Helping Haiti to recover from the devastating January earthquake must include support for the Church's mission there, Pat Collins CM writes

Haiti is about a third the area of Ireland. Nevertheless, it is densely populated with eight and a half million people, seven million of whom are baptised Catholics. When the devastating earthquake struck on Tuesday, January 12, the Church was badly affected.

Archbishop Joseph Serge Miot of the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince, was killed when buildings, including his cathedral, collapsed. His vicar general, Fr Benoit was also killed. At least 30 students for the priesthood were killed when their seminary collapsed. Other clerical students were killed when a building fell on their minibus.

Salesian Archbishop Louis Kébreau, chairman of the Bishops' Conference, is very worried about the seminarians who survived. Where will they live, how can they pursue their studies? Not surprisingly, many churches, convents and presbyteries have also been destroyed.

Homeless

An unknown number of priests and sisters have been killed or injured, while others are homeless and living out in the open, alongside the people they serve. In the future the priests and religious will have to help in comforting a traumatised and grieving nation. This mind-boggling catastrophe raises two main questions.

Firstly, why did God let it happen? Some might be tempted to think that it is a form of punishment because many Haitians engaged in voodoo rituals and sinful practices. On one occasion Jesus was asked a similar question.

He replied, ''Those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them-do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish'' (Lk 13:4-5). Jesus accepted that although the people who died were sinners, they were no worse than anyone else.

Renowned scripture scholar, Joachim Jeremias has pointed out, ''In Lk 13:1-5, Jesus expressly attacks the dogma that misfortune is a punishment for the definite sins of particular people.

''Rather, suffering is a call to repentance, a call which goes out to us all. Whereas his contemporaries ask, 'Why does God send suffering?' the disciples of Jesus are to ask, 'For what does God send suffering?''' Jeremias goes on to say, ''One answer would be, 'God allows suffering, in order to summon people to repentance lest they suffer a greater catastrophe'''.

Kill the body

The calamity he refers to is the second death, the loss of one's soul on the day of judgment. Perhaps that is what Jesus had in mind when he said in Mt 10:28, ''Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell''. Since the earthquake occurred, Guy Poulard, Bishop of Les Cayes has rightly stated, ''our present destruction is not the consequence of a curse from God''.

The second question is, how should we Irish Catholics respond to Christ's afflictions in the abject sufferings of our brothers and sisters in Haiti? Arguably, what Haitians need most at present is the virtue of hope. The Lord is trying to say through us to the victims of the disaster, ''Surely there is a future, and your hope will not be cut off''. (Prov 23:18)

The extent to which we respond in a compassionate and generous way to the needs of our distressed brothers and sisters, in a prayerful and practical way, is the extent that we will help to enkindle hope in them.

We need to pray and intercede on their behalf. But affective prayer is not enough. It also needs to be matched by effective deeds. The hands need to be conformed to the heart.

For example, Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) has been helping the bishops of Haiti for a long time. In the last two years it has contributed about two million euro to different pastoral projects. In the coming years the surviving clergy and religious will need a great deal of spiritual and material help in order to encourage the people and to rebuild the seminary, churches, convents, clinics, and schools.

Humanitarian

It is good that we donate to charities like Goal and Trócaire which are giving lots of humanitarian help in Haiti. But people do not live on bread alone. If Irish Catholics donate money to ACN, to religious priests and nuns like the Sisters of St Joseph of Cluny, who are working in Haiti, we can be sure that it will be put to really good use. It will enable them to heal broken bodies, minds and souls, not only in the immediate future, but long after the international non-governmental organisations have left.

We can be assured that if we Irish are generous to the people of Haiti in their time of grave material need, the Lord will bless the Irish Church in its hour of grave spiritual need. Jesus spoke about this reciprocal relationship when he promised, ''Give, and it will be given to you. . . . For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you'' (Lk 6:38).