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Breaking news » Haiti: The Tent Seminary
Haiti: The Tent Seminary
From left to right: Msgr. Joseph Lafontant, Auxiliary Bishop and current Apostolic Administrator of Port-au-Prince in Haiti, and Msgr. Louis Kebreau, Archbishop of Cap-Haitien, and Chairman of the Haitian Bishops' Conference during their visit at ACN.
Seminarians in Haiti are returning to their studies as early as Easter Tuesday - thanks to tents being put up to replace buildings destroyed in the country's devastating earthquake.
By John Newton, ACN UK
Adapted by Amanda Griffin, ACN Canada
The initiatives, announced this week by a delegation of bishops visiting the international headquarters of Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), Germany, come after the Catholic charity provided help for the students who lost buildings belonging to the seminary in the quake on January 12. Leading the delegation, Archbishop Louis Kébreau of Cap-Haitien, chairman of the Bishops' Conference of Haiti, said that, despite the makeshift accommodation, the seminary will be back up and running for the start of the new term on April 6.
The announcement coincides with news from the bishops that this year's Easter services will be taking place as usual in tents erected in "every place" where churches have collapsed.
Assessing the needs of more than 200 students from Haiti was Bishop Joseph Lafontant, who was appointed administrator of Port-au-Prince archdiocese after Archbishop Serge Miot died in the quake. He said: "We decided to re-open the seminary in April and have ordered: tents for classes, tents for dormitories, tents for professors." Bishop Lafontant added: "Even though we lack books and lack instruments, it is a privilege as many schools are not opening."
The makeshift seminary will be outside Port-au-Prince in Lilavois, near the Bishops' Conference buildings, left standing after the quake. Archbishop Louis Kébreau said of the new seminary plan: "The new beginning is a sign of hope for our devastated and traumatized land". Church leaders have not yet been able to clear the site of the former seminaries, but they are arranging for containers to be put on site to store books saved from the seminary in Port-au-Prince. There are already two chapels on site, one which forms part of the bishops' conference buildings and another which belongs to the Scalabrini Fathers next door.
Bishop Lafontant said: "Psychologically speaking it was better to gather them [the seminarians] together again," he described seeing seminarians who had lost limbs talking and laughing together when they were reunited. The bishop also mentioned that specialists had begun providing psychological support for seminarians left traumatized by the quake. 30 seminarians - including diocesan and religious - died in the quake.
Radio Soleil (Sun Radio)
Thanking Aid to the Church in Need for its support, Bishop Lafontant said: "ACN's aid was valuable - since the seminarians lost everything and went back to their homes, parishes, and relations." After news that the funds were available for seminarians, an appeal was put out on Radio Soleil, an important Catholic station, calling the students back. The station itself was destroyed by the earthquake but it went back on air after one of the transmitters was recovered with the station now based in a mini-van.
Provisional chapels for Haitian congregations
The Church is hoping to erect provisional chapels to protect people during the rainy season between July and November. More than 300 churches were destroyed in the diocese of Port-au-Prince alone. According to the bishop, people are still very strong in their faith despite the tragedy. Bishop Lafontant said: "Not one word to my knowledge has been said against God, although they are complaining about the government.
Necessary steps to rebuilding a solid Church
The charity is committed to helping the Church in Haiti in the long term and a project team will be visiting the country next month to assess its needs.
Rebuilding churches and structures including the seminary will take a long time. Bishop Lafontant told ACN of the need for structural evaluations before rebuilding starts. Technicians will evaluate the sites and all the new churches will be designed to resist the effects of another possible earthquake.
"People always find strength in prayers in Holy Communion, in Ways of Crosses - which they attend in their thousands - they know God will not let them down."
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