One year later: We still have work to do in Haiti

A year ago, Haiti was devastated by a terrible earthquake. More than 200,000 people died, a number that is still mind-numbing. The country was left in ruins, and more lives have been lost from epidemics related to the destruction wrought by the earthquake.

I am proud -- and humbled -- to report to you that St. Paul's Memorial Church gave more than $23,000 to relief efforts in Haiti through Episcopal Relief and Development.

There is still a great deal of work to do, and you can still contribute to ERD by clicking HERE. You can read about ERD's efforts in Haiti by reading a report HERE.

This came the other day from Bishop Shannon Johnston, and it bears discussion and action by our congregation, and I commend it to you:

* * *

January 12, 2011

One year ago, January 12, 2010, the world shook--both literally and figuratively--for the people of Haiti. In 35 seconds, nearly 300,000 lives were lost, millions were displaced and an already desperately inadequate infrastructure was largely destroyed.

Since the poor always suffer the most in times of hardship, Haiti, the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere, is enduring a catastrophe that remains unimaginable even for those who have been there to see for themselves. The toll on human life has been devastating. In Port-au-Prince alone, a million people are still housed in tents, a great many street-side. Need, injury and illness are constant specters. Now, a cholera epidemic looms with a legacy of more death and fear.

What can we do in the face of such horrors? To be sure, the sheer scale of it all is more than daunting. I've often heard comment that whatever groups or individuals might do is so little that it seems almost useless. All too easily we can despair of being able to be of help. On the contrary, I would argue that the need is so great that we--all of us--simply must become involved in any way possible. To be unconnected to the tragedy in Haiti is not a faithful choice. Our faith in the grace and sovereignty of God through Jesus Christ leads us to take action, both for immediate relief and long-term recovery and rebuilding.

In October 2010, I led a small group drawn from three of our congregations to meet with the bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Haiti, the Rt. Rev. J. Zache Duracin. Bishop Zache, along with the Rev. Kesner Ajax, his coordinator for partnerships, and Ms. Angela Galbreath, a missionary from the Episcopal Church, escorted us to see not just the destruction and the needs that exist but also the effectiveness of ongoing relief and recovery. The faithfulness, courage and dignity of the Church in Haiti are not merely impressive but absolutely indomitable. Despite the fact that the earthquake destroyed 80 percent of the diocesan infrastructure, children have been back in school since May, truly a remarkable achievement and testament to what the Church there can do even with so little. And I can tell you that our support does indeed make a difference in real day-to-day lives. It was great to be driven in two of the 13 pick-up trucks that have been provided to the Diocese of Haiti by the Diocese of Virginia, and then to see how the others are being used so much as well. In his Christmas letter to fellow bishops, Bishop Zache said that the donations of expertise, labor, food, housing material, medicines and money have helped the people of Haiti to "rise, stand and walk."

Still, as the bishop also made clear, it will take years to rebuild their structures and heal their spirits. So, I am writing this letter to encourage the congregations and individuals of the Diocese of Virginia to become involved in the recovery or to redouble your current efforts. There will be a lot to do over a long period of time. As the people of Christ, we should do no less together with our brothers and sisters in Haiti. There is a reason that we are all "the body of Christ and individually members of it" (I Cor. 12:27).

Begin with your daily prayers. Certainly remember the needs and despair in Haiti, but do not forget prayers of gratitude for the grace and strength of the Episcopal Church's ministry there. Pray that we ourselves would be moved by such a witness. You may wish to visit the Episcopal Church's Web site for various prayers to offer: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/haiti.php.

Other dioceses and persons have posted prayers to share with you at Haiti@episcopalchurch.org.

Consider a partnership between your congregation and one within the Diocese of Haiti. Please contact Buck Blanchard (800-DIOCESE x16), our diocesan director of Mission and Outreach, for more information about this program. Pere Ajax in Haiti will work personally and directly with you to discern the best way to create a mutually beneficial relationship. If, for one reason or another, a full congregational partnership seems like it would be too much then please contact us to discuss working through your region or with another Virginia congregation.

Money is always a primary need and is the most efficient way to get the appropriate aid to the places it is needed most. You may designate a contribution to the "Diocese of Virginia Haiti General Fund" for humanitarian efforts. Alternately, you may also designate a donation for the Diocese of Haiti's first rebuilding priority, the Cathedral complex.

Visit our Haiti table at diocesan Council. Several knowledgeable and involved persons will be staffing the table with material, information and encouragement. Go to the diocesan Haiti Web site for updated information about the Diocese of Haiti and the ongoing ministries for recovery and rebuilding there.

Last October, Bishop Zache told me that he was "overwhelmed" by the generosity of the Diocese of Virginia. I hope and trust that we're just getting started. May we be a light to the darkness where we find it and may we be illumined by the beacon that is the Episcopal Church in Haiti.

Faithfully yours in Christ,

The Rt. Rev. Shannon S. Johnston

Bishop

More photos from Shrine Mont

Here are a few more photos from our Shrine Mont weekend, taken by photographer-extraordinaire Dudley Rochester (see his photos earlier this week on the progress constructing the meditation garden).

The first photo shows Jane Rotch and the Duduza dolls she and several folks have been making for the children of Haiti. They've made dozens and dozens, and made many more during the Shrine Mont parish weekend.

The next shows Tony Potter (standing) and Simeon Fitch, gabbing on the front porch in the main building. They are no doubt trading insider secrets about techno-stuff.

Then we have John Frazee, who did hours-and-hours of techno-stuff at Shrine Mont, producing the really cool "baseball cards" of St. Paul's people. Look for the cards hanging in the Parish Hall this weekend.

Finally, at the bottom, we have a photo of Albrecht von Guadecker, our assistant music director and organist, and his wonderful wife Jane. Who knew that Albrecht could play the accordion?

What wakes you up in the middle of the night?

Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, who we hosted for three days in January in the midst of a blizzard, preached at the Easter Vigil at Christ Church, Binghamton, NY, a few days ago. You might hear a few echoes of what she said to us. Before we get too far into the Easter season, here is her sermon:

The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori
Presiding Bishop and Primate
The Episcopal Church

What are you most afraid of? What wakes you up in the middle of the night? For some here tonight it's probably about where the next paycheck will come from. I have one friend who's just been diagnosed with ovarian cancer, and another whose son is in jail for statutory rape. For almost all of us, there is some primordial fear linked to thoughts about our freedom and our own mortality.

Fear can keep us from life and hope, and any possibility of new creation. I've known people who died a lot younger than they probably should have, because they just weren't able to acknowledge that their symptoms were signs of something serious. It was somehow easier to ignore that intuitive knowledge than it was to face the possibility and get more information, like going to the doctor.

We've been haunted this week by the story of an Irish immigrant girl in South Hadley who committed suicide because her classmates taunted her so unmercifully. She saw no hope.

Fear could paralyze the people of Haiti, but they go on, with the help of their friends, working yet one more time to build a society of abundance for all.

Fear could have stopped Martin Luther King that night after his house was bombed. But that experience of violence led him deeper into his conviction that God had something else in mind. He went forward in hope, even though it led to his death 42 years ago in Memphis.

Your own American Civic Association is going forward, even more deeply committed to helping new generations of immigrants and refugees. The deaths here a year ago could have been the end of that work of building community, but the fear engendered in the shootings did not prevail.

We're here tonight looking for hope.

We're here tonight to hear the old, old story of God bringing life out of death, and finding a new way through the fear that so often paralyzes us.

The ancient prophets have two responses to that kind of terror: "fear not, for God is with you," and "learn wisdom." We just heard each of those comfortable words twice. Moses says to his traumatized band, "don't be afraid, stand firm, God will deliver you." Zephaniah says to a much later band of depressed and terrified people, that the day will come when they will hear that “God has turned away your enemies, there’s no need to fear disaster any more. Don’t be afraid, God is with you.”

Isaiah and Baruch both talk about Wisdom -- and it's important to know that Wisdom is a personification of God. If God is the architect of creation, then Wisdom is its builder or crafter, and she's often spoken of as hosting a feast, which is what we hear in Isaiah, "turn in here and get what you need -- wine, milk, bread. Come and feast and return to God." Baruch speaks of befriending wisdom in order to find peace -- or in other words, the absence of fear.

In a few minutes we'll hear the oldest gospel account we have of the Resurrection (Mark). It tells about Mary Magdalene, another Mary, and Salome, coming to the tomb at dawn and finding it empty. The angel tells them, "fear not, he's not here, go find him in Galilee. He's waiting for you there." "Fear not, for God is with you." But they flee the tomb and run away, terrified.

Yet somehow those women at the tomb found the strength and courage to tell their story. They turned in at wisdom's door and discovered peace. We only know the good news of Easter because they told of their frightful encounter. Wisdom's invitation keeps on going out: "turn in here, join the feast, find blessing, life, light, and peace."

We still struggle to find the courage to tell frightening news. My friend who's just gotten the cancer diagnosis announced it in an email blast like this, "It is against my religion to share extremely personal information or to ask anyone for help, but the Universe has sent me a lesson here and it’s time for me to start learning it." I find it intriguing that she'd start that way -- and it's a reminder that religion doesn't always tell good news. I think she means that she wants to be self-sufficient, and not dependent on others. But she goes on to tie it to a sense of being connected to all that is. It's an echo of that ancient teaching, "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." That "fear of the Lord" is an unfortunate translation in the old King James, because it actually means something more like a "deep awareness of God's otherness" or "being in awe of the Creator's majestic work." Yet it is that sense of awe and connection to all that is that encourages any of us to turn in at Wisdom's door and join the feast.

That's what Jesus did over and over again. He insisted that God's intent is for a feast for all people, not just the rulers of the Roman empire. He healed and fed and welcomed people who had been put out of the feast by religious rules or their own suffering. At the end of his ministry, he turned his face toward Jerusalem and the feast that waited for him there -- a feast he celebrated with his disciples in an upper room, and continued through the ages in the banquet we're going to share here -- but also the feast of his own life, made holy in its offering. He went to Jerusalem to challenge the un-wise, who insist that power, rules of exclusion, and violence rule this world. Jesus offered an alternative kingdom, where all are welcome to the feast, none is excluded, and no one lives in fear or want.

We all hunger for that feast. We search for a link with something or someone beyond our limited or painful or excluded experience. We have a deep yearning to transcend the nothingness of death, to bring meaning into what we most fear.

Fear not, for God is with us. Christ is risen, trampling down death, entering into hell to search for those who can find no way out, going ahead to wait for his disciples. Fear not, and join the feast created before the beginning of the world.

Photo from Bishop Katharine's visit at St. Paul's Memorial Church, Jan. 31, 2010

Duduza dolls for Haiti: Stitchers get out your needles!

Many of you have been generous in so many ways to help the people of Haiti recover from the devastating earthquake. At St. Paul's, we've now contributed more than $24,ooo to Episcopal Relief and Development to assist with purchasing trucks to bring food and supplies into the country. You can learn more about ERD's efforts and make a contribution by clicking HERE.

There is one more way that you can help, and it is catching on big time at St. Paul's: stitching Duduza dolls, or comfort dolls, for children in Haiti. They are simple, beautiful, a easy to make (for those of you who are stitchers).

Jane Rotch, Margaret Haupt and Anne Marshall have been making them at St. Paul's, and we will be sending them to Lauren Stanley, our missioner in Haiti, to get them into the hands of children. You can find the directions for making a doll by clicking HERE.

The photograph at right shows the doll Jane finished a couple of nights ago. Jane wrote me an email about making the dolls, and her is what she told me:

My early experience with knitting a doll showed me that it's much simpler than it appears to be. I did the knitting in an evening (it's only 32 stitches on your needle) and am now working on finishing and stuffing. You can use scraps of leftover yarn, combining bright colors as you please, as long as the face and feet are brown yarn. Dolls can have knitted black hair or a cap, and can be boy or girl (trousers or skirt.)

Thanks Jane!

