Nuncio of Haiti
14-January-2010 -- Catholic News Agency
Nuncio to Haiti Gives First-hand Account of Destruction
Port au Prince, Haiti, Jan 13, 2010 (CNA).-
Speaking with the Vatican's Fides news agency, the Apostolic Nuncio to Haiti, Archbishop Bernardito Auza, described the devastation in the streets of the capital Port-au-Prince. He reported on what he had observed of the situation of religious and government officials in the area and described widespread destruction.
Archbishop Auza stated his observations of the situation in the capital to Fides, saying, "Port-au-Prince is totally devastated. The cathedral, the archbishop's office, all of the big churches, all of the seminaries have been reduced to rubble."
The nuncio said that the resident priest at that cathedral had informed him of the likely death of Archbishop Joseph Serge Miot as he was buried under rubble along with hundreds of priests and seminarians. Other news reports confirmed that the archbishop did pass away in the earthquake.
Auza reported that many government buildings had been razed. All of the Ministry buildings but one were on the ground, as were the Presidential Palace and the schools.
"Parliament with the Senators, the schools with the children, the supermarkets were reduced to nothing," the nuncio stated.
The nuncio had made his way across the city to see the Haitian President and "express his condolences and solidarity" and found that, because they had been outdoors, he and his family had been saved although their home had crumbled.
People who live in front of the collapsed U.N. headquarters had reported to Auza that the head of that mission, Hedi Annabi, was trapped inside with hundreds of others.
The nuncio said that he had returned to his residence later in the morning to find "Priests and Sisters in the street, no longer with homes. The Rector of the seminary saved himself, as did the Dean of studies, but the seminarians are under the rubble. You hear yells everywhere from underneath the rubble."
"The CIFOR (according to Fides, an institute of study for religious men and women) collapsed with students inside that were participating in a conference. The office of the nuncio resisted (the earthquake), there was no one injured, but all of us are in shock!" he said.
"So many things were broken, including the tabernacle, but we are more fortunate than others. Many relatives of the personnel are dead, their houses destroyed. Everyone is asking for help. We will have a problem with water and food before long. We cannot go inside and stay there for very long because the ground continues to shake, so we're camping out in the yard."
Nuncio in Haiti reports needs of country's seminarians
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Of Human Life - By Archbishop Charles J. Chaput
Rome, Italy, Feb 26, 2010 / 02:54 pm (CNA).-
The Apostolic Nuncio to Haiti, Archbishop Bernardito Auza, sent a report to the Pontifical Mission Societies this week describing the situation facing seminarians in the devastated country. He explained that the seminarians have “lost everything," adding that "putting them back to ‘normal’ life is a priority.”
According to the Fides News Agency, the archbishop said that, “The greatest needs of the seminarians are clothing, toiletries, tents to sleep in. Many of the seminarians have been sent back to their dioceses, but their dioceses are also extremely poor and in great need of assistance.
The archbishop went on to note that although some books from the library were saved, “We need to purchase Bibles and fundamental texts (Vatican II, Catechism of the Catholic Church etc.) The ones they had were all lost in the rubble.”
“The easiest, most flexible and fastest way to help these unfortunate seminarians is through financial aid that we can use according to the most urgent needs of the moment,” he added.
“Thank you also for your efforts in favor of our traumatized seminarians. We believe that putting the seminarians back to 'normal' life is a priority."
Fides reports that 15 seminarians, one professor and some staff members were killed by the January 12 earthquake.
Report: Rebuilding in Haiti slow, but has strong US church support
ReplyDeleteBALTIMORE (CNS) -- In the 10 months since Haiti's devastating earthquake buried nearly 300,000 people beneath rubble, the response from American Catholics for relief and rebuilding has been like none before, reported Dallas Bishop Kevin J. Farrell Nov. 15 at the annual meeting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. But ongoing needs are massive and redevelopment of Haiti is proceeding slowly and with many obstacles, according to several bishops whose committees are involved in the U.S. church's ongoing assistance. Several bishops provided pieces of a comprehensive oral report about aspects of the church's efforts for Haiti. For example, Miami Archbishop Thomas G. Wenski, who has long worked among the Haitian community in the United States and is chairman of the Haiti Advisory Group of the bishops' Subcommittee on the Church in Latin America, said the massive devastation in Haiti included the destruction of 70 parishes, dozens of schools, and several convents and centers of priestly formation. He asked, at the request of the Haitian bishops, that U.S. church groups use the system of church twinning to channel aid toward local parish communities. Bishop Farrell, chairman of the Committee on National Collections, said special collections in parishes raised $82.6 million to aid victims of the Jan. 12 earthquake. "In one weekend, the 18,500-plus parishes in the United States gave more money for a national collection than ever collected in a single collection," he said. "And they did it during Sunday Mass, connecting their devotion with their dedication."
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http://www.catholicnews.com/data/briefs/cns/20101115.htm