Crossed The Tiber

An Evangelical Converts to Catholicism

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Location: Pennsylvania, United States

I was born into the Catholic faith. At 14, I was "born again" and found Jesus personally but lost His Church. After thirty years as an evangelical protestant, I have come full circle to find that He has been there all the time, in the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. I wish others to find the beauty and truth of the Catholic faith as I have found.

Thursday, January 12, 2017

Seventh Anniversary of Haiti 2010 Earthquake

                                 A woman prays during mass in Port-Au-Prince on the 7th anniversary of the earthquake

Today marks the seventh anniversary of the devastating earthquake that struck near Port-Au-Prince.
The earthquake hit at 4:53 PM  leveling the capital including most of the governmental buildings and airport.  Because of the poor construction and lack of safety equipment as a result of their grinding poverty, almost 250,000 people lost their lives.
    A similar strength earthquake in a developed country would have caused a fraction of the death and destruction.  The Church I had done medical clinics in for years before was almost completely destroyed and our pastor-friend Rev. Bienne L' Amerique lost his life.  The mission house we stayed at numerous times before was completely leveled and our beloved host and sister in Christ, Se-Tata also died. Her remains are buried in the foundations of the new house that has been built on the site.
The archbishop died in the ruins of the Cathedral in downtown PAP.
    Our team went down a month and a half later and the devastation was still very apparent. The streets contained rubble and most people in the city were living in tarps and flimsy tents provided by USAID.  Sadly, five years after the earthquake I noted many families still living in the wind-torn tarps
in mud puddles outside the rubble of their former concrete hovels.
    It is safe to say that most of the aid promised to the patients never materialized nor made it to the poorest of poor who most needed it. We did note that the capital streets were crowded with new SUV's and trucks purchased by the NGO's who were the beneficiaries of much of the funds that went to Port-Au-Prince.  A few months after the earthquake another disaster followed in the form of cholera brought by UN troops attempting to help the disaster.
   My wife and I still keep a piece of rubble from the earthquake on our window sill to remind us to pray for the people in Haiti .  Seven years later, let's keep our Haitian brothers and sisters in our prayers.


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