NEW YORK — When Patricia Brintle based the From Right here to Haiti nonprofit in 2010, she remembers that Bishop Man A. Sansaricq was a stabilizing drive all through the method, remaining by her facet for the following 10 years guiding the group’s efforts to assist the Caribbean nation.
On Saturday, Aug. 21, Bishop Sansaricq, a retired auxiliary bishop for the Diocese of Brooklyn and the primary Haitian bishop in america, died at age 86. Brintle, and others who knew him, describe him as a sort and humble man who was a quiet however efficient chief and a “lifeline to the Haitian neighborhood” worldwide.
“I really feel that we misplaced a large. We misplaced a saint,” Brintle stated. “For all From Right here to Haiti has achieved, it has been due to the steering of Bishop [Sansaricq]. Haitians have suffered lots, and the bishop had suffered lots, however he by no means misplaced his religion, and that was the instance Haitians had been following.”
Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio described Bishop Sansaricq as an essential determine for the Haitian neighborhood who was “was very energetic, proper to the top.”
“Bishop Sansaricq was the primary Haitian American Bishop in america,” Bishop DiMarzio stated. “He was an emblem of the progress of the Haitian folks right here and, as somebody who served as a bishop, gave the Haitian neighborhood some recognition and stature as immigrant folks, a ministry he served very effectively.”
Sunday, Aug. 22, was the fifteenth anniversary of Bishop Sansaricq’s episcopal ordination as an auxiliary bishop within the Diocese of Brooklyn. Auxiliary Bishop Octavio Cisneros of Brooklyn and Bishop Frank Caggiano of Bridgeport had been episcopally ordained on the similar time.
Bishop Cisneros stated it was a special occasion for himself and Bishop Caggiano, in addition to for Bishop Sansaricq, who’s now “within the firm of the saints, along with Jesus who has known as us to be his servants.”
He described Bishop Sansaricq as humble and a real pastor.
“He wasn’t very involved about pomp and circumstance. He could be blissful to face on the finish of the road. He shall be blissful to brush the ground earlier than a ceremony,” Bishop Cisneros stated. “He was the form of person who we need to see as a pastor. He was a person actually chosen by God to be an instance of what it means to be an apostle.”
Bishop Sansaricq was born on Oct. 6, 1934, within the small city of Jérémie, Haiti, situated on the nation’s southern peninsula about 116 miles from Port-au-Prince.
A few decade later, Bishop Sansaricq’s priestly ordination was on June 29, 1960, on the Cathedral of Port-au-Prince. He spent the following 12 months as an assistant priest on the Cathedral of Les Cayes. Then, in October 1961, he was despatched to the Bahamas because the chaplain for Haitian immigrants in that nation, the place he would stay till September 1968.
Bishop Sansaricq spent the following three years incomes a grasp’s diploma from the Pontifical Gregorian College in Rome earlier than being assigned to Sacred Coronary heart Parish in Cambria Heights, Queens. He served there for 22 years, from 1971-1993.
His subsequent cease was St. Jerome Parish in Brooklyn, the place he was pastor from 1993-2006 earlier than being episcopally ordained as an auxiliary bishop for the diocese. He would maintain that function till his retirement on Oct. 24, 2010.
All through his time within the Diocese of Brooklyn, Bishop Sansaricq was dedicated to the Haitian neighborhood. He helped discovered and was the primary director of the Nationwide Middle of the Haitian Apostolate and created Haitian-Individuals United for Progress.
Bishop Cisneros additionally famous that Bishop Sansaricq labored exhausting to translate non secular works to Creole for the Haitian neighborhood.
Father Hilaire Belizaire, the pastor of the Sacred Coronary heart of Jesus Parish in Cambria Heights and the coordinator of ministry to Haitian immigrants within the diocese, highlighted Bishop Sansaricq’s work ethic and lifelong dedication to the Haitian neighborhood.
“Bishop Sansaricq by no means retired. He continued up till his final breath,” Father Belizaire stated. “This can be a man of nice coronary heart. He has nice love for God and devoted his life to his folks, and he has that form of spirit to welcome everybody, to be there for everybody.”
Monsignor Sean Ogle, the vicar for clergy and consecrated life within the Diocese of Brooklyn and chairman of the board of DeSales Media, stated he final spoke to Bishop Sansaricq on August 17 to supply prayers for the folks of Haiti after a 7.2-magnitude earthquake hit the island on Aug. 14.
Monsignor Ogle stated Bishop Sansaricq was planning aid efforts.
“So nice and rapid was his concern,” Monsignor Ogle stated in an announcement. “It was typical of this man, who was the soul of each charity and motion. Our diocese was blessed to have such a priest and bishop, and he shall be sorely missed.”
Only some weeks earlier, Archbishop Thomas Wenski of Miami final spoke to Bishop Sansaricq concerning the assassination of Haiti’s president Jovenel Moïse. Archbishop Wenski stated he had recognized Bishop Sansaricq since about 1980. They labored collectively to coordinate the Haitian Apostolate in america, because the Diocese of Brooklyn and the Archdiocese of Miami have two of the most important Haitian Catholic populations.
Archbishop Wenski seems on the progress of the Haitian Catholic neighborhood in america — which has added many parishioners through the years and now has about 70 monks nationwide — and acknowledges that it wouldn’t have been doable “with out pioneers like Sansaricq that stored the religion alive within the early days.”
“Might he relaxation in peace,” Archbishop Wenski stated. “It’s the passing of an period.”
A wake for Bishop Sansaricq shall be held on Tuesday, August 31, from 3-9 p.m. at St. Jerome Roman Catholic Church, Brooklyn, and Wednesday, Sept. 1, from 3-7 p.m. at St. Gregory the Nice Roman Catholic Church, Brooklyn.
A vigil Mass shall be celebrated on Wednesday, September 1, at 7:30 p.m. at St. Gregory the Nice Roman Catholic Church, Brooklyn.
The Mass of Christian burial shall be held on Thursday, September 2, at 11 a.m. on the Co-Cathedral of St. Joseph, Brooklyn.
Masks shall be required in any respect public companies for Bishop Sansaricq.