Why is Haiti unique to our church in the United States? Why, among the myriad of challenges undertaken by the Episcopal Church, should Haiti be among the top concerns our church responds to?
Currently, terrorist gangs have taken over key parts of the country as its governmental structures and international forces fail to provide safety and security. Citizens are being slaughtered in the streets. The lives of women and children are the most affected by famine conditions and sex trafficking. Children are enticed into gangs by food, and deadly conditions continue to expand.
According to the UN, there are more than a million displaced people in Haiti, a number that has tripled in the space of a year. Gang violence in the capital, Port-au-Prince, has forced thousands of families to flee several times.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio explains that the gangs’ “ultimate goal is creating a gang-controlled state where illicit trafficking and other criminal activities operate freely and terrorize Haitian citizens.”
The worsening situation has crippled health and education services. At least 39 health facilities and over 900 schools have shut down due to insecurity. Cholera outbreaks are spreading, and sexual and gender-based violence is on the rise, especially in displacement sites where shelter, sanitation, and protection are severely lacking.
The Episcopal Church in Haiti has a long and vital history that has connected our two countries in a unique way. Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. It was home to the first African American Bishop in the Episcopal Church, who was also Bishop of Haiti, James Theodore Holly. In 1863, he organized the famous Holy Trinity Church in Port-au-Prince, established schools, trained young priests, started congregations and medical programs in the countryside until his death in Haiti in 1911.
Haiti is the size of Maryland. No other diocese within the entire Episcopal Church is as poor or as persecuted as its citizens. No other diocese in the Episcopal Church requires a level of response to complex and life-threatening needs that are evident in the Diocese of Haiti. The relationship between the Episcopal dioceses in the United States and the diocese of Haiti is unique because it requires knowledge and sensitivity to its language, traditions, and political and religious history.
The clergy in Haiti are an example to the whole church of what faith in action really means. They are being an example, even now, as the violence permits, in situations as life-threatening as those in Gaza, Ukraine, and Sudan. Of all the dioceses in the Episcopal Church, the Diocese of Haiti, absolutely and by any measure, does the most with the least. Historically, a cadre of dedicated clergy oversee multiple churches and institutions. They respond to the overwhelming needs of their congregants, many of whom can only be reached by donkey through the mountains and by boat. Priests are paid a fraction of what their counterparts in other dioceses are paid, and cannot retire because their pensions are based upon their salaries.
There are basic services provided by Episcopal clergy and laity that are not provided by the Haitian government. Feeding programs, available in the schools, are often the only meal the children are sure of receiving. Nuns provide housing for homeless elderly women. Feeding programs provide for people living on the streets, with only the support of clergy and laity. Regardless of the lack of governmental structure, environmental challenges of earthquakes, hurricanes, and waste disposal, the Episcopal Diocese of Haiti has built critically needed programs. These include: a University, a nursing school with associated programs for future physical and occupational therapists, St. Vincent’s Center for Children with Disabilities, homemade wheelchair programs, a seminary (when it was able to operate), medical clinics, hospitals, healthy birthing centers, agricultural schools, trade schools, a business college, and the National Symphony Orchestra.
Since education is not free in Haiti, the priests and laity operate over 250 Episcopal schools. These require yearly support. Every church has a school, and almost all of them are rural. Despite the help of US Episcopal Churches, schools, and nonprofits, only about 1/3 of the rural schools receive support, and some only receive help from time to time. Children in these rural areas have no other opportunity for education and can only afford the costs of schooling if the church provides it.
How can churches in the Diocese of Virginia begin to respond to these overwhelming needs?
- Begin by self-reflecting. Have we come to think of these challenges in Haiti as inevitable, and do we feel inadequate to respond? Do we move on to another challenge in the world that is more accessible? Is it easier to ignore the dire situation in Haiti, when news is not easily available?
- Calls for action have been specified in the 2024 Council Resolutions. These should be incorporated into our parish and personal efforts for mission and greater justice and equity.
- The first resolution recommends that all Episcopal congregations and other worshipping communities regularly include the people of Haiti in their intercessory prayers.
- The second resolution recommends specific areas needing a coherent response. These can take the form of educating oneself about the situation in Haiti, contacting government officials, supporting groups already active in Haitian Ministry, or starting a group that answers a call for Christian response in Haiti.
For further information on how you can get involved with Haiti or the Haiti Advocacy Ministry, please contact Karen Wires or contact Diane Wright, Diocesan Global Mission Advocate.