A day working for the planet

Friday is our sabbath, so we decided to do something different and, we hope, useful. Lori and I volunteered to work at the Charlottesville Habitat for Humanity store for the day. If you haven't been there, go.

The store has everything from kitchen sinks to baseboards, from washing machines to windows, doors, bathtubs, brand new flooring, building supplies, and all manner of furniture. Everything is a bargain, and every sale benefits Habitat for Humanity.

And for the next three months, 5 percent of the sales will go to Habitat's rebuilding effort in Haiti. The rest of the sale proceeds goes to help Habitat build houses for low-income people.

One of our parishioners, Buck Smith, is the store manager in Charlottesville. He does everything from scheduling and paperwork, to dismantling ceiling fans and carting bathroom cabinets out the door and into customer's vans.

As for me, I cleaned a lot of things. I was much content working with my hands, unloading a truck and dusting everything I could find in the store that needed dusting.

My adventure for the day was going on a pickup with Larry, who has been working for Habitat for many years. We picked up a donated washing machine, loaded it into a truck, and lumbered our way back to the Habitat store.

Back at the store, Lori was inputting donation data into a computer. I cleaned up the washing machine. My other project for the day was to scrub tape off a sign so it can be re-lettered and reused.

One of the principles of Habitat for Humanity is recycling -- everything is reused and reused and reused again. As little as possible ends up in a landfill.

There are Habitat for Humanity stores all over the country. You do the planet and people a favor by shopping at one. While at the store in Charlottesville, pick up an ice shovel -- they are on sale.

While I am away...

There is a lot going on at St. Paul's tomorrow, so I hope you will be there. It is the First Sunday of Lent, and it begins with the chanting of the Great Litany. The cantor (Daniel Hine) will be chanting the "prayers of the people" in the opening litany, including the names of those who have asked prayers for healing, and those who have died.

We also have a double-header Sunday in adult education. I hope you will avail yourself of one of these opportunities:

An authentic Haitian Meal Fund Raiser with The Rev. Elisa Wheeler of Episcopal Relief and Development after the 10:00 am service. The Rev. Wheeler will be our guest preacher at both the 8am and 10 am worship services, and will speak at the luncheon about ERD’s work in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake in Haiti.

We are also launching Lenten series on end-of-life issues, led by The Rev. Ann Willms, our associate rector. "Talking About Death Won't Kill You: A Lenten Series About Grace-Filled Endings" continue on Wednesday Feb. 24 and through Lent. This Sunday we have a guest speaker, Marcia Childress, who will be joining Ann for this.

Before you decide that this topic is too grim for you, please do think again. Even those of you who are in your 20s need to know about these issues, not just for yourself but for the care you might need to be giving your parents one day. I can tell you from personal experience having cared for my father before he died, I wish I had known more than I did at the time.

The five marks of mission: How do we fit?

What is our mission? How does our mission in our local context fit within the wider mission of The Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion of which we are a part? How does our mission in our context fit within the even wider mission of the Body of Christ?

Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori challenged us to grapple with those questions here at St. Paul's. In her remarks at our Centennial banquet on January 30, she referred to the "Five Marks of Mission" that was adopted in 1990 by the Anglican bishops as the standard for mission in our communion. I am reprinting the "five marks" below, and there is a discussion question for you at the bottom. Please lend us your answer in the comment section of this posting.

The artwork today is from a mural of the Nativity that was on a wall at the Episcopal Cathedral in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. The mural was destroyed in the earthquake, but the mission lives on.

Here are the five marks of mission, reprinted from the Anglican Communion website:

Mission - The Five Marks of Mission

The Mission of the Church is the mission of Christ

To proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom To teach, baptise and nurture new believers To respond to human need by loving service To seek to transform unjust structures of society To strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and sustain and renew the life of the earth (Bonds of Affection-1984 ACC-6 p49, Mission in a Broken World-1990 ACC-8 p101)

Mission: Announcing good news

The first mark of mission, identified at ACC-6 with personal evangelism, is really a summary of what all mission is about, because it is based on Jesus' own summary of his mission (Matthew 4:17, Mark 1:14-15, Luke 4:18, Luke 7:22; cf. John 3:14-17). Instead of being just one (albeit the first) of five distinct activities, this should be the key statement abouteverything we do in mission.

Mission in context

All mission is done in a particular setting - the context. So, although there is a fundamental unity to the good news, it is shaped by the great diversity of places, times and cultures in which we live, proclaim and embody it. The Five Marks should not lead us to think that there are only five ways of doing mission!

Mission as celebration and thanksgiving

An important feature of Anglicanism is our belief that worship is central to our common life. But worship is not just something we do alongside our witness to the good news: worship is itself a witness to the world. It is a sign that all of life is holy, that hope and meaning can be found in offering ourselves to God (cf. Romans 12:1). And each time we celebrate the eucharist, we proclaim Christ's death until he comes (1 Cor. 11:26). Our liturgical life is a vital dimension of our mission calling; and although it is not included in the Five Marks, it undergirds the forms of public witness listed there.

Mission as church

The Five Marks stress the doing of mission. Faithful action is the measure of our response to Christ (cf. Matt. 25:31-46; James 2:14-26). However, the challenge facing us is not just to do mission but to be a people of mission. That is, we are learning to allow every dimension of church life to be shaped and directed by our identity as a sign, foretaste and instrument of God's reign in Christ. Our understanding of mission needs to make that clear.

Mission as God-in-action

"Mission goes out from God. Mission is God's way of loving and saving the world... So mission is never our invention or choice." (Lambeth Conference 1998, Section II p121). The initiative in mission is God's, not ours. We are called simply to serve God's mission by living and proclaiming the good news. The Five Marks of Mission could make that clearer.

The Five Marks of Mission and beyond

We commend to each Province (and its dioceses) the challenge of developing or revising its own understanding of mission which is faithful to Scripture. We suggest two possible ways forward.

