January 22, 2012

January 22, 2012
This blog is entitled “Tom in Haiti” so I’m here to say that Tom is back in Haiti after a month away. It was a very full month and I had a chance to see lots of family and friends. What a joy! Also I want to say that many of you who read this blog sent money to help with the purchase of van that we will be needing pretty soon. It’s not near enough to getting down to looking for a vehicle but it’s a good start and I’m very grateful for your generosity. Thank you.

I spent the first few days in the US in New York City with Mary and Tom where I got to see my niece and nephew, their spouses and my “grand” nephews. I have a Haitian grandnephew, Gabriel, son of Kathleen and Hans. Actually his dad is Haitian/American, but because he’s never been to Haiti but his folks come from here, he doesn’t speak Creole. So I lovingly say I’m going to teach Gabriel Creole. “Mwen tonton Tom. Ou Gabriel!” (I’m Uncle Tom. You’re Gabriel!) He’s a very bright little boy not yet two and just starting to speak in sentences so I’m sure my Creole lesson falls on deaf ears, but it is fun. After I left but before the end of the year Steven and Jeannette had their second son, “James Riley” and a brother to Thomas McAnulty. Family can be such a gift!

Christmas I spent with my sister Ann in Niagara Falls. We had a great time and got to see lots of family and friends. The weather was mercifully mild – little snow and temps in the 40’s. After Christmas it was back to Saginaw for my annual physical and visits to the eye doctor and dentist. I had good results with my physical but nearly had a stroke in trying to order a six month supply of my medications instead of the usual three month refill. It meant calling the company who handles our prescriptions, getting put on hold for over 45 minutes, getting cut off and having to start over again, and on and on and on. I was either talking to recordings or to folks from somewhere in the world whose English was hard to understand. Everybody told me that that is pretty much standard practice nowadays. Spare me!

None of the Catholics I encountered liked the new translation of the Mass demanded by the Bishops starting the first Sunday of Advent. The priests I met liked it even less. For them it’s like learning to say Mass all over again. Thankfully the pastor of our parish in Niagara Falls where I celebrated Christmas Mass said, “Just use the old missal.” Bless him.

Another Mass I celebrated was for my cousin Stephanie Stirling and her fiancé John Darlak. That too was a joy. There were lots of people there for the wedding Mass. I’m told that it is often the case these days that people go to the reception but often skip the actual wedding. Not so for this wedding. There were lots of folks in the church and also there for the reception later. I gave the couple a crucifix as a gift, a symbol of what real love is all about. I’d gotten the crucifix from Tom Hagan who along with some of his volunteers had made it out of pieces of wood and broken concrete – ruins from the earthquake of two years ago. It was thus doubly symbolic of facing hardships that come along and doing our best to carry on when it’s not easy. Newlyweds, like all of us need to have reminders of that. By the way, you all know this but I was unaware of a famous couple who got married on TV only to divorce a month or two later. Whatever happened to “for better or worse, richer or poorer, in sickness and in health until death”? Anyway, the wedding was a wonderful event. Vince and Gail, Stephanie’s loving parents and my “first cousins once removed” did so much to make the even just spectacular down to the littlest details like putting gift bags of goodies and drinks in the hotel rooms of the guests who stayed overnight. God bless them all!

I was in the US for the second anniversary of the earthquake and was interested in the coverage this got in the media. They talked about the thousands still living in tents which is true and the many scenes of rubble and debris still blocking streets which is also true but I heard some criticism of the NGO’s (Non-governmental Organizations) like the Red Cross and and of course Tom Hagan’s Hands Together. The word was that they are not working together or not spending their money well. That is certainly not true for Hands Together. All, and I mean all the people Tom has hired to teach in the schools, drill the wells, distribute the food, work in the clinics, etc, they are all Haitians. I also heard that there has been an effort to build “temporary housing” but there has to be a more far-reaching solution. That’s true in my opinion. Some group or groups are building little cabins 10’x10’ made out of untreated plywood which are a step up from a tent but not much of a step up. I’ve still never heard of a large overall plan to address the region of the earthquake and Port au Prince in particular. It seems to me that this is the moment, given all the money sent at the time of the earthquake to address the problems of the infrastructure of the city and the region. To plan new sewers, water and electrical systems, repair and plan news streets and highways, etc. but even as I write this I have to say what I said many times when talking to you and others when I was in the States, “I (we)can’t look at the ruins of Haiti with ‘American eyes’. I have to look at Haiti with ‘Haitian eyes’.” Haiti is Haiti with its history, its people and its culture. It is the Haitians who must solve these problems – given help from outside, yes, but Haiti has to be fixed by Haitians. I read that the new Archbishop of Port au Prince said about the same thing at the Mass on the second anniversary a few weeks ago.

As for community news, I just received word that the five Oblate Haitian novices will be coming back to Haiti to make their first vows. Halleluiah! Also Claudiomiro a Brazilian priest is going to come to live here, learn the language and be a part of the future Oblate Haitian presence. There is a plan to get another house where the scholastics (those with vows)will live with Claudio and Lionel, the first ordained Haitian Oblate. All that is good news, even very good news. I will be here with the postulants who have not yet made their novitiate or professed vows.

As for our property, I can report that the walls build to surround our plot of land are almost finished and paid for. The next step is the construction of a house of formation – rooms for twenty men, guest rooms, plus baths, common rooms, kitchen and dining room, a chapel, etc. All that is in God’s hands but I’m supposed to get that started somehow. Pray I get the help I need! Let it be said that from the very beginning of this project which began with the buying of the property in October of 2010 that I have total trust in God’s providence. If it’s to come about, it will be God’s work not mine. I just march to the beat of the Drummer, if you get my drift.

So, I’m back and all seems to be going well. I wish you all blessings on this new year that we have begun. Count on my love and prayers. Tom