Message of the Antilles Episcopal Conference (AEC) to the Church and People of Haiti

The Antilles Episcopal Conference at the meeting of its Permanent Board in Port of Spain Trinidad on Thursday 21 January 2010 expressed its deep concern for the suffering of the people of Haiti in the aftermath of last week’s devastating earthquake and fully endorsed and made its own the following message of solidarity issued by the Bishops of the territories of Martinique, Guadeloupe and Cayenne who form part of the AEC.

The message is as follows:

“If one part is hurt, all the parts share its pain. And if one part is honoured, all the parts share its joy.
Now Christ's body is yourselves, each of you with a part to play in the whole. (I Cor. 12, 26)

Gathered in Fort-de-France for their Annual Meeting on 19 January 2010, the Bishops of the French Speaking ecclesiastical province Antilles-French Guiana, in close communion with the Antilles Episcopal Conference (AEC) of with they are members, send this message to Bishop Kebreau, President of the Haiti Bishops Conference, and through him to the Church in Haiti.

It is with deep sadness that we have learnt about the devastating earthquake which destroyed Port-au-Prince and its surroundings.

We wish to assure you that our dioceses share in the pain and suffering of mourning families. In our prayers we present to our Heavenly Father our brother in the Episcopacy Archbishop Joseph-Serge Miot, the priests, religious sisters and brothers, seminarians and all the other victims of this terrible earthquake. We are committed in full solidarity with you in whatever support you consider appropriate and particularly through Caritas, the Church Humanitarian Agency.

The Church community in Haiti is especially close to ours in that we benefit from the pastoral ministry of many Haitian priests, together with sisters and many faithful who live among us. Their faith is an example for us and their suffering is our suffering.

It is to the Risen Lord, source of all Hope, that with you we present our most fervent prayers and we assure you of our deepest affection in Him.