• The Five Marks could be revised to take account of comments like those above. This has the advantage of retaining the familiar shape of the Five Marks.
• Alternatively a holistic statement of mission actions could be strengthened by setting out an understanding of thecharacter of mission. This would affirm the solemn responsibility of each local church to discern how it will most faithfully serve God's mission in its context. An example of such an understanding is given below. Mission is the creating, reconciling and transforming action of God, flowing from the community of love found in the Trinity, made known to all humanity in the person of Jesus, and entrusted to the faithful action and witness of the people of God who, in the power of the Spirit, are a sign, foretaste and instrument of the reign of God. (Adapted from a statement of the Commission on Mission of the National Council of Churches in Australia.)

Whatever words or ideas each local expression of our Church uses, MISSIO hopes that they will be informed by three convictions:

• We are united by our commitment to serving the transforming mission of God.
• Mission is the bedrock of all we are, do and say as the people of God.
• Our faithfulness in mission will be expressed in a great diversity of mission models, strategies and practices.

Discussion Question

If you were to ask people in leadership positions in your Province (diocese, parish) whether they see mission as "the bedrock of all we are, do and say as the people of God", how do you think they would answer?

Anglicans In Mission (MISSIO report 1999)

Presiding Bishop Katharine pays poignant visit to Haiti, accompanied by The Rev. Lauren Stanley from the Diocese of Virginia

[Episcopal News Service] Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori paid a poignant visit to Port-au-Prince Feb. 8 to survey with Episcopal Diocese of Haiti Bishop Jean Zaché Duracin the devastation wrought by the Jan. 12 magnitude 7.0 earthquake.

After climbing over the ruins of the diocese's Cathédrale Sainte Trinité (Holy Trinity Cathedral), the presiding bishop turned to Duracin and said "You should skip Lent this year; you have already had your Good Friday."

[Photo above is Presiding Bishop Jefferts Schori, right, and Bishop Duracin, left]

"Yes, we can all sing Alleluias together," Duracin replied, according to the Rev. Lauren Stanley, who accompanied Jefferts Schori on her five-hour visit.

Pointing to some of the cathedral's 13 bells that were visible among the ruins and that appeared to be salvageable, Jefferts Schori said "they will ring again" and that the cathedral "will rise again," according to Stanley.

While at the cathedral, Jefferts Schori and Duracin said prayers at what the Haitian bishop is calling the diocese's "open-air cathedral," which consists of some plastic sheeting stretched over a frame of two-by-fours that shelters some pews rescued from the cathedral ruins.

The two bishops each prayed aloud with those who happened to be at the site. Some of the older women members of the cathedral were combing the ruins for pieces of the building's world-famous murals depicting biblical stories in Haitian motifs. The gathered congregation also sang "How Great Thou Art" in French, Stanley said.

During the visit, Stanley said, Duracin asked her to "tell the world that physically the church is broken, but the church is still there in faith. Our faith is still strong."

She said the bishop asked for the support of Episcopalians everywhere to help Haitians rebuild the structures of the church because that work "will have a positive impact on our faith. It will bring us courage, confidence and a good future."

"We are approaching Lent," Stanley quoted Duracin as saying. "I ask people to be with us in the desert so that on Easter, all of us in Haiti and all the Episcopal Church may sing together in joy: 'Alleluia, Alleluia, the Lord is risen indeed.'"

The trip was also meant for Jefferts Schori and Duracin to talk about the immediate and future directions of the diocese. The presiding bishop assured Duracin that the entire Episcopal Church stood with his diocese in prayer and support, and would continue to do so, according to Stanley.

Stanley is one of four Episcopal Church missionaries assigned to Haiti and the only one who was not in-country at the time of the Jan. 12 quake. Duracin has asked Stanley to help the diocese coordinate offers of relief and recovery made by others in the Episcopal Church, and to tell the diocese's story.

Stanley said part of the discussion in Port-au-Prince centered on how she can continue to assist Duracin and the diocese by splitting her time between Haiti and the U.S. As part of that work, she will continue to help coordinate the work of Episcopalians elsewhere in the church who have interests in or connections with specific places and ministries in Haiti, she said.

Stanley said she was gratified to hear Duracin's confidence in her ability to help the diocese connect more strongly with "our partners who are working together to help God's beloved children in Haiti."

Stanley, who spoke with ENS by phone from Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, after the visit, said that Duracin wanted the presiding bishop to see the extent of the devastation the diocese suffered. While the full extent of damage is still being assessed, it is clear that most of the diocese's churches and schools were destroyed or heavily damaged. The convent of the Sisters of St. Margaret, adjacent to the cathedral, was also destroyed.

The lost schools include the Holy Trinity complex of primary, music and trade schools next to the demolished diocesan cathedral, the university and the seminary. A portion of the St. Vincent School for Handicapped Children, also in the Haitian capital, collapsed. Students and possibly staff were killed at some of the schools.

Stanley said that Duracin, Jefferts Schori and she visited the Holy Trinity school complex, the Episcopal University and the survivors' camp on a rocky field at College Ste. Pierre, a diocesan school destroyed by the quake. (The diocese, known locally as L'Eglise Episcopale d'Haiti, is caring for about 25,000 Haitians in roughly 20 makeshift camps around the country. Since the quake, many people have left the capital for the countryside.)

The three also surveyed Duracin's home which collapsed in the quake, trapping and severely injuring his wife, Marie-Edithe. Duracin has told ENS that he is been spending his night sleeping in a tent outside another home that he was having built for his family.

The Rev. Kesner Ajax, head of the diocese's Bishop Tharp Institute of Business and Technology (BTI) in Les Cayes, drove the three around the city. Everywhere they went they saw evidence of destruction and death, Stanley said.

The Holy Trinity music school once housed the country's only concert hall, but now "you can see where it came smashing straight down and there are still bodies of our students in there as well," Stanley said.

Duracin told them that "this is why we cannot just use a bulldozer" to clear the wreckage.

There is a common grave just outside of the Episcopal University and Stanley said they stopped to pray at that grave. One of the lower level classrooms that was destroyed usually had more than 100 students in it, she said, but only nine bodies have been found. People are going through the rubble by hand searching for the dead.

Meanwhile, just outside the university, authorities from a nearby police station have set up an outdoor holding cell for prisoners, Stanley said.

