Bishop O'Neill's Meditation from the Requiem Mass and Vigil for Haiti
Bulletin Insert about Bishop O'Neill's Epiphany Appeal for Haiti
You can view a story about the vital role the Church is playing in the relief effort in this Wall Street Journal article. Be sure to watch the video interview with Bishop Duracin.
We also have this update from the Colorado Haiti Project:
Fr. Kesner and his family have safely arrived in Petit Trou (from Port-au-Prince). We have word that there has been some damage to the buildings at St. Paul's, and one of our first steps upon arriving in Haiti will be to have a structural engineer assess the damage. For now, some of the staff are sleeping outside. We are still working on getting into Petit Trou by sea or air. A couple qualified CHP volunteers have traveled to Port-au-Prince to help at a temporary hospital being set up at Hospice St. Joseph, a popular guest house where many CHP mission teams have stayed on their way to Petit Trou. Surgical supplies from Project CURE are going down with them. A CHP board member is also putting his surgical skills to use at a different hospital in Port-au-Prince.
Upcoming Colorado Events
Benefit Concert for Haiti featuring the Chinook Winds Quintet and other University of Colorado Musicians, Jan. 23, 4:00 pm, St. Aidan's Episcopal Church, 2425 Colorado Ave., Boulder.
State Legislature to Discuss Resolution Stating Importance of Haiti Relief
The state legislature will discuss a resolution stating the importance of helping our Haitian neighbors. Legislators will be particularly interested in hearing from Haitian people and from organizations working with Haiti. The activity will start on Friday, Jan. 22, 9:00 am, Colorado State Capitol.
From the Latest News Release from Episcopal Relief & Development:
“We’ve been working closely with the Episcopal Diocese of the Dominican Republic to get shipments into Haiti on a daily basis,” said Kirsten Muth, Episcopal Relief & Development’s Senior Program Director, who is currently working on the ground with Katie Mears, Program Manager for USA Disaster Preparedness and Response.
“We are also using helicopter support from our partner Worldwide Village to provide medical supplies and food to affected rural communities and parishes, including Gressier, Grand Colline and Trouin,” said Mears. “The team here has also recently secured additional transport vehicles, which are allowing us to deliver more supplies and reach a larger number of people. Relief efforts are expanding daily.”
By collaborating with diocesan staff in the Dominican Republic to secure vehicles and create channels through which they can help those most impacted by this disaster, Episcopal Relief & Development is establishing a long-term response mechanism that can continue to operate efficiently as the recovery process gets underway in the coming weeks and months.
In addition to assisting with daily supply shipments, Episcopal Relief & Development is working to stabilize communications through the provision of satellite phones and solar power chargers.
The satellite phones will enable coordination of efforts between dioceses and increase Episcopal Relief & Development’s ability to communicate with Bishop Duracin and his colleagues as they serve the thousands of survivors that have congregated in their tent camp in Port-au-Prince. Maintaining these channels of communication will also be crucial during the recovery process.
“The infrastructure of the church, even where damaged and wounded, represents an amazing network of people, skills and resources,” said Muth. “It is important that we continue to support the people of Haiti as they take the lead in the nation’s recovery.”
While they face enormous challenges, the Haitian clergy are immensely grateful for the prayers and support coming from the United States. In a letter to the Episcopal Church, the Rev. Lauren Stanley, The Episcopal Church Appointed Missionary to Haiti, writes, “On behalf of the Bishop of Haiti, the Rt. Rev. Jean Zaché Duracin, first let me say Mèsi anpil, thank you very much, for your love, your prayers, your support, your generosity and your kindness.”
The letter also states that while the Episcopal Diocese of Haiti is appreciative of the compassion and concerns of Episcopalians in the US, Bishop Duracin is discouraging mission trips at this time.
“I believe the best course of action right now is to pray, to be generous in your financial assistance and to begin praying about how you can respond in the future,” continues Stanley. “Please know that Bishop Duracin is counting on everyone here to work together, to help the people and to be faithful. Together, we WILL help God's beloved children in Haiti.”
