A candlelight service at St. Francis of Assisi Church Aug. 23 offered uplifting music, quiet prayer and heartfelt petitions for those struggling in the chaos of Haiti and Afghanistan. The event incorporated Scripture, silent reflection, musical response and prayer.
Of the 500,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine to reach Haiti so far, only about 5%, have been injected into people’s arms. The Aug. 14 earthquake gets a lot of blame for that, but the assassination of Haiti’s president and a hesitancy among people to get their shots have also delayed the distribution, health officials said.
The Cathedral of St. Anne may have to be demolished following the Aug. 14 earthquake in Haiti. But pews and a bell donated from the Diocese of Brooklyn had no damage, and will continue to be part of the cathedral, whether it is rebuilt or repaired, the pastor said.
The Diocese of Brooklyn has the second highest population of Haitian-Americans and immigrants in the U.S. The diocese’s mobilization to help quake-ravaged Haiti stems from the solid bond between the long-suffering nation and the Roman Catholic Church.
Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio is asking the faithful in Brooklyn and Queens to support earthquake relief efforts in Haiti by contributing to a voluntary second collection at Mass during the next couple of weeks.
Harry Dumay, president of the College of Our Lady of the Elms in Chicopee and a native of Haiti, said everyone throughout his homeland is “devastated by what happened to their brothers and sisters in the south of Haiti,” hit Aug. 14 by a magnitude 7.2 earthquake.
Within hours of the earthquake in Haiti, relief efforts were underway in the Diocese of Brooklyn and elsewhere to raise funds and provide emergency supplies to that hard-hit Caribbean nation.
The magnitude 7.2 earthquake that struck Haiti collapsed the bishop’s residence in Les Cayes, killing one priest, leaving one missing and injuring Cardinal Chibly Langlois.
The president of the U.S. bishops conference expressed his “heartfelt prayers for the people of Haiti who are mourning the loss of loved ones and are suffering” after an earthquake hit the Caribbean nation early on Aug. 14.
Relief workers in Haiti said the Aug. 14 earthquake might not be as catastrophic as the 2010 quake that was closer to the capital, but recovery will be complicated because the quake came on the heels of July’s presidential assassination, of an economic and ongoing political crisis, the coronavirus pandemic and an active storm season now underway.