At the diocesan trade school, only the façade is still standing, Stanley said.

"There nothing left except bodies," she said. "We could actually see one body at the ruins."

Stanley said: "It was heart-wrenching to see the city that I love -- to see the things that this church has done for so many years that makes me so proud to be an Episcopalian in Haiti -- totally gone," Stanley said. "It is beyond heart-breaking. I don't have adequate words to describe the devastation."

Jefferts Schori flew to Santo Domingo on Feb. 7 from Havana, Cuba, after being a co-consecrator at the Rev. Griselda Delgado Del Carpio's consecration and ordination as bishop coadjutor of the Episcopal Church of Cuba. The service ended the Cuban church's synod meeting during which a large number of parishes donated money for Haitian Episcopalians, according to Archdeacon Paul Feheley, principal secretary to Canadian primate Fred Hiltz who chairs the Cuba Metropolitan Council. Jeffets Schori and Stanley, who met her in the Dominican Republic capital, flew into Port-au-Prince the next day for the visit.

They brought with them a number of gifts and supplies for Duracin and the diocese, including six episcopal clergy shirts for the bishop that were a gift from the Church Pension Group, three liturgical stoles and 3,000 communion wafers from the presiding bishop, and pants and socks for Duracin and a bottle of Taylor tawny port communion wine from Stanley.

She also gave the bishop an alb and cincture that was purchased by Rhonda Busch, an administrator at Church of the Good Shepherd in Burke, Virginia. The church, where Stanley was priested and which still supports her missionary work, offered a requiem mass Feb. 4 for the victims of the earthquake who were members of the Church of St. James the Just in Pétionville, Haiti. Stanley serves the English-speaking congregation there.

"In our culture it is very important that the leader look like a leader," Stanley said. "In the church in Haiti, it's very important that the bishop look like the bishop because when he is properly dressed and properly vested then we know that he can take care of us and we know that we have not been forgotten."

Duracin told Stanley that the bread and wine will be used Feb. 12 during the Episcopal Church's part of the nationwide prayer services planned to mark the one month anniversary of the earthquake.

Stanley also brought with her a nearly 150-year-old brass cross that had once been part of a processional cross used by missionaries. She was given the cross by the Goodson family of Winston-Salem, North Carolina, whose members attend St. Paul's Episcopal Church there. While looking through the rubble at College Ste. Pierre, Stanley said, the presiding bishop found a staff that might have been a short processional cross or a verger'swand and which the three discovered fit the cross perfectly.

-- The Rev. Mary Frances Schjonberg is national correspondent for the Episcopal News Service and editor of Episcopal News Monthly.

An appeal for Haiti from the Diocese of Virginia

February 5, 2010


Trucks for Haiti: Diocese of Virginia Churches Spearhead Campaign

The Diocese of Virginia, responding to a special request from Episcopal Relief and Development (ERD), has embarked on a campaign to supply 10 small pickup trucks to ERD for its relief efforts in the Diocese of Haiti. In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Diocese of Virginia churches responded by providing trucks to aid in the relief efforts. Katie Mears, co-coordinator of Haiti disaster relief for ERD, contacted the Diocese of Virginia to ask for a repeat performance of that truck campaign, this time for Haiti.

ERD explained that it currently has a system that is working well to bring supplies, water, food and medicine from the Dominican Republic to the Diocese of Haiti's Port-au-Prince central relief area. But many of the earthquake victims have settled in church communities in hilltop villages outside of Port-au-Price and Leogane. ERD needs additional trucks to ferry supplies to these remote areas. ERD asked that the trucks be "small and fierce" to handle the rough road conditions.

The Rev. Buck Aiken, who coordinated the truck campaign for Katrina relief victims, has been charged by Bishop Johnston with responding to ERD's request. Mr. Aiken commented, "ERD and the Diocese of Haiti need these trucks yesterday to distribute much needed emergency supplies. We hope to raise the money, buy the trucks and drive them to the port in Miami by the end of next week - there is no time for delay." A team of drivers hopes to leave Richmond on Thursday, February 11.

Ms. Mears explained that normally ERD would simply buy the trucks in the Dominican Republic. But supply and demand pressures have caused the price of vehicles in the Dominican Republic to skyrocket, making it more cost effective to ship the trucks from the United States.

The goal is to raise $175,000 for the 10 trucks, especially because ERD and Haiti have asked that the trucks be "almost new." We have already received over $85,000 in donations toward that goal. The Diocese of Virginia will coordinate the fundraising and transportation logistics. Initially, the trucks will be titled and insured by the Diocese of Virginia. ERD will take over in Miami, and ultimately ownership will transfer to the Diocese of Haiti for its long-term use.

We recognize that many churches and individuals have already made generous contributions. Thank you so much for that support. We hope that this truck campaign will be another avenue for all of us to come together and provide additional relief.

Please send contributions payable to the Diocese of Virginia with "Haiti Truck Relief" in the memo line (110 West Franklin Street, Richmond VA 23220). The Diocese also is continuing to collect funds for ERD generally and to assist the Diocese's missionary, Lauren Stanley, when she is able to return to Haiti.


Contact:
Buck Blanchard
Director of Mission & Outreach
800-DIOCESE x16
bblanchard@thediocese.net

Haiti bishop: "In the wilderness but safe in faith."

In Haiti's 'new era' Episcopalians around the world offer help

'I extend my arms to the thousands without shelter,' Duracin says

By Pat McCaughan and Mary Frances Schjonberg, January 25, 2010

[Episcopal News Service] In a letter titled "One is in the wilderness but safe in faith," Episcopal Diocese of Haiti Bishop Jean Zaché Duracin says the destructive Jan. 12 earthquake began a "new era" in the history of that impoverished nation.

"This is also a new era in the history of humanitarian aid because the catastrophe has dealt a terrible blow to more than 10 million living beings -- inhabitants who have lost their homes and their way of life," the bishop wrote in a letter posted in French here (ENS received an English translation Jan. 24). "The capital [Port-au-Prince] is transformed into an immense refuge camp. They call desperately for water, food, and medicine."

