January 22, 2010
St. Joseph pastor urges parishioners to ‘stand with people in Haiti’
By MARY ANN HUGHES (Message staff writer)S
Last weekend, as the world watched news reports from Haiti, Father Gene Schroeder talked with his parishioners about the miracle at Cana.
He’s the pastor at St. Joseph Church in Vanderburgh County. For years, his parish has been twinned with a Haitian parish, St. James in Plain du Nord, located on the northern coast of Haiti.
Father Gene said that as he listened to reports about the devastation in the small Caribbean county he worried about “our friends in Haiti.”
And as he prepared his weekend homily, he knew “the last thing we need to think about is celebrating.” As he took a closer look at the Gospel, he realized two things: Jesus was with the people and he responded to people who were in need.
Father Gene knew he must encourage his parishioners to “stand with the people” in Haiti, and to try to respond to their needs – just as Jesus had done at the marriage feast in Cana.
The Haitian parish of St. James is located 125 miles north of Port-au-Prince which is about 10 miles west of the earthquake’s epicenter. Although the parishioners there were not directly affected by the earthquake, they will feel the effects from it, Father Gene said.
“Food and medicine for kids at our school and for our clinic will be diverted to Port-au-Prince,” he said, adding, “we need money to buy food and medicine for all the people there in Plain du Nord.”
Many people in the affected area are expected to head to the northern end of Haiti “to get care and to get food,” he said. The parish buildings at St. James Church may be used as shelters to house the refugees. “There will be more people there who need to eat or who need medicine.” He added, “This is a long-term commitment.”
He told his parishioners that he believes we are being called to make “systematic changes” because there “really is enough for everybody.”
(Related: St. Joseph, Vanderburgh County, committed to Haiti)