Haiti - how to help

Inevitably with disaster emergency appeals, people want to know how they can effectively contribute funds to assist the immediate needs of the people who are suffering and to help rebuild what has been destroyed.

Aid to the Church in Need is in contact with the Apostolic Nuncio, Mgr Bernardito Auza, and is now collecting funds for emergency help in Haiti to be routed through the nunciature, one of the few administrative buildings that seem to have survived the quake in the capital, Port-au-Prince.

You can find out more at the Aid to the Church in Need website and donate here.

There will be an emergency collection for the Haiti earthquake in the parish this Sunday. The money collected will be sent to Aid to the Church in Need.


The following is a message from the Apostolic Nuncio in Haiti:

"We're in big trouble for obvious logistical reasons. We have no reserves of water and petrol stations are closed. CRS (catholic Relief Services) has an important presence here and perhaps the center of operations will be transferred to Gonaives because' here in Port-au-Prince things are difficult. We lack everything.

Archbishop Miot, the good and always smiling Archbishop of Port-au-Prince, died when thrown from the balcony of his room while waiting for someone to go out for a ceremony. The strength of the earthquake threw him from the balcony and it seems that he died immediately. But there is no electricity and so we decided yesterday to transfer his body to Saint Marc, Gonaives. I suggested to bury him immediately, but here it is not the tradition, it would be an insult. It has still to be yet to be verified, how many priests and religious are dead, as some are still beneath the rubble. Even the Vicar General of PAP,the Rev. Charles Benoit, and the Canceller, Fr. Cherie, are still under the rubble. Fr. Cherie is definitely dead, but we are not sure about Fr. Benoit as he is underneath the rubble of the Archbishop that had four floors and' now is reduced to a pile of cement.

Last night I went to visit the major seminary, which is a heap of concrete, except for one building. Thank god all but one of the staff were able to get out of the ruins, but three or four seminarians are still missing, nine were confirmed dead, including seven in the philosophy section. We are trying to collect all religious and priests together, who are left with nothing. The shocks continue, but are less violent.

I also visited religious houses and places to see and to express the concern of the Holy Father. All grateful situation like this, and want to give priority to helping those who are still buried under the rubble. So far no help by air rescue has arrived. The airport cannot cope – the control tower has collapsed... a warship with aid should arrive shortly from the U.S. Santo Domingo is our gate to the world for the moment. So many people are waiting for help at the border.

The people are sleeping or wandering aimlessly through the streets, but many have also left for the mountains for fear of a tsunami. It is probably better that they leave to relieve the congestion in the capital.

Yesterday, some bishops have been able to com to the Nunciature to coordinate and make decisions. We will meet again tomorrow with leaders of CRS and Caritas in the Nunciature. "

Thanks again and God bless!
+ Bernardito Auza

The Fides website is also carrying current reports:
“The aftershocks continue, although less violent. We are in need of everything and will be for quite awhile!” Apostolic Nuncio tells Fides

Missionaries of the Immaculate Conception: sisters are fine, although buildings have suffered tremendous damage

5 Camillian seminarians have returned home fine and are already at work in the hospital, working without anesthesia

“Haiti was already an extremely poor country before the earthquake. Now we are desperate,” says Fr. Lovera, Director of the “Saint Camille” Pediatric Hospital in Port-au-Prince

Oblates of Mary Immaculate (OMI): one student dead, damages to provincial house and scholasticate destroyed

Many Salesians still missing, over 200 students buried under the fallen building in Port-au-Prince Enam

Humanitarian emergency in Haiti: Daughters of Mary Help of Christians at work on the site

First humanitarian aid interventions open doors, although there is fear of epidemics

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC - Archdiocese of Santiago de los Caballeros: “The country has opened the doors of all its hospitals and reinforced medical personnel,” fundraising telethon planned

Hospital run by Camillians is only one functioning. “We are in need of practically everything,” Fr. Efisio Locci tells Fides

A parishioner from our neighbouring parish also informed me about the Missionnaires de Saint Jacques, a religious order founded in Brittany but who have a number of priests and lay missionaries in Haiti. They too have need of funds. One of their seminarians is reported to have died. Their website is in French. Their uptodate news from Haiti is to be found here.

His Honour Judge Joseph Dean RIP

Joe died at the William Harvey hospital this morning. Funeral arrangements will be announced in due course. Please pray for the repose of Joe's soul, for his wife Jenny and family. May he rest in peace.

