Haitian Church Gets Help From US

WASHINGTON—The U.S. Bishops’ Subcommittee dedicated to administering money raised for Haiti after the earthquake there last January has approved $212,700 of funding for 10 projects. The grants were made from the Subcommittee on the Church in Latin America to programs and agencies sponsored by parishes, religious orders and dioceses in Haiti. These grants do not include funding for construction projects, which will be considered according to a separate procedure.

“Given the nature of the quake, you can say that the entire Church was impacted by the devastation—even though some areas were obviously harder hit than others,” Archbishop Thomas Wenski of Miami, chairman of the bishops’ Advisory Group for Haiti, said. The funds will be directed to the Archdiocese of Port-au-Prince and the Dioceses of Jacmel, Les Cayes, Port-de-Paix and Anse-a-Veau et Miragoane.

The Diocese of Jacmel, which was particularly hard hit, will receive funding for a truck to help in removing rubble from Church premises. Grants also were awarded for a program to train religious personnel and seminarians and adult literacy programs in the Diocese of Port-de-Paix—the poorest diocese in the poorest country in the hemisphere. Additionally, funds will be provided to assist with on-going evangelization programs in affected areas and parts of the country that have seen an increase in the Catholic population.

“During our visits since the earthquake, we have constantly assured the people of the Church that we will be with them in the long run,” said advisory group member, Cardinal Sean O’Malley, Archbishop of Boston. The Boston archdiocese donated more than $2 million to the U.S. Bishops’ special collection for Haiti.

The special collection was taken up in U.S. dioceses immediately after the quake and has raised more than $80 million for Haiti. These latest grants bring the total awarded by the subcommittee to Church groups in Haiti to $1,021,869.

“We are doing our best to ensure that the funds donated are used for reliable projects that will provide tangible relief for ordinary Catholics in Haiti,” said Haitian-American Bishop Guy Sansaricq, Auxiliary Bishop of Brooklyn and also a member of the advisory group.