I guess this is a newsletter....short because it is difficult to find Internet service in PdP.
They say there have been two tremors in PAP (about 4.5), but I have not felt anything. Both were in the night. Some people here say they think they felt the shaking, but then they say maybe it was their heart palpitating.
Just wanted to let you know we are OK here in PdP---for the moment. Don't worry, but don't stop praying.
I have spent a great deal of time talking to people in PdPaix since I returned on Monday afternoon----actually I have mainly been listening to people tell about their experiences of the earthquake. Everyone has lost someone---family, friends, co-workers, members of the same religious congregation.
I met four of the returning seminarians (24 will be returning to the Diocese for a few months--2 have not yet been found in the rubble of the seminary). One of the 4 had broken bones in his hand--crushed by falling concrete. Another had a very swollen left side of his face (after 4 weeks)--injured after he jumped from a second floor balcony, and then another seminarian landed on top of him.
I left Nashville (snow was on the way) about 2:30 (a little late) and arrived in Miami about 40 minutes before the plane was leaving for Santiago. I met up with Keith Lashbrook (who works in PdPaix) and a photographer friend of his named Chuck at the gate. We boarded quickly, and we were off to the Dominican Republic. We arrived in Santiago early ( about 9:30 local time), and after clearing immigration and customs, we were met by a young woman named Jennifer who works with GO Missions (stands for Global Opportunities). She said their name used to be God Offers Global Opportunies, but GOGO did not seem like a good name for a mission group. She took us to one of their dorms for visitors, and that is where we spent the night.
This is a newsletter that should go out soon. Basically, it is still the plan, except that Keith's dad and family will not be going. So I am flying out of Nashville,TN and hopefully meeting Keith in Miami-------then on to Santigo. Thanks
I just wanted to let you know that I received a call from a friend named Keith Lashbrook who has an orphanage in PdPaix. He just returned to the US on Feb. 4 with about 40 children, en route to their adopting parents. Last week, Keith told me he was planning to return to Haiti soon.
I am still in Indiana, waiting for AA to fly. My ticket is for Feb. 22 to Miami, Feb. 23 to PAP. The little domestic plane in Haiti (Tortugair) is flying, but not a full schedule.
I spent last week (Jan. 31-Feb. 5) in Nashville trying to assist Theresa Patterson with some of her backlog of work.....Parish Twinning Program activities, Matthew 25 House repairs, Visitation Hospital medical groups.
A view from inside the ruined Notre-Dame Cathedral in Port-au-Prince. Msgr. Joseph Serge Miot, the archbishop of Port-au-Prince, was killed in the Jan. 12 earthquake.
I called American Airlines today, Jan. 26, to see if I could confirm my reservation to return to PAP on Feb.1-2, and the woman told me they have changed their program. The first flight to PAP in now scheduled for Feb. 19---one flight from Miami to PAP, one flight from Ft. Lauderdale to PAP. They are planning to add a second flight from each location on March 2.
Parish Collections to Be Sent to Earthquake Victims
WASHINGTON, D.C., JAN. 25, 2010 (Zenit.org).- The president of the U.S. bishops' conference is assuring the Haitian episcopal conference president of assistance in reconstructing the Church buildings destroyed in the Jan. 12 earthquake.
Cardinal Francis George, archbishop of Chicago, wrote this in a letter to Archbishop Louis Kébreau of Cap-Haïtien, Haiti.
"I wish to express our profound sorrow and deepest condolences for the terrible tragedy that has struck your beloved country," Cardinal George stated on behalf of the U.S. bishops.
The death toll in Haiti is already over 150,000, and some 3 million survivors were displaced by the disaster.
One of those killed in the quake was Archbishop Joseph Serge Miot of Port-au-Prince.
The funeral of the prelate, which took place Saturday, was attended by Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York, who represented all of the U.S. bishops at that event.
Oblate Father Andrew Small, Director of the USCCB Church in Latin America, spoke with Catholic News Service about the upcoming Collection for the Church in Latin America and its connection to the recent disaster in Haiti. Video courtesy of Catholic News Service.
A young girl with an injured arm smiles after being treated at St. Francois de Sales, the oldest hospital in Port-au-Prince. It was heavily damaged during the earthquake, but CRS helped get it up and running. Photo by Lane Hartill/CRS
"It may look to many in the rest of the world that those in need are not receiving any aid, but actually thousands here in Port-au-Prince have gotten help. It must be understood that the apocalypse occurred in a place where there was hardly any infrastructure before—hence the huge logistical challenges."
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, JAN. 19, 2010 (Zenit.org).- The president of Caritas Haiti is acknowledging that the recent earthquake that destroyed his country's capital is an opportunity to build a better homeland for Haitians.
Bishop Pierre-André Dumas of the Diocese of Anse-a-Veau and Miragoane affirmed this in a Caritas communiqué, in which he described his experience of the 7.0-magnitude quake that struck Port-au-Prince Jan. 12.
I guess this is a newsletter....short because it is difficult to find Internet service in PdP.
Cardinal Francis George, archbishop of Chicago, wrote this in a letter to Archbishop Louis Kébreau of Cap-Haïtien, Haiti.