Candlemas Sung Mass

Some advance notice: that there will be a sung Latin Mass (extroardinary form) here at St Simon's at 6.45pm on Tuesday 2nd February. Preparations are underway. If anyone would like to help in any way, do let me know. 'All are welcome' as they say. Many thanks.

If we think we had it bad...

Here's the video that exlaodicea referred to.

Snow clearing this morning

At 9am I started shovelling the snow to clear a path. As parishioners arrived, they got involved. Three (John Barton, Vivian Conn, Martiel Eba) took over the shovelling and Eileen Conn and I transferred to gritting. Our newly appointed parish photographer Maureen Auchterlonie again captured some moments for the record. The Saturno came into its own and caused much amusement/delight! Great to see the co-operative parish spirit in operation. Attendance at the 10am Mass was suprisingly good. The 12 noon was decimated - many travel from places that would have been inaccessible today. Await to see the 6pm this evening.

Oh and the kids had snowball fights after Mass - all in the spirit of Christian peace, love and fun. Hope I didn't allow any breach of elf 'n' safety!

Clerical cooking

Following on the culinary posts by Father Z and Owl of the Remove, here's my supper for this evening: a nice tuna and pasta with onions, red pepper and chopped tomatoes. Yes, that's a laptop computer you can see in front of you. As we are all snowed in I relaxed watching La Vie en Rose which was available on the BBC iplayer. A very moving film about the enigmatic Edith Piaf. What a complex character (if it's a true biographical movie): devotion to St Therese of Lisieux, conducting an affair with a boxer, addicted to drugs, consults a psychic, etc. She was certainly an inspiring singer. May she rest in peace.

Here's how the Church is looking these wintry days:

Parishioner Maria Lanzino was one of the small number of parishioners who made it to Mass yesterday (Friday).

I'm looking forward to seeing a good number of intrepid parishioners getting here tomorrow by foot, sledge, ski...

The Dogmatism of Secular Humanism

Polly Toynbee did not miss the opportunity in yesterday's Any Questions to speak pompously as usual as President of the British Humanist Association and insist on the 'privatisation' of religion. Could we have secularist humanism 'privatised' too? When religion was banned from the public square in the Soviet Union and the satellite states of the USSR, China, Cuba, Cambodia... or in fascist Germany how humane did the society become? How many people died? And in our society today, how many innocent babies are killed in this 'civilised' 'enlightened' western culture of ours? I really get fed up with religion being blamed for the evils of the world. It was completely disingenuous of Ms Toynbee to move from the difficulties caused by religious fanatics to the privatisation of religion. Mind you, Simon Hughes MP gave her the perfect opportunity to do so.

You can listen to it here (19 minutes 43 seconds into the show)

"Can I just add to that (Simon Hughes MP had made reference to fundamentalists of all faiths, not just Moslem, Christian too - fair enough but it gave Toynbee the opportunity to come in with her dogma) because I am president of the British Humanist Association (oh, so you speak with authority and we must all listen up!) that also it's not just about faith; it's about making sure that we keep faith quite separate, quite private and away from the public sphere; that there is a definite distinction between public life, what government does, and what people do in their private life and we don't let the two get mixed up and I think we've given rather too much over emphasis to faith..."

It was rather ironic that she was speaking in the Baitul Futuh Mosque in Morden, Surrey on the outkirts of London, the largest mosque in Western Europe, the international headquarters of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community and claimed on the programme to be possibly the most outstanding building of the 21st century. According to the Jonathan Dimbleby's introduction, three thousand people were gathered earlier in the day for Friday prayers, it is a building of this age with outreach programmes and vibrant inter-faith dialogue. They have a 24 hour satellite TV network that transmits its sermons and other events around the globe.

Good luck to them. They have every right to promote their activities and to be present in the community. Maybe the Catholic Church should plan a mega-Church in a London suburb, with satellite TV etc. I hope the planners would welcome it in the same spirit as this mosque is clearly admired and respected.

Jonathan Dimbleby informed listeners that the mosque, opened in 2003, was built at a cost of £15 million, the money raised entirely by the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community. If the Catholic Church spent £15 million pounds, raised entirely by voluntary contributions of the Catholic faithful, on a 3,000 capacity mega-church, I'm sure it wouldn't be long before complaints about the riches and wealth of the Church would be heard!