HAITI (ACN News): “The people are still traumatised; the parishes have been scattered, and over half the churches are destroyed.”
With these words, the apostolic nuncio for Haiti, Archbishop Bernardito Auza, outlined the depressing situation in Port au Prince, months after the earthquake.
The massive qusake hit Port-au-Prince on January 13 and killed 230,000 people, injured 300,000 and made one million homeless.
As a result, the Catholic Church in Haiti is facing enormous challenges, yet she is at the same time experiencing an unparalleled degree of solidarity, the archbishop said during a recent visit to the HQ’s of the international Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) in Germany.
The overriding priority, he said was to rebuild the parishes, the schools and churches, the seminaries and the charitable institutions and novice houses of numerous religious orders and communities.
Basic scholastic and religious education is of immense importance for the Church, he added, especially since she is the provider of over half of all the schools in the country.
In clear terms, the nuncio outlined the drastic situation, above all in Port au Prince, where almost a quarter of the population once lived and where over half of the parishes are now partially or completely destroyed.
A regular pastoral ministry is no longer possible, since the normal parishes, built up over decades, have simply dissolved, and churches, Church schools and charitable establishments, the major seminary and numerous religious houses have been destroyed.
“People have simply scattered. Some now live in camps, while others have moved out into the provinces. Others again have come into the city in search of work,” the nuncio said.
“Of course, help is being provided, but the situation is still chaotic.”
After the immediate response, with emergency aid for the people, in which many different institutions were involved, the primary challenge for the Church is the task of rebuilding.
“First of all we have to look after the faithful, and then take care of the churches, which have to be built structurally better and safer,” the Nuncio told ACN, calling for patience, given that in Port-au-Prince especially, even the basic infrastructure and the ministries have been destroyed. “The administration is simply not functioning, and in many areas things have not progressed, even months later.
“The earthquake had struck one of the poorest countries in the western hemisphere, one already suffering from a grave lack of infrastructure.”
It is an assessment shared by many other agencies currently working in Haiti.
On top of this, though, corruption is still widespread across the country, a mentality that still prevails, even after the earthquake, and which is holding back a new beginning.
A better and more effective education might help to overcome this, the nuncio said.
“The Church is endeavouring to provide an education to as many children as possible, but in the country especially there is a lack of funds for buildings and staff,” he said.
