We arrived back in the early hours of Wednesday morning after a most fruitful visit to Haiti. The
enthusiastic greetings we received began at the airport in Port Au Prince and did not end throughout our
time there. Fr Theo, the pastor of St. Paul in Nanpol, Haiti, was so welcoming and it was clear that he put a
lot of hard work into making our visit meaningful while offering us a flavor of the blessing and challenges
our sisters and brothers experience in what is now our sister parish. We (Sr. Elsa, Lynne Vreeland, Amy
O’Mullan, Harvey Homan and I) arrived in Port Au Prince on Friday evening having left Stirling at 6 AM
that morning. Fr. Theo and Theresa Patterson, Executive Director of the Parish Twinning Program of the
Americas, greeted us warmly at the airport and our whirlwind visit began with gusto. We went to Matthew
25, the house of welcome where visitors stay overnight before heading out to the parish. The staff there,
American volunteers (Janet) and local Haitian workers, orientated us to our surroundings and our first
meal. Already we were way ahead of most Haitians. We had sturdy shelter, electricity, food, water,
bathrooms and a bed. On Saturday morning we left with Fr. Theo and Domo who drove the 2nd vehicle and
also assisted us as translator. He was a great gift especially in our ability and desire to communicate with
those we met. As I had been in Haiti before, I knew what to expect especially in relationship to roads and
travel. The roads in Haiti take a great toll on vehicles and the road to the parish of St. Michel where Fr. Theo
currently lives would prove to be most interesting. It was a 4 hour drive over roads that only goats should
successfully navigate and kudos to both Fr. Theo and Doma for their driving skills. Kudos to the passengers
for not throwing up and being able to stay buckled in over the various roads and mountains of our travels.
As the road trip took so long, we went directly to St. Paul, our sister parish, where the parishioners
had waited many hours for our arrival. When we entered the mission church they rose applauding and
broke into joy filled song. It was so emotional and humbling when Fr. Theo told me, “go, this is for you and
your team”. Theresa Patterson then introduced our ‘delegation’ to the parishioners of St. Paul and Fr. Theo
offered beautiful words of welcome. A teenager of the parish who also directs the choir, Widelyne Marcelin,
sang a song of welcome for us. We took a break from the welcome ceremony for water and to eat while the
parishioners waited for us. This struck me—they waited while we were offered refreshments—their humility
and love is profound. When the program ended we were on the road again to the parish of St. Michel which
was about 40 minutes over, you guessed it, challenging roads. This road Fr. Theo travels often as he does
not have a place to live at his parish. Actually there was a make shift bed in a room at the back of the church
where he frequently sleeps so that he can be with the people as much as possible. Other than that, he lives at
the parish of St. Michel which is the mother parish. St. Paul was a mission of St. Michel and has been a
parish for the past 4 years. Fr. Theo is the first pastor of the parish. We stayed at an orphanage in the parish
of St. Michel for the two nights we were visiting our sister parish. The orphanage was started by the former
mayor of the town and his wife who are members of St. Michel parish, beautiful people. We ate dinner,
breakfast and dinner the following day at the rectory of St. Michel and the pastor, parochial vicar and others
at the parish were so very gracious to us. On Sunday we travelled to the parish of St. Paul for Mass. It was a
joy filled celebration and once again the people there were so warm and welcoming. I concelebrated Mass
and at the end spoke to the parishioners, through our interpreter Domo. I shared with them the charge that
we have in Jesus to be a blessing to others. I expressed that they are a blessing to us by their faith and joy
while enduring many challenges and that we would, through Christian discipleship, seek to be a blessing to
them. After Mass, food which had been prepared by members of the parish was distributed—for most it
would be the only meal of their day, maybe the fullest meal they would have had in many days. It was such a
joy for us to assist in distributing the food, especially to the children.
We met with members of the parish who spoke of their joy that we were there and the needs that
they had. They did not ask for themselves, but that Fr. Theo may have a place to live so that their priest
could be among them. Work has begun on a rectory. Keep in mind please when I use the words church,
rectory and so on they are nothing like we are used to here. These buildings are four concrete walls and a
roof, as basic as basic can be. I am confident that we will be able to assist this parish in the needs they have
but more than that, as they themselves expressed, that we will build a relationship based on fraternal love
over an extended period. An afternoon program of song, dance and skits was prepared and presented to us.
Fr. Theo and I sang the Salve Regina as a closing prayer over the people and after a farewell address we
departed from the parish. The space afforded here does not allow me to cover all that we experienced. It was
so amazing. More will follow. Thank you for your prayers for our travels. Thank you to Sr. Elsa, Lynne, Amy
and Harvey for their adventurous spirits.
Peace,
Fr. Richard