{"id":225,"date":"2012-06-05T00:02:00","date_gmt":"2012-06-05T00:02:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/news\/catholic-leaders-see-hopeful-future-for-haiti\/"},"modified":"2012-06-05T00:02:00","modified_gmt":"2012-06-05T00:02:00","slug":"catholic-leaders-see-hopeful-future-for-haiti","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/06\/catholic-leaders-see-hopeful-future-for-haiti\/","title":{"rendered":"Catholic leaders see hopeful future for Haiti"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Washington D.C., Jun 4, 2012 \/ 06:02 pm (CNA\/EWTN News<\/a>).- Despite numerous obstacles in rebuilding in Haiti after 2010\u2019s devastating earthquake, speakers at a recent conference voiced confidence in the nation\u2019s future and encouraged continued generosity.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe shouldn\u2019t allow ourselves to be frustrated,\u201d said Archbishop Thomas G. Wenski of Miami, who has worked for years with Haitians in Florida and traveled to the country many times.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Church in Haiti is a vibrant Church,\u201d he said, adding that the people are \u201cfull of faith\u201d and \u201crefuse to give up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Archbishop Wenski spoke on June 3 at the Haiti: One Table, Many Partners solidarity conference in Washington, D.C. <\/p>\n

The conference, which was sponsored by Catholic Relief Services and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, united more than 350 attendees, including several priests and bishops from Haiti, to discuss future efforts to offer spiritual and material aid to the country. <\/p>\n

On January 12, 2010, a catastrophic earthquake hit southern Haiti, leaving some 3000 dead and destroying infrastructure and property worth billions of dollars. <\/p>\n

After two and a half years of supporting rebuilding efforts, \u201cwe can be tempted to be impatient,\u201d acknowledged Archbishop Wenski.<\/p>\n

But recovering from a natural disaster is a slow process, even in the United States, where resources are abundant, he explained. And the earthquake \u201cwas more than just a natural disaster\u201d because it hit an area already suffering from \u201cgrinding poverty.\u201d <\/p>\n

Therefore, it is not enough to \u201csimply rebuild Port-au-Prince the way it was,\u201d he said. The capital city was over-urbanized and \u201cinherently unsustainable,\u201d and these problems must be addressed as the rebuilding process occurs. <\/p>\n

The archbishop acknowledged that there will be \u201cgreat challenges\u201d ahead, as efforts continue to bring stability and sustainability to the country, ensuring access to water, sanitation and electricity in the provinces beyond Port-au-Prince.<\/p>\n

But while the process is slow and filled with obstacles, we are beginning to see the fruits of our work, he observed. <\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cWe have to remember why good construction takes a long time,\u201d he said, stressing that \u201cwe have to rebuild intelligently and safely\u201d in case another earthquake hits the country. <\/p>\n

Archbishop Wenski explained that in working to rebuild and ease poverty in the country, we must remember that solidarity requires a basic understanding of the people, Church, background and customs of both Haiti and the U.S.<\/p>\n

We must also beware of population programs that incorrectly treat people as a problem, he said. The Church opposes attempts at \u201celiminating poverty by eliminating people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite challenges, there are reasons for hope, he stressed, because the greatest resource for Haiti is the Haitian people themselves.<\/p>\n

Dr. Carolyn Y. Woo, president of Catholic Relief Services, also spoke at the conference, voicing confidence and hope for the future of the nation. <\/p>\n

She said that on a recent trip to the country, she had witnessed numerous signs of encouragement, including families with a strong faith, determined young people and individuals recovering from the trauma of the earthquake.<\/p>\n

Catholic Relief Services has been in Haiti for more than 50 years, Woo said. The organization currently has a staff of about 700 people, 95 percent of whom are Haitians, including many young people. <\/p>\n

Operating out of seven offices and working with 350 local partners, the organization is involved in about 50 projects, she explained. <\/p>\n

Now, the group is seeking to build secure and sustainable structures that can withstand future challenges, support local leaders and institutions and connect the work of Haiti with the larger Church, she said.<\/p>\n

Of the numerous projects that Catholic Relief Services is currently engaged in, community recovery is among the most critical, Woo said. Families are receiving the help they need to return to their neighborhoods, finding not only shelter, but sanitation, water and safety.<\/p>\n

In addition, the organization is working with the Archdiocese of Port-au-Prince to create a \u201cteaching hospital\u201d that offers \u201cpremier care\u201d for the people, she noted. Efforts are also being made to join with local education groups in order to assess the current status of Catholic education in the country and develop a vision for the future. <\/p>\n

Furthermore, Catholic Relief Services is helping farmers add value to their crops, while improving their environmental practices, she explained, adding that all of these endeavors are being undertaken with strong local partnerships.<\/p>\n

