Where God Weeps - the suffering church in focus

Haiti: we will rebuild, but the victims come first

The Apostolic Nuncio in Haiti, Msgr. Bernadito Auza, announced the reconstruction of churches should commence early in 2011.  Additionally, he indicated that the first priority needed to be helping the victims of the earthquake which took place over eight months ago. ACN has collected over 4 million Euro in support of the Haitian Church.

By ACN International

"First of all we have to look after the faithful, and then take care of the churches, which have to be built structurally better and safer," said Archbishop Auza in an interview at Aid to the Church in Need's (ACN) Head Office in Germany where he also made a point of expressing his gratitude to the international Catholic charity for its support following the disaster and for the "promise of help in the reconstruction of churches, chapels and seminars and to support educational programs in Haiti."

Over 70 percent of buildings in the city's capital of Port-au-Prince were destroyed by the quake last January 12, including the Catholic Cathedral and the Grand Seminary.  Ninety percent of the Léogâne region, a village of 130 000 inhabitants, situated 20 kilometers west of Port-au-Prince at the epicenter of the quake, lay devastated.

"The people are still traumatized. The parishes have been scattered, and over half the churches are destroyed," confided the archbishop. He explained that the parish structures built decades ago were left disintegrated after the quake. "People have simply scattered. Some now live in camps, while others have moved out into the provinces. Others again have come into the city in search of work."

Corruption; fruit of a lack of education

Following the devastation, the church offered help to those without shelter. "Of course, help is being provided, but the situation is still chaotic."

In the interview he granted ACN, Msgr. Auza indicated the next challenge for the Church to be that of reconstruction with priority given to the schools after the immediate needs of the people have been met.

"Education is of immense importance for the Church, especially since she is the provider of over half of all the schools in the country," He explained and said "this is an area in which the Church takes her responsibilities very seriously."

According to the Monsignor, the lack of progress over the last eight months is not only due a lack of infrastructure and the crumbling of the Haitian governments' administration, but due to widespread corruption.

The nuncio said a prevailing mentality of selfishness continues to dominate the population, even after the earthquake, this attitude is responsible for delaying the creation new beginnings for the country. Monsignor Auza hopes that better education will help in surmounting these attitudes of egotism. "For the Catholic Church, education and a Christian upbringing are the key to the true development of the country, especially since the Church schools have always been better than the state schools in Haiti."

Up to this point, Aid to the Church in Need has received 4 million Euros in donations for Haiti.

"Your charity is supporting our pastoral service, and is thus providing indispensable assistance, since it is above all a renewed and strengthened pastoral outreach that is needed to put people back on their feet," concluded the archbishop.