Haitians turn to God, Religion in the face of Hard situation

Nation


Haitians in the US Turn to Religion for AnswersUpdated: 23 minutes ago

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Dana Chivvis

Contributor

(Jan. 23) – Since last week's earthquake, the Rev. Donelson Thevenin, a priest at the Holy Cross Roman Catholic Church in Brooklyn, where many of New York's Haitians live, has been helping his congregation deal with the tragedy. He has prayed with them, listened to their stories and tried to answer their questions.



One woman came to him in tears, asking him to help a cousin who had lost his leg. Another woman told him she lost 36 family members to the earthquake.



"And what do you say to that?" Thevenin asked. "At times there is no way to help a person cope. Even the death of one loved one, one person traumatizes you, but to imagine five, 10, 36 all at once."



Dana Chivvis for AOL

The Rev. Donelson Thevenin says many members of his congregation at the Holy Cross Roman Catholic Church in Brooklyn, N.Y., are struggling to make sense of the tragedy in Haiti. Here, he talks to an Australian radio show from a church office on Thursday.

After last week's disaster, many of New York's Haitians are turning to religion for answers. But spiritual leaders have few to offer in the aftermath of a tragedy so overwhelming and incomprehensible. They can do little more than pray, hold memorial services and reaffirm the resilience of the Haitian people and their faith.



In Haiti, 80 percent of the population belongs to the Roman Catholic Church and 16 percent to various Protestant churches. Many Haitians practice voodoo along with Christianity – roughly half, according to the CIA World Factbook, and far more, according to some Haitians.



"It's a symbiosis, it's parallel," said Nicole Miller, a voodoo priestess or mambo of the Temple of Yehwe, in Plainview, N.Y. "As they say in Haiti, it's 100 percent Catholic and 90 percent voodoo."



Miller, 65, has been a mambo for 18 years. She was last in Haiti in December.



"It was sunny, it was calm, it was beautiful. It was Haiti," she said. "And now it is upside down."



Since the earthquake, Miller has been taking phone calls from people asking for strength and courage. She has prayed with them to God and to the spirits, which are fundamental to the religion.



"It gets to a point when it affects you, you feel so hopeless," Miller said. "Because it's our land, it's our country, it's part of us."



The Rev. Luc Pierre, the minister at the New Jerusalem Church of the Nazarene, an Evangelical church down the street from Holy Cross, said the condition of Haiti now is "depressing." Every major institution has crumbled, churches have collapsed. In his congregation alone, 26 families had lost loved ones as of Sunday. He expects there to be more.



One of the questions so often repeated in the last 10 days is why this catastrophe struck a country already struggling under the burden of natural and man-made disasters, from hurricanes and floods to military coups and a string of unstable governments.



"Frankly, you know, even leaders, even myself, I would ask why," Pierre said. "I don't have any good answer for them, and I don't have any good answer for myself."



He tells his congregation that God is there for them. He will hold a second memorial service tonight, and he is providing psychological counselors for people to talk to.



Thevenin is fielding similar questions. He tells people they cannot ask why the earthquake struck Haiti because to do so implies that it should have struck somewhere else, that it should have caused some other country the pain and suffering that Haitians feel now.



And then there are the people questioning their religion altogether.



"The question that people ask, 'Where was God when my brother was suffering, where was God when my mom or my loved one was struggling to breathe air when these rubbles were falling on top of them. Where was God?' " Thevenin said.



Dana Chivvis for AOL

A list of earthquake victims' names sits on a table next to the altar at Holy Cross Church. The first name on the list is the archbishop of Port-au-Prince, Serge Miot, who was killed in the earthquake.

His answer is that God is always there for people who are suffering. He says the response from the international community is an example of God's love. He quotes scripture, particularly the story of Martha and Lazarus, which includes the passage, "He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die."



But when the woman asked him for help with her cousin who lost his leg, he didn't know what to do.



"I felt powerless. I felt embarrassed. I didn't know how to help," Thevenin said. "At this time we are all in a tunnel, in a dark tunnel, but the light is out there. All we can do is walk through the tunnel, and ask God and ask each other to help us."



Pierre's church has begun taking donations of food, medical supplies and clothes. Already there are several boxes stacked in the basement of the church. At Holy Cross, near the altar, there is a book of names of victims and a Haitian flag. And Miller is planning on holding a burial ceremony in February, to ensure that the dead make it to the afterlife.



"It's the worst thing that could ever happen to us," Miller said. "But we will survive."

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