Celebrating in Jacmel, Haiti

The building is one of the projects funded by some of the money collected by the U.S. Church after the devastating earthquake of Jan. 12, 2010. Its construction is being overseen by PROCHE, the Partnership for the Reconstruction of the Church in Haiti, which brings together representatives of the Haitian bishops, the religious working in Haiti, the U.S. bishops, the French bishops, and the German bishops’ relief agency, Adveniat.

PROCHE’s purpose is to lead a transparent, cooperative effort of rebuilding damaged church structures throughout the country; an effort that allows donors to see where their money is going and ensures that all new structures conform to building codes that will allow them to withstand future earthquakes and hurricanes.

Jacmel’s historic, 200-year-old Cathedral of St. Jacques and St. Philippe (St. James and St. Philip), whose feast day is May 1, was rendered unusable by the earthquake. Cathedral parishioners have been celebrating Mass for the past three years in an adjacent structure — basically a covered pavilion with a concrete roof and pillars but no walls, according to Sister Elizabeth Worley of the Sisters of St. Joseph of St. Augustine, archdiocesan chancellor for administration who accompanied Archbishop Wenski on the trip.

While trying to decide whether to build a new cathedral or rebuild the old one, the decision was made to erect a new multipurpose building where parishioners could worship on Sundays as well as hold meetings during the week. The Archdiocese of Miami joined other donors in contributing money to purchase the land where the multipurpose building will be built. That is why Archbishop Wenski was invited to take part in the groundbreaking.

Together with the papal nuncio to Haiti, Archbishop Bernardito Auza, and the bishop of Jacmel, Bishop Launay Saturne, Archbishop Wenski celebrated Mass for a standing-room only crowd May 1, which is also an agricultural holiday in Haiti. The festive Mass featured bountiful baskets of locally-grown produce in the offertory procession, as well as pineapples, mangos, bananas, sugar cane and palm branches hanging from the rafters as decorations.