Haiti and the Love of God

One of the greatest graces for my spiritual life came in the form of an invitation from the Missionaries of Charity to my wife and me to be guests at their home in Haiti. This home is a compound in the midst of a very poor and dangerous slum in Port-au-Prince. Mother Teresa's sisters are fearless in entering into areas that no one else wants to go and entering into solidarity with those most abandoned. This is because of their love for Jesus who they encounter and serve in the poorest of the poor. They believe that He thirsts for our love, and that He thirsts that His love be known to others. So they go where His love is most needed and, among those who face the most crushing circumstances, they find and make known the love of Jesus anew through silent acts of love.  In this way, by their silent witness, they draw souls to Him - both the souls of those who suffer and also the souls of those who, with them, are moved to relieve this suffering. To accompany them in this vocation is to have the joy of the Gospel re-ignite in one's heart. 

My wife had the honor of serving in their home for children.  Parents unable to provide enough food or care for their sick children, entrust them to the Missionaries of Charity until they are healthy enough to come home. Through the assistance of Haitians from the surrounding neighborhoods, Mother Teresa's sisters provide both the medical care and the loving hands that these children need to recover from malnutrition and a whole string of various serious diseases. One of my favorite memories with Agnes was holding little children who would not let us put them down. 

We also met some extraordinary people who help the Missionaries of Charity and work alongside them. Among those we met were a couple of priests - one from the US and the other from Canada.  They both were adamant that the Gospel of Christ must be enfleshed - shown in action, action that relieved the misery and restored the dignity of those whom they served in very practical ways.  Moreover, for them, the answer to material poverty was not simply providing material things.  Instead, in order to witness to the Gospel of Christ, they learned that more than anything else, those they served needed to feel respected and loved.  They needed some good guidance on both practical and spiritual matters. They needed, even more, confidence in the gifts that God has given them.

Father Dupuis self-identifies as the “Solar Priest.” The Missionaries of Charity, with whom he works, do not disagree with the handle. In the last few years, he acquired (by trial and error) a knack for installing solar panels, not only in his home diocese, but also in some of the poorest areas throughout Haiti.  He is a tireless advocate for providing this sustainable energy system because it provides electricity where it is not available or dramatically brings down the cost of electricity for those who most need it. It also provides job training for laborers eager to make a living.

Originally from Montreal, he was a student in Rome when he was invited to serve Jamaica.  He has spent his priesthood building communities of hope not only there, but also in neighboring Haiti. A believer in an incarnate Gospel, he is convinced that the love of Christ will compel generosity and mutual concern for one another in his parish family.

At one of his parishes, he worked out an elaborate food service where parishioners buy one another’s products, and strategize together on how to develop new markets for their goods. He initiates new efforts like these by creating incentives and providing a little direction on regulations and professionalism. Once the entrepreneurial spirit takes over, however, he steps aside.   

Mother Teresa’s sisters, and other communities, rely on his priestly ministry whenever he comes to visit. They also rely on his willingness to take on all kinds of maintenance and engineering projects, including his self-taught expertise with installing and maintaining solar panels. When asked about how he acquired this skill, he smiles and explains with the wry wit only a French accent can provide, “Trial and error: lots of error and also, watching how-to videos on YouTube.” 

When we met at a home for children, he had just returned from Port-de-Paix, where he provided much needed repairs to one of his solar systems that he installed five years ago for the Missionaries of Charity. He and his team discovered a wiring problem (the saline air from the sea had pulverized the electrical wires coming out of the solar panels) and worked to fix and improve the whole system. In fact, between when he had first installed that one and now, he explained, he had learned a lot. His Haitian team double-checks each other’s work, including his. If someone complains, team members explain that it is not enough to get the job done fast. Their attitude is, according the the Solar Priest, “We are professionals and people are relying on us, we must do it right.” 

This attitude has been invaluable to groups who try to be a light in the darkness of Haitians, including the Missionaries of Charity and Father Tom Hagan’s Hands Together.  Indeed, physical darkness compounds spiritual misery for many Haitians. After a recent earthquake in which 220,000 souls perished, and two years of severe hurricanes, the power grid is either unreliable or else non-existent in the poorer areas. All this has added to squalid conditions with which so many have to manage on a daily basis. Father Francis knows this and is willing to learn almost anything to give those serving in these communities better light and water. 

Fr. Tom Hagan (founder of Hands Together) has helped Haitians start several schools in the slums of Port-au-Prince that provide free education for elementary, middle and high school students. A good number of kids come to the school for lunch (food) and often that is the only meal of the day for them. Father Tom is proud of these joyful and remarkable young people in the face of such adversity. He is keenly aware that the problems they face are more than the challenge of poverty. They are made for greater things -- and he wants them to discover this. He also supports other apostolates run by the Haitian people in different parts of Haiti. He sees himself not so much as doing ministry for the Haitian people as much as he does it with them. To this end, he raises the funds thru his "Hand Together": http://www.handstogether.org/


As for donations for the work of the Missionaries of Charity, checks may be made payable to Missionaries of Charity and sent to the Miami House address listed below. Please note on the check that you would like it used for the work in Haiti and/or send a note specifying that how you would like that the donation to be used. The Sisters will honor that request as much as possible. The Sisters will always acknowledge donations with a letter to the donor.

Missionaries of Charity
727 NW 17 ST.
Miami, FL 33136