Weekly THIS AND THAT for January 24, 2010: Responding to Haiti = Living the Gospel

Responding to Haiti = Living the Gospel

We have all been bombarded with news and images of the devastating earthquake that took place in Haiti on January 12th. As disciples of Jesus Christ, our response is not simply about providing humanitarian aid. Rather, our response to our brothers and sisters in need is our response to the Gospel. In today’s Gospel, Jesus quotes Isaiah: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor.” Jesus then tells his hearers that he himself fulfills this Scripture passage. (Luke 4: 16 – 21) As baptized believers, living in the Spirit of Jesus, we are called to continue his mission in our world. This is what we are doing as we respond to Haiti. And we do this not just as individuals, but as a Church – as the Body of Christ throughout the world. In our second reading for Mass today, Saint Paul teaches the Corinthians that we are the Body of Christ and “if one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it.” (1 Cor 12: 26)

This understanding of our membership in the Body of Christ is the reason that Pope Benedict and bishops called their people to a united response to those in desperate need. Our response is one of solidarity with our sisters and brothers in Christ and is made manifest in our prayer for those who have died, for those who are suffering, and for those who are assisting the victims, as well as in our financial and material aid.
Archbishop Bernardito Auza, the Vatican's apostolic nuncio in Haiti, told the Vatican missionary news agency Fides: "Port-au-Prince is completely devastated. The cathedral and the archbishop's residence, all the big churches, all the seminaries are reduced to rubble. I found priests and nuns on the street, who no longer have homes. The rector of the seminary survived, and so did the dean, but the seminarians are under the rubble. Everywhere there are cries coming from under the rubble." He said a study institute for men and women religious had collapsed, with many students inside as they attended a conference. The nunciature withstood the quake, and there were no injuries there.
On January 13th, the Catholic News Service reported that “Pope Benedict XVI prayed for victims of a massive earthquake in Haiti and urged the international community to provide generous assistance to the stricken population of the Caribbean nation. The victims included Archbishop Joseph Serge Miot of Port-au-Prince.

Pope Benedict said, "I appeal to the generosity of everyone, so that our brothers and sisters receive our concrete solidarity and the effective support of the international community in this moment of need and suffering." He also said that the Catholic Church's charity organizations would immediately move into action to assist those most in need.

Caritas Internationalis, the Vatican-based umbrella organization for Catholic charities, said it was mobilizing to provide immediate assistance to Haiti. On Jan. 13 it had already assembled an emergency relief team to fly to Haiti to assist Caritas members already working in the country.

Caritas Internationalis humanitarian director Alistair Dutton was leading the emergency relief team. "There is a strong Caritas presence in Haiti. We already know that Caritas staff will be providing support to survivors of the earthquake, such as food, shelter and comfort through churches and parish networks," Dutton said. "Caritas runs more than 200 hospitals and medical centers in Haiti. It is experienced and prepared to respond to humanitarian disasters there as a result of the frequent hurricanes."

Caritas also said the U.S.-based Catholic Relief Services had been in communication with its staff in Haiti. The local CRS office was still standing and CRS staff present at the time of the quake were safe, it said. Catholic Relief Services operates out of its national headquarters here in Baltimore.

On the local level, Archbishop O’Brien asked all parishes to conduct a collection for the relief of victims in Haiti, reminding us that our Archdiocese has a sister-diocese in Haiti. Here at Our Lady of Grace, your overwhelming generosity was manifested in the $8,047 that you donated to the special collection last weekend. Keep in mind that your prayers and your contributions are two of the many ways that you live the Gospel this very day! We, like Jesus, can say that the Scripture is being fulfilled in our hearing. Let us continue our solidarity with those in need of the Good News each day – those right around us as well as those far away!

Blessings,
Sister Mary Therese