Elsewhere in the Episcopal Church, dioceses and congregations are continuing to respond to the calls for help from the church's largest diocese.

"Most of our churches are destroyed," Duracin said. "Many schools are only piles of stones."

To read the full story, click HERE.

To contribute to Episcopal Relief and Development's Haiti fund, click HERE.

Amid the grimness, a smile

Haiti bishop describes conditions as "grim"

Haitian bishop briefs Episcopal Relief and Development on diocese's priorities

Headmistress says 'the tragedy was incredible to me'

By Mary Frances Schjonberg, January 22, 2010

[Episcopal News Service] The Haitian diocese suffered greatly with the quake. A number of the diocese's other 254 schools, ranging from preschools to a university and a seminary, were destroyed or heavily damaged, including the Holy Trinity complex of primary, music and trade schools adjacent to the demolished diocesan Cathédrale Sainte Trinité (Holy Trinity Cathedral) in Port-au-Prince.

A portion of the St. Vincent School for Handicapped Children, also in the Haitian capital, collapsed, killing between six and 10 students and staff. Many of the students are living at the camp while arrangements are being made for them to be housed elsewhere.

More than 100 of the diocese's churches have been damaged or destroyed, [Haiti Bishop Jean Zaché] Duracin has said.

As many as 3,000 quake survivors, including many members of the diocese, have congregated on a rocky field next to College Ste. Pierre, a diocesan primary school that the quake destroyed. Duracin, who was left homeless by the quake, has led the effort to organize and maintain the camp, where conditions are described as grim.

TO READ THE FULL STORY, CLICK HERE.

My sermon from our Service of Prayers and Remembrance for Haiti last night

History matters.

The history of the earth matters. The surface of the earth is alive, made of what geologists call tectonic plates. The plates move as surely as the sun shines, and when the plates move, mountains are formed, islands rise, rivers are moved. Earthquakes show no partiality to those living atop the land or by the sea.

The history of people matters.

When Christopher Columbus came to this continent where we now live, among the first islands he found came to be known as Haiti.

Haiti became a French colony, and to call it a colony is to sanitize what it really was: a slave camp, producing sugar to make rum for Europeans. At its peak in the 18th century, France imported 50,000 African slaves a year into Haiti to boost the profits of its sugar trade. If anyone made a pact with the Devil in Haiti, it was the French imperial slave power.

In 1791, the slaves revolted – the only successful slave rebellion in the Americas. Haiti became the second independent republic in the Western Hemisphere, after the United States, and the first independent black republic in the world.

But Haiti paid a terrible price for its independence and geographic isolation. France blockaded Haiti in 1825, threatening to re-enslave the entire population unless the Haitians promised to pay for their freedom.

Haiti paid tribute to France for the next 122 years, and in fact, paid one-third more to France than the United States paid France for the entire Louisiana Purchase.

By 1900, eighty percent of the gross national product of Haiti was being paid to France. To pay the debt, Haiti harvested almost all of its trees; today only 2 percent of its forests remain.

The debt was not paid off until 1947, and it left Haiti completely destitute. With such poverty and such a distorted economy, it is little wonder that Haiti came to be ruled by a series of corrupt despots.

Last week’s earthquake tore open for all the world to see how badly Haiti has been neglected by the developed world and its former slave masters.

The death toll is horrific, now estimated at 200,000 people. With the infrastructure destroyed, medical and relief teams are having a tough time reaching those the most in need. The scale of this disaster is mind-numbing. So far, 80,000 people have been buried in mass graves, roughly10,000 a day.

There are reports of amputations being done without anesthetic. There are an estimated 2 million who are homeless, and many will die from lack of clean drinking water, food and medicine.

Many will die of injuries that are treatable but the treatment will not arrive in time. Medical teams from the University of Virginia will soon depart for Haiti, and our prayers go with them.

Our own Episcopal Church is shattered. There are 100,000 Episcopalians in Haiti; it is our largest diocese; there are 200 Episcopal schools, churches and a university. Nearly every building is demolished. Tonight Bishop Jean Zaché Duracin sleeps in a tent, his house and cathedral destroyed.

And yet, his spirit is not shattered. “What is important is to keep the faith knowing God is with us,” he said in an interview with a Wall Street Journal reporter [the interview can be viewed in a video posted at the bottom of this sermon].

It is tempting to ask, where is God in all this?

Of this I am certain: God is weeping; God is present in the light and in the darkness, on the mountaintop and in the depths of the sea. God is with those who are hurting, and God is with those who are tirelessly working to bring aid and comfort, and dress every wound and wipe every tear.

And God is with all of you who are giving generously to this effort, and God is with you in your prayers and your remembrances tonight.

I am also certain to the bottom of my soul that those who have died are now healed, their pain is no longer. God has brought them out of their pain and bound their wounds. The God I know, the God of Haiti, is a God of limitless love.

“In my house are many dwelling places,” Jesus says. Many dwelling places – a place for you, a place for me, a place for the people of Haiti. Heaven is taken care of, that is the promise that is ours forever.

The question for us to ask tonight is what kind of dwelling places will we build on this earth? This earthquake, I pray, has shaken us out of whatever compliancy we may have about a place called Haiti, and other abandoned islands and neglected peoples.

Before the earthquake, the economy was already a shambles, the land deforested, the government unstable. The national debt of Haiti is $840 million. It would be doubly tragic if Haiti emerged from this earthquake only to have its recovery crippled by the debt of dictators. That debt, $840 million is no larger than an accounting error to many governments. But to a place as small as Haiti, it is a crushing mountain.

I pray this earthquake has shaken us into a realization that the poor of this earth are our poor, their debt is our debt, their work is our work.

It is among the living where pain now dwells. You demonstrate by your being here tonight that you share in that pain. You demonstrate that we are connected to each other and to the grieving people Haiti.

We are connected to each other, no matter where we live, the color of our skin, the language we speak, or the condition of the building where we dwell. We are connected to each other here tonight by our prayers, by our friendships, and we are connected to the people of Haiti.

