March
2001
VISITING A SISTER CHURCH IN HAITI
A Special thanks to the Journal and Courier for
letting us use this article.
Lafayette Catholics renew ties with mountain village
parish
EDITORS NOTE: Bob Scott, Journal and Courier
religion
reporter, was part of a mission trip to Haiti from
March 13-20. He was part of a St. Mary Cathedral group
that visited their sister church, St. Joseph, in the
northern mountain town of Pendus. Here is a personal
account of the experience.
By Bob Scott
Journal and Courier
Our pastor, the Rev. Bob Klemme, asked the 14-member
St. Mary Cathedral group to observe the presence of
God during our eight-day mission trip to Haiti the
poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere.
Our purpose was to continue the fellowship and
brotherhood established with our sister church 12
months ago. We were the third St. Marys group to
visit Pendus. Because we had two doctors with us, the
focus was to help at a clinic.
Gods awesome presence was obvious on the
second day
when we visited Port-au-Prince, a teeming cauldron of
2 million people struggling to survive.
In Port-au-Prince, God was working through the
Missionaries of Charity nuns the order founded by
the late Mother Teresa. As we entered the
hospital/hospice filled with 127 sick and dying
children, many of us had tears in our eyes.
Frail babies and toddlers reached up from the
white
metal cribs, imploring us to hold them, if even for a
few minutes.
We were humbled as the gentle nuns quietly did
their
jobs without complaining. Karen Sullivan, a member of
our group from St. Lawrence Church, said, This place
truly is on holy ground.
Medical help
God again was present as our two doctors and several
volunteers treated dozens of sick and dying people at
the St. Josephs dispensary/clinic in Pendus
(pronounced Pon-doo). For three days, people gathered
in the church compound to be treated. Many had walked
two or three hours from surrounding mountain villages.
The doctors gently comforted a 20-year-old woman
in
the final stages of AIDS. Her mouth and gums were
broken out with horrific infections.
With tenderness, the volunteers cleaned the pus-filled
leg sores of a 22-year-old man who had coped for 10
years with untreated diabetes.
Our hearts again were shattered when a mother
from the
mountains brought in her young son for badly burned
feet. The boy was about 8, but looked like he was 4.
He sustained the burns two years ago after being
forced to walk on hot coals during a voodoo ritual.
Concrete aid
God also was seen in the joyous faces of the people
of
Massacre (pronounced Ma-sock), a mountain village that
is about a two-hour hike from St. Joseph Church.
We celebrated the first Mass in the new, concrete
church at Massacre. The church and an adjoining
four-room school, also made of concrete, were built
with money donated during Masses at St. Mary.
It is a major improvement over the old school,
which
had a dirt floor, stick walls and one room for all
grades. The one-month-old structures have quickly
become sources of community pride. The buildings will
house town meetings and dances, along with worship and
education.
The Massacre schoolchildren, who wore red and
blue,
honored our group with dance routines outside the
church. They danced to a fast-paced drum cadence,
using colorful flags. It was like watching a Haitian
version of a Lafayette high school drill team.
The hike
Getting to Massacre was a personal triumph for
us. For
almost two hours, we climbed a narrow, winding
mountain trail that occasionally was flanked with
nasty cactus plants that Haitians use as fencing.
The lush, green mountain vistas were awe-inspiring.
As
the mockingbirds serenaded us, we realized that God
also was there in the midst of our physically
challenging hike.
St. Marys Bob Fitzgerald, 70, and his wife,
Shirley,
teamed up to overcome the trail. Come on, honey. We
can do it, they said to each other.
We moved aside for sturdy burros carrying plantains
and bananas to market. Bon jours and smiles were
exchanged in this Creole-speaking nation.
During rest stops, we shared water and food with
people who lived near the trail. They came out to chat
with the Rev. Ronel Sha Sha Charelus, pastor of St.
Josephs.
Sha Sha is a living saint. The road warrior
for God
tries to visit his two dozen parish chapels at least
once or twice a month. His sense of humor gets him
through many setbacks, including the expense of
repairing broken down vehicles punished by
crater-filled roads.