Woo acknowledged that the path ahead \u201cwill be difficult.\u201d However, she said, we can be confident in our reliance on grace and the Holy Spirit, realizing that \u201cnot everything depends on us.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n<\/a>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Washington D.C., Jun 4, 2012 \/ 06:02 pm (CNA\/EWTN News).- Despite numerous obstacles in rebuilding in Haiti after 2010’s devastating earthquake, speakers at a recent conference voiced confidence in the nation\u2019s future and encouraged continued generos…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1031,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-225","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-us"],"yoast_head":"\nCatholic leaders see hopeful future for Haiti<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Washington D.C., Jun 4, 2012 \/ 06:02 pm (CNA\/EWTN News).- Despite numerous obstacles in rebuilding in Haiti after 2010's devastating earthquake, speakers at a recent conference voiced confidence in the nation\u2019s future and encouraged continued generos...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/06\/catholic-leaders-see-hopeful-future-for-haiti\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Catholic leaders see hopeful future for Haiti\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Washington D.C., Jun 4, 2012 \/ 06:02 pm (CNA\/EWTN News).- Despite numerous obstacles in rebuilding in Haiti after 2010's devastating earthquake, speakers at a recent conference voiced confidence in the nation\u2019s future and encouraged continued generos...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/06\/catholic-leaders-see-hopeful-future-for-haiti\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Catholic News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-06-05T00:02:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/catholicnewsagency\/dailynews?d=yIl2AUoC8zA\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"CNA Daily News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"CNA Daily News\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/06\/catholic-leaders-see-hopeful-future-for-haiti\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/06\/catholic-leaders-see-hopeful-future-for-haiti\/\",\"name\":\"Catholic leaders see hopeful future for Haiti\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-06-05T00:02:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-06-05T00:02:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/35d4bd7addc580050842c844a11575f1\"},\"description\":\"Washington D.C., Jun 4, 2012 \/ 06:02 pm (CNA\/EWTN News).- Despite numerous obstacles in rebuilding in Haiti after 2010's devastating earthquake, speakers at a recent conference voiced confidence in the nation\u2019s future and encouraged continued generos...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/06\/catholic-leaders-see-hopeful-future-for-haiti\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/06\/catholic-leaders-see-hopeful-future-for-haiti\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/06\/catholic-leaders-see-hopeful-future-for-haiti\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Catholic leaders see hopeful future for Haiti\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/\",\"name\":\"Catholic News\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/35d4bd7addc580050842c844a11575f1\",\"name\":\"CNA Daily News\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f1180c7dca7995d4a997aac72a3a88a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f1180c7dca7995d4a997aac72a3a88a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"CNA Daily News\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/author\/cna-daily-news\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Catholic leaders see hopeful future for Haiti","description":"Washington D.C., Jun 4, 2012 \/ 06:02 pm (CNA\/EWTN News).- Despite numerous obstacles in rebuilding in Haiti after 2010's devastating earthquake, speakers at a recent conference voiced confidence in the nation\u2019s future and encouraged continued generos...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/06\/catholic-leaders-see-hopeful-future-for-haiti\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Catholic leaders see hopeful future for Haiti","og_description":"Washington D.C., Jun 4, 2012 \/ 06:02 pm (CNA\/EWTN News).- Despite numerous obstacles in rebuilding in Haiti after 2010's devastating earthquake, speakers at a recent conference voiced confidence in the nation\u2019s future and encouraged continued generos...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/06\/catholic-leaders-see-hopeful-future-for-haiti\/","og_site_name":"Catholic News","article_published_time":"2012-06-05T00:02:00+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/catholicnewsagency\/dailynews?d=yIl2AUoC8zA"}],"author":"CNA Daily News","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"CNA Daily News","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/06\/catholic-leaders-see-hopeful-future-for-haiti\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/06\/catholic-leaders-see-hopeful-future-for-haiti\/","name":"Catholic leaders see hopeful future for Haiti","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#website"},"datePublished":"2012-06-05T00:02:00+00:00","dateModified":"2012-06-05T00:02:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/35d4bd7addc580050842c844a11575f1"},"description":"Washington D.C., Jun 4, 2012 \/ 06:02 pm (CNA\/EWTN News).- Despite numerous obstacles in rebuilding in Haiti after 2010's devastating earthquake, speakers at a recent conference voiced confidence in the nation\u2019s future and encouraged continued generos...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/06\/catholic-leaders-see-hopeful-future-for-haiti\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/06\/catholic-leaders-see-hopeful-future-for-haiti\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/06\/catholic-leaders-see-hopeful-future-for-haiti\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Catholic leaders see hopeful future for Haiti"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/","name":"Catholic News","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/35d4bd7addc580050842c844a11575f1","name":"CNA Daily News","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f1180c7dca7995d4a997aac72a3a88a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f1180c7dca7995d4a997aac72a3a88a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"CNA Daily News"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/author\/cna-daily-news\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1031"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=225"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=225"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=225"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=225"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}