And we are especially connected by our loving God in whose image we are created.

Love “bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.”

And so it is to us to live as God would have us live, to love as God would have us love, and to get on with the work God would have us do to bind the wounds, and build the dwelling places that will last not just in heaven, but on earth. Amen

Please give generously to Episcopal Relief and Development. You can do so by clicking HERE.

Photo above by the Associated Press. This sermon was based on reporting in The Times of London and a column in The New York Times by Nicholas D. Kristof.

The Wall Street Journal interviewed our bishop in Haiti, the Right Rev. Jean Right. Rev. Jean Zaché Duracin. The interview and pictures can be seen below:

The sun blazes for everyone

I much feel the need for a poem today: a few words of respite amidst what has been a very heavy ten days or so. Karen from Tennessee sent this across awhile back (and I have run it before), and it fills me with a touch of hope for humanity and our planet. The sunrise photo is from Egypt at the Red Sea.

Tonight at 7 pm we will hold a special service of prayers and remembrance for the people of Haiti. Please join us if you can.

Here's the poem:

Sunrise
by Mary Oliver

You can
die for it --
an idea,
or the world. People

have done so,
brilliantly,
letting
their small bodies be bound

to the stake,
creating
an unforgettable
fury of light. But

this morning,
climbing the familiar hills
in the familiar
fabric of dawn, I thought

of China ,
and India
and Europe , and I thought
how the sun

blazes
for everyone just
so joyfully
as it rises

under the lashes
of my own eyes, and I thought
I am so many!
What is my name?

What is the name
of the deep breath I would take
over and over
for all of us? Call it

whatever you want, it is
happiness, it is another one
of the ways to enter
fire.

My friend George Johnston: wisdom in the face of disaster

My friend George Johnston, who is about my age, has lived with Parkinson Disease for a very long time. He's had a brain implant that modulates some of the more severe effects of Parkinson, but make no mistake, George's life has been turned inside out and upside down by this disease. Even so, soon after his brain surgery, George was deployed as a Red Cross volunteer in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina. He has seen personal disaster and disaster on a massive scale.

George is active with the Parkinson Association of Northern California, and he writes an insightful column for the local newsletter. He wrote this last week following the Haiti earthquake, and his wisdom and perspective is worth reading. His column is reprinted in full below, and his dog's name is Akua:

Reflections Outside the Box
By George Johnston

It is amazing to me sometimes how I become so obsessed with my Parkinsons that anything outside that box has no meaning to me. Having lived with what Michael J. Fox calls the “unwelcome stranger” for nigh on 16 years now, it has become so woven into every fabric and corner of my life that everything that I say or do seems to be colored with a PD background. I remember the interview that MJF did with Barbara Walters in the late 90’s, and she asked him “Is there ever any time during the day that you are not aware of the fact that you have Parkinsons”? With only a brief moment for reflection, he simply said, “No.”

It takes something powerful to pull me out of my awareness of my PD, but such was the case earlier this week, [I am writing this column on January 15], when Haiti was devastated by what I am sure will always be remembered by the people that live there as “The Earthquake”. For a moment, actually more than a moment, I was transfixed by the horror and terror that was created in all those peoples’ lives, and for many moments my PD was not important, not even memorable. There simply are some things that happen in this life that so transcend our own problems, they make those problems that we cherish and polish each day lose their significance.

What is happening in Haiti now has its lessons for those of us with lesser burdens to bear, and it was a lesson taught to me on August 29, 2005 when Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans. Just 6 months earlier, on March 15, I had my DBS surgery. I was literally transformed from an invalid back into a functioning, albeit struggling, member of society. And seeing what was happening in New Orleans called out to me the way no tragedy of any scope had ever touch me before. Before you could whistle Dixie, I was at the Red Cross offices in Sacramento finding out what I could do with my newly found freedom from the physical manifestations of PD. I knew what it was like to have lost it all, and the pictures and stories of those in NO facing the same prospect galvanized my will. After long arguments with those at the Red Cross that said they weren’t going to send someone that had just had brain surgery into a disaster zone, and the help of my neurologist and neurosurgeon who were willing to go to bat for me and say “If he is willing to take the risk, he shouldn’t be treated differently than any other volunteer”, and after drafting and signing a waiver holding the Red Cross harmless from anything that happened to me if I were deployed into the NO area, three weeks after Katrina hit I was on my way to Louisiana with the first group of Red Cross volunteers deployed from Sacramento to this disaster.

I was assigned to a food kitchen in Belle Chase, Louisiana, about 10 miles south of downtown NO, and for three weeks worked with the best group of individuals I have ever had the opportunity to know, putting out 3,000 hot meals a day for some of those who had lost everything overnight. I stood in line with 25 year olds unloading water, food and other provisions from the back of 18 wheelers, and never broke a stride. Granted I took a nap every afternoon if I could, but others allowed me that. For those three weeks I was so swept up in the tragedy of other peoples lives, that PD seemed a distant concern, not a daily companion. I will always treasure those times, and equally treasure those doctors who skill and concern gave me the opportunity to experience once again what it meant to be a fully functional part of society again. One of the many lessons I learned from that trip was that having PD not only removes you from the joys of life, but the tragedies, also. For feeling and being a member of society requires that you participate in those tragedies, as well as the triumphs. Feeling happy and feeling sad are likewise similar: they are both feelings, and equally missed by those of us with PD.

Watching the situation in Haiti develop this week has caused me to revisit these memories many times, and I have to remind myself that my PD has advanced these last 4 and _ years, regardless of the surgery; that I am 58, not 53; and that a country with little or no government control or involvement in the life of its population is not a place for any civilian, non-disaster professional to be, with or without PD.

So I will sit this one out, contribute what I can financially, and hope that those stronger than myself will take this opportunity to involve themselves in assisting those in Haiti, both now and into the future, for just like NO, this situation will not be patched over or healed in a week, a month or a year. It will take decades for normalcy in any real sense to return to a region affected this way.

