Rejecting offers to evacuate him from Port-au-Prince, Episcopal Diocese of Haiti Bishop Jean Zaché Duracin said Jan. 18 that he must remain in the Haitian capital.
“No, I will stay with my people,” the Rev. Lauren Stanley, one of four Episcopal Church missionaries assigned to the Haitian diocese, told ENS the bishop said in response to the evacuation offer.
Stanley was home in Virginia when the magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck just before 5:00 p.m. local time Jan. 12 and has been monitoring diocesan reports from there.
“The people are strong,” Duracin told Stanley, echoing messages she has received from other priests. “We still have our people, and they are strong. We need to help them.”
A heart-rending story, full of details about how the Episcopal Diocese of Haiti has been devastated by this terrible earthquake. It’s certainly encouraging that the bishop, Jean Zache Duracin, has nobly refused to evacuate and is staying with his flock in their hour of greatest need, despite the fact that he and his family are now homeless, and his wife was injured when their home collapsed.
It’s good to be reminded that Haiti is the largest of the 12 foreign dioceses of TEC, with some 83K members in 169 congregations. Alas, most of those parishes have lost their building (over 100), and there are (or perhaps were) just 37 clergy to serve them.
Finally, it’s perhaps worth pointing out that the Episcopal missionary quoted in this ENS report, the Rev. Lauren Stanley, is the notorious priest who was kicked out of Sudan last year because of her openly pro-gay views. Stanley has long been associated with Integrity, and (FWIW) is widely thought to be gay herself. However, in a crisis like this, when all hands on needed on deck to deal with such an overwhelming catastrophe, I’m glad if she can help inform us Americans about how we can help and what the needs of the Church in Haiti are.
Naturally, this ENS story encourages people to contribute money to ERD (Episcopal Relief and Development) as the best way to help. However, I would add that concerned readers could also donate funds through the conservative equivalent, namely, ARD, Anglican Relief & Development, and I would encouragement that.
David Handy+
How generous of The Episcopal Church to inflict Lauren Stanley on another impoverished country. With her deep and broad knowledge of Haiti she can now inform everyone of what they believe and value and hold as “priorities” just as she did for the Sudan.
Here’s the report from Baby Blue on what David Handy mentioned:
Baby Blue reports that Lauren Stanley has been recalled:
I concur with the statement
” However, in a crisis like this, when all hands on[are] needed on deck to deal with such an overwhelming catastrophe, I’m glad if she can help inform us Americans about how we can help and what the needs of the Church in Haiti are.”
The needs of people in dire need heavily out-priotitize the perceived need to change “…the Faith once given…” in order to accomodate a modern secular agenda regarding sexual behavior.
Here is a chance for ECUSA to redeem itself by stopping all law suits against those dioceses, parishes and individuals who adhere to “…the Faith once given….”
It is a sin, in my eyes, to spend money on lawyers that could instead be spent on assisting the people in need in Haiti.