Bishop DiMarzio Expresses Confidence in Funding Construction
WINDSOR TERRACE — Parishioners who donate to particular collections within the Diocese of Brooklyn for Haiti disaster relief can really feel assured their donations will attain their supposed recipients, regardless of the turmoil in that nation, officers mentioned.
Persistent reviews of armed gangs hijacking vehicles stuffed with reduction provides supposed for hurricane or earthquake survivors within the impoverished Caribbean nation have lengthy been trigger for alarm. These considerations reached such a fever pitch following the deadly Aug. 14 quake that Haiti’s Nationwide Police introduced the deployment of extra officers to the nation’s southern peninsula to guard reduction shipments.
[Related: Diocese of Brooklyn Faithful Being Urged to Support Victims of Haiti Earthquake]
As well as, reviews of supply issues with the billions of {dollars} in help governments pledged to Haiti after the extreme quake of 2010 even have been remembered as the reason why would-be donors could also be hesitating now.
However Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio has expressed confidence that present donations from the diocese will get to their Haiti locations — and be put to good use — due to the construction the Catholic Church within the U.S. has arrange.
The diocese held particular collections at Lots on the weekend of Aug. 21-22 and deliberate to take action once more on Aug. 28-29. Bishop DiMarzio mentioned he had no set quantity he hoped to boost, however he predicted the collections would doubtless generate not less than $100,000.
Father Patrick Keating, economo and vicar for Monetary Administration for the diocese, mentioned that previously, parishioners have been “very beneficiant with their donations.”
Donations might be positioned in a diocese-established fund referred to as the Compostela Fund, which, the bishop defined, is akin to a financial institution the place cash may be saved till it is able to be distributed.
“That is just like the financial institution for the diocese, the place we deposit cash and it’s invested after which we’ve got entry to [it],” Bishop DiMarzio mentioned.
The cash particularly focused for Haiti Reduction might be taken out of the Compostela Fund and despatched to PROCHE, a corporation arrange by the U.S. Convention of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) and the Catholic Church in France following Haiti’s 2010 catastrophe. The partnership is geared to make sure that funds go immediately to spiritual entities. PROCHE is an acronym for “Proximite Catholique avec Haiti et son Eglise,” or “Catholic closeness with Haiti and her Church.”
Archbishop Thomas Wenski of the Archdiocese of Miami, who has labored with PROCHE, mentioned funds directed to the group might be used strictly to rebuild church buildings and Catholic establishments in Haiti.
Whereas governments will help Haiti with emergency help, “no authorities goes to provide the Church cash to rebuild a church or a church facility,” Archbishop Wenski mentioned. “So the one folks they’ll rely on is the Church, and we’ve got to assist the Church to have the ability to try this.”
Over time, PROCHE funds have helped rebuild 35 buildings, together with church buildings, rectories, colleges, and assembly halls. “So we’ve got a great observe file,” Archbishop Wenski mentioned.
Bishop DiMarzio backed up Archbishop Wenski’s assist of PROCHE, saying: “We’re conscious — very a lot assured — that this is a company that has produced. There was no corruption with it. It’s overseen, audited, and surveyed on a regular basis. In order that’s why I’ve confidence within the construction.”
Bishop Pierre André Dumas, of the Diocese of Anse-a-Veau and Miragoane in Haiti, mentioned he’s grateful for the assistance that may arrive from the Catholic Church within the U.S.
“We heard that, and we are saying due to our mates, the bishops, and all of the Catholic devoted there in the USA, and all of the folks of goodwill who wish to assist Haiti and their heritage and variety. I’m certain God will give them one thing in return,” he mentioned.
Father Keating mentioned donations to Haiti are vital as a result of the nation desperately wants assist.
“The nation has been by a lot — earthquakes, hurricanes, political unrest — and if you see the images of church buildings which have been destroyed, it’s heartbreaking,” Father Keating mentioned. “But the folks of Haiti proceed to be stuffed with hope.”
The earthquake destroyed 40 church buildings in Bishop Dumas’s diocese alone.
In the meantime, emergency reduction efforts are persevering with.
Mark Khouri, CEO of Meals for the Poor Inc., a Florida-based Christian group that has maintained an workplace in Haiti for 30 years, mentioned the workplace has dispatched roughly 40 truckloads of meals and important gadgets into the earthquake zone.
“From our workplace right here in Florida, we’ve despatched roughly 30 extra containers with medicines and medical provides that have been requested, and different containers with extra meals and hygiene kits and important gadgets,” Khouri mentioned.
Nevertheless, folks on the bottom in Haiti who’ve seen the desperation up shut say there are issues with emergency reduction distribution, and never due to gangs, Khouri mentioned.
“One factor that occurred lately is that, of the 40 truckloads we’ve despatched into the world, 5 of them have been looted. This isn’t, from the reviews that we’re getting, from gang exercise. It’s [being done by] determined folks needing meals,” he mentioned.
Bishop Dumas is taking issues day-to-day.
“We attempt to handle step one, which is in regards to the emergency. We’re seeing what we are able to do to attempt to discover water for our folks and to attempt to consolation them, pray with them, and reside in solidarity with them,” he mentioned.