Faith in Haiti

On the radio the other day, the topic of Haiti came up and before we got into the latest rescue and relief efforts and how much help is needed and how it’s being handled by the nations and our government in particular……the first point was the belief many people have that God brings good out of everything, even catastrophes of this magnitude. It’s hard, nearly impossible, to see or imagine the good in horrific devastation in Haiti….

Until you hear and see things like this.

“Given all their country and people have been through, between political upheavals, human rights abuses, hurricanes, abject poverty and last week’s earthquake, “If Haitians were constantly questioning their faith, they would all be atheists.”

“These words came from the Rev. Eric Hill as he prepared to lead Haitian Mass Sunday at Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church in Decatur, Georgia.

“Some of the 100 Haitian parishioners who gathered raised their hands to the heavens in praise, grateful their loved ones had been found. Others bowed their heads and clenched their hands for those lost, still missing and all who suffered. One woman wept out of guilt because she — a U.S. citizen — had been able to leave her devastated homeland a day after the quake, while so many were left behind.

“Their unshaken faith and devotion to God is the same sort that’s played out in other houses of worship, in living rooms and on the torn-up streets of Haiti.”

This is deeply inspiring.

“Given all their country and people have been through, between political upheavals, human rights abuses, hurricanes, abject poverty and last week’s earthquake, “If Haitians were constantly questioning their faith, they would all be atheists.”

“These words came from the Rev. Eric Hill as he prepared to lead Haitian Mass Sunday at Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church in Decatur, Georgia.

“Some of the 100 Haitian parishioners who gathered raised their hands to the heavens in praise, grateful their loved ones had been found. Others bowed their heads and clenched their hands for those lost, still missing and all who suffered. One woman wept out of guilt because she — a U.S. citizen — had been able to leave her devastated homeland a day after the quake, while so many were left behind.

“Their unshaken faith and devotion to God is the same sort that’s played out in other houses of worship, in living rooms and on the torn-up streets of Haiti.”

And here’s the magnificence of enduring human faith that’s being played out on those streets.

“At night, voices rise in the street. Sweet, joyful, musical voices in lyric Creole. A symphony of hope in a landscape of despair.

“It doesn’t mean anything if Satan hates me, because God loves me,” sing the women at Jeremy Square, their faces almost invisible in the darkness of this powerless, shattered downtown. “God has already paid my debt.”

“Haiti is known as a society of devout Christians — Catholics, Protestants, Methodists, evangelicals — and followers of voodoo. Faith has long played a powerful role in this impoverished nation, giving hope to the poor and fulfilling social functions that the government is incapable of handling.

“But in the days since the earth pitched and rolled here, pulverizing shanties and mansions alike, the religious differences that sometimes separated Haitians have come crashing down.

“Port-au-Prince has become a kind of multidenominational, open-air church. Tens of thousands live in the street together, scraping for food and water, sharing their misery and blending their spirituality.

“The women singing together in Jeremy Square might never have worshiped side by side before the disaster, but now their voices harmonize and soar well past 2 in the morning. Lionelle Masse, a stringy woman with a deep, sad voice, lost a child in the quake. She sings next to Rosena Roche, a fiery-eyed Catholic whose husband is buried under tons of rubble.

“I still have faith in God,” Roche says. “I want to give glory to God.”

This is probably unimaginable to those of us who still have our creature comforts all about us, maybe even complaining over relatively small problems or disruptions in our lives. It’s sure given me pause…

“Seekers stream into the parking lot of the ruined Sacre Coeur Catholic church, a 105-year-old brick gem that was turned into a grim, hollowed-out shell, its stunning stained-glass windows tossed to the ground in shards. There, the Catholics and the Protestants and others seek solace from Father Hans Alexander, a Haitian priest who took his decidedly un-Haitian first name from his German father. He doesn’t ask them about their religion; he asks them about their pain.

“Catholics and Protestants and other religions are praying together now,” Alexander says, as two tearful women slump over his thick, broad shoulders. “We are saying, ‘We love Jesus; we don’t care about religions. We just care about the Lord.’ ” He has tried to teach his followers this lesson for years but did not always succeed in changing the minds of parishioners who thought their religion was better or truer than others. The quake, he says, has done much to convince those he could not.”

Praise the Lord, and pass the humanitarian relief…