“Aid to the Church in Need” is appealing for prayer in the wake of the earthquake that has devastated Haiti.
Aid to the Church in Need project coordinators spent Wednesday (13th January), desperately trying to make contact with bishops and other project partners on the island. The toll the earthquake has had also on the Catholic community is great.
Archbishop Joseph Serge Miot of the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince, was killed when buildings, including the cathedral, collapsed.
The diocese’s vicar general, Monsignor Benoit, is still reported missing.
One major seminary has all but collapsed with the exception of one building. Nine seminarians are confirmed dead, four are still missing.
Regina Lynch, director of projects for Aid to the Church in Need, said:
“Our heart goes out to the people of Haiti at this time. We are doing our very best to reach some of our project partners. However, the breakdown in communication is widespread and the situation is chaotic.” Ms Lynch added: “At this painful time, it is so important that all of us keep Haiti in our prayers. We pray that God may console the people in this very, very difficult situation.”
Underlining that Aid to the Church in Need has successfully provided relief aid following Haiti’s many previous natural disasters, Regina Lynch added: “As soon as we get up-to-date information, we will send emergency help. Thanks to the generosity of our benefactors, we also stand ready to provide longer-term help.”
Neville Kyrke-Smith, Aid to the Church in Need UK director, said:
“In the past 50 years and more, the Haitians have experienced the depths of political turmoil, violence, and natural catastrophes. This latest earthquake seems like the final terrible hammer-blow on this, one of the poorest countries in the world. Haiti remains a priority country for Aid to the Church in Need in the midst of natural disasters and conflicts. We are bound up in prayer and committed to action for those in need.”
Aid to the Church in Need has received a report from a priest who escaped unharmed when the quake struck Port-au-Prince.
The priest, Father Maurice, stated:
“Even the strongest houses in the city are either completely or partially destroyed. A cloud of dust arose around the city as a result of the collapse of houses.” Describing how the nearby Catholic nursery and a chapel were destroyed, he added: “All the houses up on the hill have collapsed. A crowd of people have been screaming and crying. One can only cry in front of such a disaster; tomorrow we will start counting the dead and wounded. In the slums that surround the city on the mountains surrounding it must be even worse.”
Father Andre Siohan, a missionary of the French St. Jacques Society, e-mailed the Missionary International Service News Agency a few hours after the quake. “Nou atè nèt,” the priest wrote, which means in Creole, “We are on our knees. Many of our seminarians are missing. Some are injured, some are dead.”
“Pray for us,” Father Siohan begged.
Today in his general audience, the Pope also called for prayers for victims of the “dramatic situation currently being experienced in Haiti.” The Pontiff invited “everyone to join my prayers to the Lord for the victims of this catastrophe and for those who mourn their loss.”
He continued: “I appeal to the generosity of all people so that these our brothers and sisters who are experiencing a moment of need and suffering may not lack our concrete solidarity and the effective support of the international community.”
The Holy Father affirmed that the “Catholic Church will not fail to move immediately, through her charitable institutions, to meet the most immediate needs of the population.”
glad people seem to have found my prayer encouraging. cmorisset, praying for you and of course your family.
