Conn. parish grieves for destroyed sister church in Haiti
The devastating earthquake that killed at least 1,300 people in Haiti Saturday took an especially emotional toll on the Rev. Dukens Boliere and his Bridgeport parish.
Boliere, pastor of Shekinah Free Methodist Worship Center, also oversees a parish of the same name in Corail, Haiti, which was destroyed by the 7.2-magnitude quake. One member of the parish was killed and another, the church caretaker who lives next door, is in mortal danger, Boliere said.
“His house had fallen on him, so he really is on the verge of dying now,” Boliere said Monday.
The parishioner was already ill before the earthquake.
“He’s in a dire situation and there’s no way to transport him to a hospital. There is no hospital nearby,” Boliere said.
Corail is in a remote, mountainous area on the Gulf of Gonave, in the country’s southern peninsula.
“The church is completely destroyed,” Boliere said. We will be in the rebuilding mode after we assess the situation.”
The small building sits on a stone wall. A video on the Bridgeport church’s website shows the devastation.
“Based on the pictures I saw yesterday morning and the video it is completely flattened,” Boliere said. The parish will rebuild it “in a way that is more solid than before,” he said.
Reaching the church is difficult in the best of times.
“It takes days, to be honest with you, and they are going to be without electricity for a while. It’s going to get tougher,” Boliere said.
Tropical Depression Grace was expected to
bring 10 inches of rain to Haiti Monday night, with mudslides threatening the area.
The Bridgeport parish will hold a meeting Sunday, “gather some money and send some survival kits,” he said. “It’s going to be an endeavor but we are determined that we are going to help them as much as we can. … It’s going to be very difficult. We are going to need logistical help from Haiti to get it to them.”
Boliere, whose father died recently, said “it’s been a roller-coaster, quite frankly. … It’s gut-wrenching because you’re seeing death all around. It’s a tough time but we’re resilient enough. People will rise from the ashes again.”
Donations can be sent to the Shekinah Worship Center, 365 Washington Ave., Bridgeport 06608.
The Rev. Leonce Alexis, pastor of the French-Speaking Baptist Church in New Haven, said his community was feeling the pain of the latest calamity to hit Haiti, where many of the parishioners have family and friends.
“There’s a lot of pain going on, sadness,” he said. “The biggest thing is loss of life in the southern part of the country. Very sad.”
He asked for prayers. “We have to help them spiritually and financially. I’ll try to put a committee together and send some help down there. … We know people need prayer and people need help.”
He said there were no deaths of immediate family members of his congregation, but there may have been cousins, nieces or nephews who perished.
“This thing brings pain and sorrow to the families, so we have to keep them in prayer,” Alexis said.
“It’s very, very difficult things which have happened to our country back to back,” he said. “The president just got assassinated and this was a disaster and the country gets hit by an earthquake.” President Jovenel Moïse was killed July 7.
“When you look at pain and sorrow, which is going on now: People with no home, people with no food to eat, people with no water to drink … the healing of this nation depends on
God. Anything we can do is not enough,” Alexis said.
“Things are going to be tough for months and for years, maybe,” he said. “We are going to keep praying for Haiti because Haiti needs prayer now. That’s the most we can do at this point.”