VISITING A SISTER CHURCH IN HAITI March 2001
A Special thanks to the Journal and Courier for letting us use this article.
Lafayette Catholics renew ties with mountain village
parish
EDITOR’S NOTE: Bob Scott, Journal and Courier religion reporter, was part of a mission trip to Haiti from March
13-20. He was part of a St. Mary Cathedral group that visited their sister church, St. Joseph, in the northern
mountain town of Pendus. Here is a personal account of the experience.
By Bob Scott
Journal and Courier
Our pastor, the Rev. Bob Klemme, asked the 14-member St. Mary Cathedral group to observe the presence of God
during our eight-day mission trip to Haiti — the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere.
Our purpose was to continue the fellowship and brotherhood established with our sister church 12 months ago. We
were the third St. Mary’s group to visit Pendus. Because we had two doctors with us, the focus was to help at a
clinic.
God’s awesome presence was obvious on the second day when we visited Port-au-Prince, a teeming cauldron of 2
million people struggling to survive.
In Port-au-Prince, God was working through the Missionaries of Charity nuns — the order founded by the late
Mother Teresa. As we entered the hospital/hospice filled with 127 sick and dying children, many of us had tears in
our eyes.
Frail babies and toddlers reached up from the white metal cribs, imploring us to hold them, if even for a few
minutes.
We were humbled as the gentle nuns quietly did their jobs without complaining. Karen Sullivan, a member of our
group from St. Lawrence Church, said, “This place truly is on holy ground.”
Medical help
God again was present as our two doctors and several volunteers treated dozens of sick and dying people at the St.
Joseph’s dispensary/clinic in Pendus (pronounced Pon-doo). For three days, people gathered in the church
compound to be treated. Many had walked two or three hours from surrounding mountain villages.
The doctors gently comforted a 20-year-old woman in the final stages of AIDS. Her mouth and gums were broken
out with horrific infections.
With tenderness, the volunteers cleaned the pus-filled leg sores of a 22-year-old man who had coped for 10 years
with untreated diabetes.
Our hearts again were shattered when a mother from the mountains brought in her young son for badly burned feet.
The boy was about 8, but looked like he was 4. He sustained the burns two years ago after being forced to walk on
hot coals during a voodoo ritual.
Concrete aid
God also was seen in the joyous faces of the people of Massacre (pronounced Ma-sock), a mountain village that is
about a two-hour hike from St. Joseph Church.
We celebrated the first Mass in the new, concrete church at Massacre. The church and an adjoining four-room
school, also made of concrete, were built with money donated during Masses at St. Mary.
It is a major improvement over the old school, which had a dirt floor, stick walls and one room for all grades. The
one-month-old structures have quickly become sources of community pride. The buildings will house town meetings
and dances, along with worship and education.
The Massacre schoolchildren, who wore red and blue, honored our group with dance routines outside the church.
They danced to a fast-paced drum cadence, using colorful flags. It was like watching a Haitian version of a Lafayette
high school drill team.
The hike
Getting to Massacre was a personal triumph for us. For almost two hours, we climbed a narrow, winding mountain
trail that occasionally was flanked with nasty cactus plants that Haitians use as fencing.
The lush, green mountain vistas were awe-inspiring. As the mockingbirds serenaded us, we realized that God also
was there in the midst of our physically challenging hike.
St. Mary’s Bob Fitzgerald, 70, and his wife, Shirley, teamed up to overcome the trail. “Come on, honey. We can do
it,” they said to each other.
We moved aside for sturdy burros carrying plantains and bananas to market. “Bon jours” and smiles were
exchanged in this Creole-speaking nation.
During rest stops, we shared water and food with people who lived near the trail. They came out to chat with the
Rev. Ronel “Sha Sha” Charelus, pastor of St. Joseph’s.
Sha Sha is a living saint. The “road warrior for God” tries to visit his two dozen parish chapels at least once or twice
a month. His sense of humor gets him through many setbacks, including the expense of repairing broken down
vehicles punished by crater-filled roads.
