Report to the Parish

This is the text of the Haitian Ministry group's letter to the Immaculate Conception Parish after visiting our sister parish in Layaye.

On Sunday, September 5, 2004, our parish inaugurated a new ministry – a twinning relationship with the parish of Notre Dame d’Altagrâce in the town of Layaye in Northeastern Haiti.

Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere and our sister parish is located in one of the country’s poorest regions. In Haiti, the lack of basic nutrition and adequate medical care results in the death of one child every 5 minutes. Most families live in thatched or tin roofed homes with neither running water nor electricity. What most of us consider basic necessities of life are completely out of reach for the average Haitian family.

Notre Dame d’Altagrâce, which was founded on December 24, 2003, has a main church in Layaye as well as seven chapels that are accessible only on foot or on horseback. The pastor, Fr. Ilric Louis Jeune (who visited IC in May), and 68 catechists serve a community of approximately 20,000 Catholics. In addition to the church, Notre Dame d’Altagrâce provides schooling for approximately 1400 children in 3 schools. The schools are staffed by some 20 teachers who earn monthly salaries of $25-80 US. On an average Sunday, Fr. Ilric collects only $2 to $5 Haitian dollars ($.40 to $1.00 US). He receives no financial support from his Diocese or from the Catholic Church of Haiti.

It is through the material and spiritual support of the members of Immaculate Conception Cathedral parish that we hope to help Fr. Ilric achieve his vision for his church community – strengthening the faith of the people, training catechists to be better informed of their faith, training teachers to provide a good education, and improving the quality of life for his parishioners.

Four members of our Haiti outreach team traveled to Haiti on October 7-12 with the purpose of meeting our brothers and sisters in Layaye, demonstrate our commitment to establishing a long-term relationship with them, and to see and hear their needs first-hand. Layaye is situated in the mountains and despite the ecologic problems prevalent throughout Haiti, is quite lovely. Most of the people of Layaye are subsistence farmers. We attended Mass on several occasions during our visit and were completely overwhelmed by the deep spirituality of the people in Layaye. Mass was filled with the most beautiful singing we’ve ever heard. Fr. Ilric delivered impassioned homilies and clearly connected in a spiritual sense with his people.

During our visit, we met with the pastoral council and had a frank discussion of their needs. We came away from the trip with a much better understanding of the needs of the parish. More importantly, we have a much better appreciation for the spirituality, joy, and resourcefulness of the Haitian people.
So where are we now with our efforts? Our philosophy has been to take on some readily do-able projects at first, so that we can achieve some initial success to further bolster support within our parish and to demonstrate our commitment to the people of Notre Dame d’Altagrâce. Through our visit to Layaye, we have identified several needs that we think we can address in the short term.

Diesel-powered generator: Currently, electricity for the parish is generated by one solar panel. This solar power provides electricity for one light bulb in the church and two light bulbs in Fr. Ilric’s modest cinder block dwelling. (It rained during the time of our visit, rendering the solar panel useless.) None of the chapels nor any of the parishioners have electricity. A diesel-powered generator will provide electricity for the church, school, and Fr. Ilric’s home.

Potable water: According to the people in Layaye, they are blessed with several springs. We would like to help financially with capping the springs so that the water can be more easily collected and to avoid contamination of the water by surface run-off.

Professional School: There are few economic opportunities for the young people of the parish. The pastoral council expressed strong interest in developing a professional school in which students could learn skills that would ultimately help them to better support themselves (e.g. carpentry, sewing, etc), enabling young people in particular to live and work in Layaye. Our funds would be directed initially toward the purchase of supplies and equipment for the school and thereafter for teachers’ salaries.

Schools & General Parish Administration: The school situation is very tenuous – Fr. Ilric has a lot of difficulty paying salaries and getting supplies for the schools. As education is clearly critical for the Haitian people, we are particularly interested in helping to support the schools on an ongoing basis (teachers’ salaries, supplies, school uniforms for the children, etc.). Additionally, we would like to help Fr. Ilric with general administrative costs of running his large parish.

Longer-term Needs: Several other major issues remain. Fr. Ilric has several construction projects that he'd like to initiate, including the building of a kindergarten, church, and rectory.

In addition to this fund-raiser, we plan to host a week-long visit by Fr. Ilric in May to strengthen our relationship with our sister parish and keep Notre Dame d’Altagrâce in the hearts and minds of the members of Immaculate Conception.

As Christians, we are called to love one another. This ministry offers us the opportunity to grow closer as a faith community and to be transformed by God’s love and the genuine compassion that is fostered by our walk together with the people of Notre Dame d’Altagrâce.