And for those of us who must sit on the sidelines and watch, we can also try to prepare ourselves in the event of a similar emergency happening in our neighborhood. Remember, those levies out there won’t last forever, and this is the home of the San Andreas Fault. And perhaps the best thing we can do to prepare for that emergency is by lessening the impact of our limitations on those charged with taking care of the situation in our neck of the woods. How do we do that? At minimum, [1] by making sure we have at least a one month surplus supply of our medications in a water tight container in our homes, where it will be the first thing to grab in the event that an emergency arises. [2] By keeping packed in a backpack several days supply of loose fitting and comfortable clothes that can be grabbed quickly. [3] By making sure that someone other that our spouse or partner who doesn’t live at the same address has our list of medications, doctors and other pertinent PD information. [4] By making sure we are on file with Medic Alert and that we wear the medic alert bracelet or medallion at all times.

I can personally attest to the fact from my experience with Katrina that emergency workers are relieved when they find people who have made these advance preparations. Just think for a moment what it would be like if you were along in a situation like this, scared, running out of medication, no change of clothes, no ability to communicate immediately to first responders with pertinent medical information about your condition. It is not a pretty sight. So, be prepared, it may be the best help those of us with PD have to offer.

And pray. Especially for those in Haiti who suffer from neurological disorders and survived the quake. Pray that they can be, [or by the time you read this, have been], found by compassionate first responders who will be able to asertain, understand and deal with their needs.

Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori's homily at prayer service for Haiti

Prayer Service for Haiti

Strength through Unity

Washington National Cathedral

January 17, 2010

Our hearts are broken, as we sit transfixed before images of devastation and ruin, the bodies of children and elders piled in the streets, buildings crushed to dust, pleading arms and voices raised to heaven. We respond in lament and grief and sorrow, we push back against the senseless mystery of life’s pain. We yield to those ancient questions: Why? What sort of a God permits destruction like this? What can I do, how can I help? Those questions can’t ever be fully answered fully, yet they are most important in times like these. The reality is that life is not safe or predictable, but what we do with our lives gives them meaning. God does not cause suffering or punish people with it, but God is present and known more intimately in the midst of suffering. Above all, we become more human through our broken hearts.

That ability to suffer with, to feel compassion, is one of the gifts of being fully human. We may only be able to be respond through being with, by standing alongside, even at a distance. We can pray with the grieving, and we can reach out.

Compassion is pouring out across this nation and across the globe, as the world feels the suffering in Haiti. Suddenly strangers have become hungry brothers and thirsty and sisters, people in pain, without a place to lay their heads, mourning the death of loved ones.

Compassion is a gift that changes the world. We have discovered and remembered our sisters and brothers in a land many of us will never see – our common humanity is staring us in the face, and we have chosen to meet the gaze of Haiti. We are changed forever, if we will only remember the terror of that gaze.

Remember and let yourself be shaken. Feel something of the terror in Haiti. Terror, the word, comes from shaking; this terror started in the shaking of the earth. It has a parallel in the fear that periodically consumes this nation. May this terror shake us out of complacency and willful ignorance. Remember the people of Haiti. Reach out to those who have lost loved ones, to those who still wait for news of the missing, to Haitian-Americans in the neighborhoods around us.

The answer to terror is solidarity. The shaking stops when we stand together, when we remember that sisters and brothers, linked across the world, are stronger than fear.

Haiti is filled with resilient and persevering people, but much of the nation’s resources and systems are lost and broken. Many nations are already moving to stand alongside. We can give thanks for the rapid and deep response from these United States. There are immense seeds of hope in the response to this disaster, seeds that must continue to be watered and nurtured for the future. We’ve seen some of the hopeful seeds in Haitians gathering in broken streets to sing and pray, even children playing with empty boxes in which food arrived. Hope abounds, but it must be answered.

Our remembering has to be long-term, it must endure, if it is going to beat back the terror of this disaster. The longer and harder task is to remember the ancient hope of humanity, that vision Isaiah proclaims as repairing the ruined cities and building up ancient ruins and devastations. The long arm of remembering will give the strength to see that the hungry and thirsty and ill and homeless are cared for. Rebuilding the infrastructure of Haiti will take years, just as it has in the aftermath of Katrina. We cannot forget.

The disaster of this earthquake is the most recent and the most devastating of a long series of terrors – hurricanes, political coups and instability, the centuries-long struggle of former slaves to make a home in a foreign land. There is some deep solidarity in praying for Haiti on the eve of our nation’s remembrance of Martin Luther King. His message was filled with the biblical vision of the prophets, that heaven on earth comes when the poor are cared for and all God’s children are treated with justice. That vision applies to the poorest here and equally to those a few hundred miles south of our borders, to all who live in abject poverty, hungry for the world’s justice.

The words of prophets also come with challenge. It’s easy to miss Isaiah’s caution – the prophet proclaims that eternal dream of a restored world, but also the day of God’s vengeance. Matthew’s version comes in the verses we didn’t read, that those who don’t feed and care for the poor will be consigned to what we usually call hell – it’s not the poor who end up there, but those who ignore them and their suffering. The ancient vision of a healed world demands that all people have decent and dignified life possibilities – clean water, adequate food, shelter, medical care, education for their children, stable government, the possibility of meaningful employment. Here in this nation we shelter that vision under the banner of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” That vision will never be possible in any nation while some live in want and fear.

Terror is not limited to Haiti. The prophets remind us that the kind of terror that leaves us shaking in our boots comes from poverty ignored and justice denied. That shaking is calmed and healed in remembering, in compassionate solidarity with the suffering of the world.

We are seeing immense generosity in the compassionate response to this earthquake. Our challenge will be to remember that suffering through the years to come, when the desperation is no longer on our screens 24 hours a day. The shaking and the terror will stop as the ruined city is rebuilt and the devastation of generations is healed. May today’s compassion be transformed into a steely will to continue caring for the least, the lost, and the left out until not one is left. May Haiti’s poor be our poor until that day dawns. May the suffering in Haiti be felt here and around the world until the oil of gladness blesses every brow, and every tear is dried, and every cry of grief is turned to joy.

The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori

Presiding Bishop

The Episcopal Church