We learned about “Sha Sha time” when he was asked how much longer it was to our destination. Sha Sha would
smile and say, “Oh, only 45 minutes or so.” Two hours later, we would arrive.
The inspirational man will visit St. Mary Cathedral on Aug. 10 for a too-short weekend. It will be a time of rejoicing
at our church.
‘Captain Kangaroo’
Other highlights of the mission trip included the “People of Haiti Stations of the Cross,” the celebration of Masses, a
night wedding in Pendus, visiting village homes, and playing with the children of St. Joseph’s.
St. Mary’s Helen Hession has been dubbed the “Captain Kangaroo of Pendus.” Children flocked to her for games,
songs and candy. She also visited Haiti late last year with the second St. Mary’s group.
Kevin Cooley, a Subaru-Isuzu Automotive manager in Lafayette, helped a Pendus carpenter assemble a school
desk St. Mary had sent in kit form. Thirty desk kits were sent last fall as part of a sea container that also included
heart monitoring machines.
After completing one desk, the local carpenter and a friend made the next one by themselves. Cooley was all smiles.
The desks eventually will make their way to Massacre, up the mountain trail.
A sobering reminder of the sanctity of life jolted us during the “People of Haiti Stations of the Cross.” The 15 sites
in Port-au-Prince where people were slain since the early 1990s for the cause of freedom.
Many people, including priests, were martyred. Some were dragged out of churches and shot in front of horrified
worshipers. Stops included the Cathedral of Notre Dame, Sacred Heart Church, and the National Palace or “White
House.”
Celebrate, celebrate
In Roman Catholic terms, we “celebrate” Mass together. Americans don’t know the meaning of the word. When
Haitians worship, it is a real celebration. Conga drums and electronic keyboards provide the melodies as worshipers
sing and sway.
The Masses at Pendus and Massacre were personal favorites. It was OK to keep the beat by tapping your toe and
bobbing your head. Some of us were brave enough to sing the Creole songs from songsheets provided before Mass.
That effort earned us warm smiles and handshakes afterward from children and adults.
We also presented St. Joseph parishioners a Nativity scene donated by St. Mary parishioners. It will replace the
statue of the Blessed Mother that had duct tape around her neck and the statue of St. Joseph holding a Baby Jesus
missing fingers and toes.
Smaller versions of St. Mary’s Stations of the Cross also were given to St. Joseph Church and affixed to the interior
walls the same day.
The eight days went by too quickly. At first, some of us wondered what we were doing in Haiti. This definitely was
not Lafayette.
When we turned things over to God, we relaxed as our hearts and souls were opened to the beautiful people of Haiti.
The Haitians hunger for real freedom. Their daily struggle of getting clean water, sufficient food and health care
makes them giants in our eyes.
It was obvious that their faith sustains them on every level.
We will never forget the people of Haiti. They are forever in our prayers.
St. Mary’s group
In the past 12 months, St. Mary Cathedral has sent three groups to Haiti.
Those in the most recent group:
The Rev. Bob Klemme, pastor; Dr. Adel and Lulu Yaacoub, Henry and Dr. Ronette Chua, Tracy Schluttenhofer,
Kevin Cooley, Sara Poremski, Bob and Shirley Fitzgerald, Karen Sullivan, Jerry Tyrie, Helen Hession and Bob
Scott.
PHOTO CAPTIONS
DOCTOR AND PATIENT: Dr. Ronette Chua (left), a
missionary from St. Mary Cathedral in Lafayette,
examines a young girl as her mother looks on at a
clinic in Pendus, Haiti. Chua was one of two doctors
from the St. Mary group. This is the third time in 12
months that St. Mary has sent a group to Haiti. The
Lafayette parish’s sister church is called St. Joseph.
NEW CONSTRUCTION: The concrete church and adjoining school at Massacre were recently constructed. They
were financed by donations from St. Mary Cathedral parishioners.
BALLOON LADY: Lulu Yaacoub passes out balloons to children at the St. Joseph Church compound in Pendus.
St. Mary Cathedral parishioners donated balloons, candy and toys.