From the Presiding Bishop
The people of Haiti have suffered a devastating earthquake, and it is already clear that many have died and many more are injured. Even under “normal” circumstances, Haiti struggles to care for her 9 million people. The nation is the poorest in the western hemisphere, and this latest disaster will set back many recent efforts at development. I urge your prayers for those who have died, been injured, and are searching for loved ones – and I urge your concrete and immediate prayers in the form of contributions to Episcopal Relief & Development, who are already working with the Diocese of Haiti to send aid where it is most needed.
The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori
Presiding Bishop
The Episcopal Church
- [January 13, 2010] Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop 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
In the aftermath of a 7.0 earthquake, Episcopal Relief & Development is providing critical emergency funds to Haiti. They are currently accepting donations to the Haiti Fund to support this assistance.
About the Diocese of Haiti
- Haiti is the largest and fastest-growing diocese in The Episcopal Church
- There are over 83,000 Episcopalians in Haiti
- There are over 100 Episcopal Churches in Haiti, and over 200 Episcopal schools
- The Episcopal Church in Haiti has lost a cathedral, convent, Holy Trinity Complex, College St. Pierre, and a Jubilee Center. The Bishop has no place to live.
- Thankfully, the four missionaries are all accounted for: Mallory Holding, Jude Harmon, Oge Beauvoir and his wife Serette.
From the Episcopal News Service
ENS reports 1/13: Four people were killed by the earthquake during an Episcopal church service in Trouin, about 23 miles southwest of Haiti’s capital Port-au-Prince, the Rev. Lauren Stanley, an Episcopal Church missionary in Haiti who was home in Virginia at the time of the earthquake, told ENS. The earthquake destroyed Cathédrale Sainte Trinité (Holy Trinity Cathedral), the diocesan cathedral in Port-au-Prince.
The magnitude 7 earthquake, whose epicenter struck 10 miles southwest of Port-au-Prince at 4:53 p.m. local time on Jan. 12, was immediately followed by two aftershocks of 5.9 and 5.5 magnitude. About a third of Haiti’s approximately 10 million people live in Port-au-Prince. With power outages and phone lines down, communication is proving difficult and the full extent of the disaster has yet to be determined.
Haiti Bishop Jean Zaché Duracin’s home was destroyed in the earthquake and his wife injured her foot, according to news received mid-morning on Jan. 13 by the Rev. Christopher A. Johnson, the U.S.-based Episcopal Church’s officer for social and economic justice. Duracin was not injured in the earthquake. The Roman Catholic Archbishop Joseph Serge Miot of Port-au-Prince died in the earthquake, according to the Associated Press. The Roman Catholic Cathedral was badly damaged.
The Episcopal Church has four U.S.-based missionaries working Haiti, three of whom were in-country when the earthquake hit: the Rev. Oge Beauvoir, dean of the theological seminary in Port-au-Prince, and Young Adult Service Corps volunteers Mallory Holding of Chicago and Jude Harmon of Massachusetts.
The Rev. David Copley, the Episcopal Church’s mission personnel director, began attempting to contact the three in-country missionaries Jan.12. He has not yet been able to confirm their whereabouts or condition, he said.
http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_118410_ENG_HTM.htm
- Updating reports at ENS: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/ens/
Additional resources
- Bulletin inserts available from ER&D
- Province II website. The Diocese of Haiti is in province II of the Episcopal Church
- Sisters of St. Margaret is updating their website as information arrives in Boston from Port au Prince
- The State Department Operations Center has set up the following number for Americans seeking information about family members in Haiti: 1-888-407-4747
Tags: Episcopal Relief and Development, Haiti, Prayer, Presiding Bishop
