The Cathoholic

Haiti: Missionaries of Charity, Jesuit Refugee Services

Ever since I left Haiti--three days before the January 12th earthquake leveled most of Port-au-Prince--it has rarely been out of my thoughts. Meanwhile, the Haitian people, and a vast number of foreign governemnts, NGOs, and Catholic church groups have engaged in a vast struggle to address the immediate needs of food, shelter and medical care, while also plotting a future course for the Western hemisphere's most impoverished nation. There has been a good deal of debate regarding the best path forward--from resettling more than a million homeless Haitians out of the capital, which still lies mostly in rubble, to rebuilding essential social and economic institutions. Religious orders in Haiti are playing a vital role in  shaping both the short-term and long-term strategy. Here's my up-date in the National Catholic Register that provides a glimpse of life on the ground in Haiti. The scenes and stories are heart-breaking and inspiring. It didn't get in the story, but one priest who is featured in the article said that the Haitian people, who have nothing and thus have never learned to become attachment to material possessions inspire him with their joy and hope. That priest needed some inspiration: everything he had worked to build, over two decades, for the people of a poor and dangerous slum is now in rubble.

Haitian Orphans

The National Catholic Register asked me to report on the status quo for Haitian orphans and adoptions in the wake of the earthquake. I was impressed with what the Archdiocese of Miami's Catholic Legal Services proposed. But fears of trafficking in orphans, whether for unauthorized adoptions or for something more sinister are understandable. Both the Haitian and U.S. governments are insisting on properly vetted paperwork. That caution appears understandable in light of recent headlines. But it's  frustrating for people who worry about the survival of thousands of children that have lost their parents in the earthquake. One friend who just returned from Port-au-Prince wrote that "normally the media exaggerates a crisis, but that's not true in the case of Haiti."

Update: The USCCB just issued a statement urging the U.S. government and international agencies to guard against unauthorized persons taking charge of Haitian children. The USCCB said that "family reunification" should be thoroughly explored before considering international placements.