools and rectories.
I saw many courtyards of churches, retreat centers, and religious houses such as the Montfort Provincial house, the Montfort Marian Center converted into shelters where thousands of people are sleeping on the ground or on blankets in the open air. Only a few tents are available. Most people sleep on the open air including priests, religious and are exposed to the light rain that has fallen.
People are starving. Children as well as adults are desperate for food, and very limited supplies are coming. Some boxes of donated Pop Tarts and some water bottles arrived but were slow in reaching all the stations that I have visited. It would be more helpful and practical that money & supplies be given directly & immediately to these stations run by priests and religious. People, at this time, cannot wait for money to go through complicated channels to reach them weeks later. Hundreds will die if more days and weeks go by, waiting for supplies or money to reach them.
It is obvious that the earthquake has caused untold suffering and has taken tens of thousands of lives. But the good news is that during my entire visit, I never saw any sign of despair or hopeless. Though there were 250,000 people who lost their house, no one lose resilience, hope, and faith. In two masses that I have celebrated on the open air, people helped me realize that the churches collapsed but the cross is intact.”
We continue our prayers and support for our sister and brother in Haiti.
WEB SPECIAL: See more of Father Wismick's photos here.
