I was contacted by Aude Hulot who works for Alliance Francaise here. She rents a room at Mr. Tulce's who was gracious and generous enough to take in 21 people (three families), mostly children, who were victims of the PaP earthquake. Host families have been promised assistance but none has materialized. Requests were made at some major NGOs (one which received hundreds of million of dollars in US donations through the church) for food assistance but nothing has happened. The large NGOs, by their nature, cannot respond quickly in a crisis so maybe its just a question of time. I hope so. The problem is that the people are hungry now and Mr. Tulce will soon become a secondary victim.
Children who are victims of the earthquake were told by the authorities that they could attend any school free of charge as there was a program to reimburse the schools but three Catholic schools refused to accept them unless they paid a registration fee and had uniforms made and had all their school books. These people have lost everything and to require all this is simply mystifying to me. We can't help with school but we can and will provide food for these people.
I survived Catholic School and the one thing I learned is they were not always very "Christian". They need to learn to practice what they preach. I would hope they would follow your example, Fr. Marc!
ReplyDeleteYes, I am a practicing Catholic and intend to die a daughter of the church, but I have observed a parochial, narrow-minded and rigid mind-set among my fellow Catholics. They are not alive to the original call of Jesus... that everyone is a child of God and that we must love our neighbor like ourselves. Rules must be bent in circumstances like these. I admire the way Fr. Marc has opened his homes to accept more homeless kids, without worrying about tomorrow. Let us read The Parable of God's Providence, which tells us to trust in God and have faith.
ReplyDeleteOn the practical level, I think it only costs $30 month? to send a pupil in Les Cayes (Jim Speicher's website), is it not? Pls verify. I might be able to sponsor a girl to the Catholic school.
ReplyDeleteYes, that's right. Different schools ask different amounts but the average is $30 monthly.
ReplyDeleteOn second thought, Fr Marc, I don't need to give outside of your wonderful, efficient charity... you have a school so I might as well sponsor a child in your school so I can be sure that it is being spent well. I'll never give to big charities, anymore.
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