We learned about Sha Sha time when
he was asked how
much longer it was to our destination. Sha Sha would
smile and say, Oh, only 45 minutes or so. Two hours
later, we would arrive.
The inspirational man will visit St. Mary Cathedral
on
Aug. 10 for a too-short weekend. It will be a time of
rejoicing at our church.
Captain Kangaroo
Other highlights of the mission trip included
the
People of Haiti Stations of the Cross, the
celebration of Masses, a night wedding in Pendus,
visiting village homes, and playing with the children
of St. Josephs.
St. Marys Helen Hession has been dubbed
the Captain
Kangaroo of Pendus. Children flocked to her for
games, songs and candy. She also visited Haiti late
last year with the second St. Marys group.
Kevin Cooley, a Subaru-Isuzu Automotive manager
in
Lafayette, helped a Pendus carpenter assemble a school
desk St. Mary had sent in kit form. Thirty desk kits
were sent last fall as part of a sea container that
also included heart monitoring machines.
After completing one desk, the local carpenter
and a
friend made the next one by themselves. Cooley was all
smiles. The desks eventually will make their way to
Massacre, up the mountain trail.
A sobering reminder of the sanctity of life jolted
us
during the People of Haiti Stations of the Cross.
The 15 sites in Port-au-Prince where people were slain
since the early 1990s for the cause of freedom.
Many people, including priests, were martyred.
Some
were dragged out of churches and shot in front of
horrified worshipers. Stops included the Cathedral of
Notre Dame, Sacred Heart Church, and the National
Palace or White House.
Celebrate, celebrate
In Roman Catholic terms, we celebrate
Mass together.
Americans dont know the meaning of the word. When
Haitians worship, it is a real celebration. Conga
drums and electronic keyboards provide the melodies as
worshipers sing and sway.
The Masses at Pendus and Massacre were personal
favorites. It was OK to keep the beat by tapping your
toe and bobbing your head. Some of us were brave
enough to sing the Creole songs from songsheets
provided before Mass. That effort earned us warm
smiles and handshakes afterward from children and
adults.
We also presented St. Joseph parishioners a Nativity
scene donated by St. Mary parishioners. It will
replace the statue of the Blessed Mother that had duct
tape around her neck and the statue of St. Joseph
holding a Baby Jesus missing fingers and toes.
Smaller versions of St. Marys Stations of
the Cross
also were given to St. Joseph Church and affixed to
the interior walls the same day.
The eight days went by too quickly. At first,
some of
us wondered what we were doing in Haiti. This
definitely was not Lafayette.
When we turned things over to God, we relaxed
as our
hearts and souls were opened to the beautiful people
of Haiti.
The Haitians hunger for real freedom. Their daily
struggle of getting clean water, sufficient food and
health care makes them giants in our eyes.
It was obvious that their faith sustains them
on every
level.
We will never forget the people of Haiti. They
are
forever in our prayers.
St. Marys group
In the past 12 months, St. Mary Cathedral has
sent
three groups to Haiti.
Those in the most recent group:
The Rev. Bob Klemme, pastor; Dr. Adel and Lulu
Yaacoub, Henry and Dr. Ronette Chua, Tracy
Schluttenhofer, Kevin Cooley, Sara Poremski, Bob and
Shirley Fitzgerald, Karen Sullivan, Jerry Tyrie, Helen
Hession and Bob Scott.
PHOTO CAPTIONS
DOCTOR AND PATIENT: Dr. Ronette Chua (left), a
missionary from St. Mary Cathedral in Lafayette,
examines a young girl as her mother looks on at a
clinic in Pendus, Haiti. Chua was one of two doctors
from the St. Mary group. This is the third time in 12
months that St. Mary has sent a group to Haiti. The
Lafayette parishs sister church is called St. Joseph.
NEW CONSTRUCTION: The concrete church and adjoining
school at Massacre were recently constructed. They
were financed by donations from St. Mary Cathedral
parishioners.
BALLOON LADY: Lulu Yaacoub passes out balloons
to
children at the St. Joseph Church compound in Pendus.
St. Mary Cathedral parishioners donated balloons,
candy and toys.