For access to the most up-to-date information, a video interview with Bishop Duracin, downloadable bulletin inserts and other resources, visit www.er-d.org/HaitiCrisis.
Links:
Episcopal Relief & Development Haiti Crisis page: http://www.er-d.org/HaitiCrisis
Episcopal Life Online Story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_118530_ENG_HTM.htm
Colorado Haiti Project Earthquake Information Page: http://www.coloradohaitiproject.org/January2010Earthquake.html
The Episcopal Church Haiti Information Page: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/haiti.php
Friday, Jan. 15
Bishop O'Neill today announced an "Epiphany Appeal for Haiti Relief." The diocese has received a generous $75,000 from the Anschutz Foundation to match donations for Haiti Relief dollar for dollar.
Click here to download the pastoral letter.
Message from the Archbishop of Canterbury
The Archbishop of Canterbury has a message about Haiti: http://www.archbishopofcanterbury.org/2716.
Other activities to support our sisters and brothers in Haiti:
Requiem Mass for Haiti, Jan. 20, 7:00 - 9:00 pm, St. Thomas Episcopal Church, 2201 Dexter St., Denver.
Benefit Concert for Haiti featuring the Chinook Winds Quintet and other University of Colorado Musicians, Jan. 23, 4:00 pm, St. Aidan's Episcopal Church, 2425 Colorado Ave., Boulder.
“Haiti: Understanding and Reaching Out”, Tuesday, January 19, 6:30 – 9:00 pm, Driscoll Gallery, University of Denver.
Panel discussion and conversation : Speakers will be: Prof. Lynn Holland (JKSIS), Figaro Joseph (Haitian graduate student at JKSIS), and the Rev. Ed Morgan (co-founder Colorado Haiti Project). They will address the political history of Haiti, provide a Haitian native’s view of the country and current situation, as well as the perspective of an American who has done a lot of “on-the-ground” service in the country. Memorial/vigil (also in the Gallery), honoring those who have died and praying for those who remain, those who are working at rebuilding, and for the future of the country. For more information, contact Chaplain Gary Brower @ (303) 871-4488 or gary.brower@du.edu.
Litany for Haiti
Click here to download a litany for Haiti, created by St. Thomas Episcopal Church, Denver.
Update from The Colorado Haiti Project:
The Colorado Haiti Project would like to thank everyone for the overwhelming support and prayers we have received for the Haitian people. We also thank God that our 53 staff members working at our mission in Petit Trou de Nippes are unharmed, although many people have lost family in Port au Prince. There are homes in the area that have been destroyed, but we still need to get a better understanding about casualties. The situation is not yet dire at this point, but we expect that there will be shortages in the next week or so.
A medical mission scheduled to go down on last Thursday was cancelled/postponed because of the earthquake . A group of doctors and other qualified medical personnel from the mission is planning to go down next week to help with urgent medical needs in Port au Prince. We are developing plans to deliver supplies to St. Paul's and the Petit Trou de Nippes region. The Colorado Haiti Project’s mission is working for long-term sustainability for the people of the Petit Trou region and we will continue to do so. However, under the current circumstances we are clearly commmitted to addressing urgent needs of our Haitian brothers and sisters. Once again, thank you and please continue to support our work. We will keep updating our website with new information: www.coloradohaitiproject.org
Episcopal Relief & Development News
The latest news release on how the diocese of Haiti is helping with the relief effort, even as it struggles with its own losses is here: http://www.er-d.org/DioceseHaitiResponds
Read Episcopal Relief & Development president Rob Radtke's blog about how that organization is approaching the short and long-term needs in Haiti: http://www.er-d.org/blog/.
Washington National Cathedral will be holding a Prayer Service for Haiti on Sunday, Jan. 17 at 4:00 pm Mountain time. Participants include Presiding Bishop Jefferts Schori; Bishop Chane; Auxiliary Bishop of Washington Barry C. Knestout, representing the Most Rev. Donald W. Wuerl, Archbishop of Washington; Dean Lloyd; and His Excellency Raymond Joseph, Haitian ambassador to the U.S. The National Cathedral will webcast the service live at http://www.nationalcathedral.org/ CNN plans to feature live coverage.
