Parishes Come Together To 'cover The Basic Needs'
St. Francis Xavier Parish in Poseyville has been twinned with St. Albert the Great Parish in Ravine Trompette, Haiti, since 1984. This remote village in Haiti is home to 17,000 residents, including 12,000 Catholics. St. Francis parishioners visited St. Albert for the first time in the early 1990s, and the parish has provided financial support ever since. In 2012, the stewardship committee reviewed programs to help broaden the parish’s efforts to assist the twinned parish in Haiti. During that same year, several parishioners joined a group from St. Joseph Parish in Vanderburgh County when it visited St. Joseph’s sister parish of St. James in Plaine du Nord, Haiti.
The pastor at St. Albert the Great Parish, Father Marcel Janvier, is familiar with email and communicated with the ministry team using a translator program (Creole/English). He agreed to travel to St. James – a three hour, 30-mile journey – so that St. Francis missionaries could visit their sister parish. Relationships flourished, and parish needs were assessed.
After the trip, interest grew within St. Francis Xavier. Additionally, Sts. Peter and Paul Parish in Haubstadt and St. Wendel Parish in St. Wendel partnered with St. Francis Xavier and St. Paul United Church of Christ in Evansville. With support from Father Ed Schnur, pastor of St. Francis and St. Wendel, and Father Tony Ernst, pastor of Sts. Peter and Paul, the groups worked together on projects that were most needed and most manageable to cover basic needs – clean water, lunch for school children and a health clinic. Each parish had its own method of raising funds; however, they were all excited about working together to develop new ideas for projects and ways to combine their resources.
In October 2013, the Haitian government ended its school lunch program. The mission team, along with support from their parishes, gathered funds to fully support and continue the lunch program for students at two parish schools: Notre Dame de Grace (more than 600 students in preschool through ninth grade) and St. Cyprian (More than 250 students in kindergarten through sixth grade. The free lunch motivates students to attend school because it often provides their only meal of the day.
During a missionary visit to Haiti, Joe Wildeman, who leads the St. Francis Xavier outreach program, saw first-hand how important the lunches have become. “I was watching children eating their lunches of rice and beans,” he said. “I noticed that several ate only part of their meal. They spooned the remainder into a plastic bag or container, which they took home for their little brothers and sisters. This really helped us understand the need to ensure that the lunch program continues.”
Other projects that the team has worked on include the installation of a reverse-osmosis water purification system; funding for a new roof for the St. Albert the Great church and rectory; acquiring a new vehicle for Father Marcel; establishing, supplying and staffing a medical clinic on parish grounds; a three-daywomen’s health care clinic; and a pay-forward farming program that focuses on growing yams.