Thursday, Jan. 14
The Rev. Dayle Casey received an email from a Haitian friend in Petit-trou that indicates that while they felt the quake there, and there is damage to some buildings, people there are OK, and there is no damage to the building at St. Paul’s (it’s not clear if the email refers to the church or the school). A further update on the Colorado Haiti Project’s web site (http://www.coloradohaitiproject.org/January2010Earthquake.html) indicates that there were some homes in the area destroyed, but that the St. Paul’s staff members are all unharmed. There are people in the Petit-trou region who have lost relatives and family members in the destruction in Port-au-Prince.
Latest News from Episcopal Relief & Development
In a news release today, Episcopal Relief & Development reports that, due to difficulties getting people and supplies to Haiti, they are working with partners in the Dominican Republic to get things in that way. They also report the the Diocese of the Dominican Republic is helping injured Haitians who are managing to get there. You can read the full release here.
Episcopal Relief & Development has set up a web page devoted to the Haiti Crisis here.
Weds. Jan. 13:
From Bishop O'Neill
Dear Friends,
I know that, by now, you are probably all aware that Haiti was hit with a devastating 7.0 earthquake yesterday afternoon. Please keep all of our sisters and brothers in Haiti in your prayers in the coming days and weeks, as this event brings destruction to a place that already suffers from terrible poverty and deprivation.
I join with the Presiding Bishop not only in asking your prayers, but also in encouraging your support of Episcopal Relief & Development to support their relief work in Haiti. As you will see from the Presiding Bishop’s statement and the news release from Episcopal Relief and Development below, the agency has already disbursed emergency funds in Haiti to provide for immediate needs, and it will be working with the Diocese of Haiti and other agencies to aid in what will be a long recovery for the people there.
You may also have heard from news accounts that it is very difficult to get news or communications from Haiti at this point, but we are monitoring the situation and we will send updates as they are available, particularly from the Colorado Haiti Project and Petit Trou de Nippes. I understand that the Colorado Haiti Project has had to cancel a medical mission trip that was scheduled to depart tomorrow because of cancelled flights.
Our director of communications, Beckett Stokes, will send out updates as they are available and will keep the Colorado News page of the Diocesan web site up to date with links and updates. You will find some links to current and local news coverage below.
Faithfully,
Bishop O’Neill
Some news and useful links:
You can get updates from Episcopal Relief & Development via Facebook
Katharine Jefferts Schori and Robert Radtke, President of Episcopal Relief & Development discuss the situation in Haiti following the devastating earthquake in a video here: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/mission.htm
Episcopal Relief & Development has bulletin inserts available about responding to the earthquake. You can download them here.
The Colorado Haiti Project reports that Fr. Kesner Gracia and his family are safe, but they do not yet have information about St. Paul's School or the Petit Trou de Nippes region.
Deacon Melanie Christopher reports that a group from St. Joseph's in Lakewood that is in Haiti on a mission trip has been heard from, and they are all safe.
The Communications Office for the Episcopal Church in New York is providing Twitter updates as they receive information: http://twitter.com/iamepiscopalian.
Episcopal Life Online provides updated information on the diocese of Haiti and Episcopal ministries there.
The Presiding Bishop has issued a statement about the situation in Haiti. It’s full text is below, and you can also access it here.
Paul Casey, director of the Colorado Haiti Project, was on channel 7 this morning, talking about what he knows. You can see the transcript of that story here. Channel 4 also did a story, and interviewed Jean Hilaire Rejouis, husband of the Rev. Mary Kate Rejouis, rector of St. Aidan’s in Boulder. The Colorado Haiti Project is providing updates on their web site.
The Presiding Bishop’s statement encourages support of Episcopal Relief & Development to help with the relief effort. You can keep up to date with their efforts or give online to the Haiti and Disaster Relief funds here: www.er-d.org.
As we get more information about specifics in Haiti, we will pass it along. If you receive updates from your contacts that you would like to share with the diocese, please send them to me at bstokes@coloradodiocese.org. I will work to keep this page of the web site updated over the course of the next several days with links and more information.
