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August 26, 2021By Bill Doyle | CFP Correspondent
Father Laurence V. Brault was devastated when a 7.2 magnitude earthquake severely damaged the Haitian parish that his Upton church, St. Gabriel the Archangel, supports.
The rectory at St. Anne Parish in La Sucrerie Henry was demolished on Aug. 14 so Father Joseph Didier, the pastor, has been forced to sleep in the rectory vehicle. Many other parish buildings sustained major damage, but they haven’t collapsed. Judging by photos sent by Father Didier, Father Brault believes the church and the multiple school buildings for children from pre-kindergarten through 12th grade may be salvaged, but repairs will be costly. Father Brault has not seen photos of the clinic and an adjacent housing unit for medical personnel so he’s not sure how damaged they are.
“I’m shocked by what I have seen and what I have heard,” he said. “I’m deeply saddened.”
St. Gabriel has remained up to date with Father Didier through text messages and email.
As of Sunday, 2,207 Haitians were confirmed dead, 344 were still missing and 12,268 were injured, and nearly 53,000 homes were destroyed by the earthquake. Tropical Storm Grace flooded the region two days after the earthquake.
The earthquake’s epicenter was almost a direct hit to St. Gabriel’s twin parish in La Sucrerie Henry so Father Brault is grateful that he hasn’t heard of any deaths in St. Anne Parish. He was informed that a child survived after being pulled from the rectory’s rubble.
Father Brault’s parishioners have twinned with St. Anne for more than 20 years, first when he was pastor at Holy Angels Parish in Upton and for the past decade after Holy Angels merged with St. Michael the Archangel Parish in Mendon to form St. Gabriel the Archangel. Father Brault has visited Haiti about half a dozen times and as recently as 2018.
Father Brault said most Haitians are too afraid to return to what remains of their homes since the earthquake, so they’re living under tent tops with no sides.
“It breaks my heart,” Father Brault said.
As troubled as he is by the structural damage to the buildings, Father Brault is even more haunted by the toll the earthquake has taken on the beleaguered Haitian people.
“It was a traumatic experience seeing the faces of these people who I have truly come to know and love,” he said. “The terror and the shock and the disbelief and the fear and the grief that is on those faces. I find myself, in my own prayer life, asking God how all of this can happen to a people who have been so incredibly deprived of so much that we have here, and certainly among the poorest of the poor, how they again can have even that taken away. It shakes one’s faith.”
Father Brault’s faith may be shaken, but it’s still strong. He and his parishioners are determined to do whatever they can to help St. Anne rebuild. During Mass last Sunday, he told his parishioners that God was calling on them to a response that was boundless in the level of charity.
“So I truly believe that even in the midst of this great tragedy,” Father Brault said, “God is present. I can’t tell you how, but I do believe that God is present and that God is calling us to again respond.”
St. Gabriel has responded a great deal over the years. In addition to donating $1,000 a month to St. Anne, St. Gabriel makes annual contributions of $4,000 for students, $2,000 for teacher salaries, and $6,000 to $9,000 for schools associated with the chapels. Including special requests, the church has contributed about $20,000 to $25,000 each of the past several years, Father Brault said.
St. Gabriel helped restore and maintain St. Anne’s buildings so they could be used at full capacity, and financed the construction of two chapels.
Two weeks before the earthquake, St. Gabriel sent a $25,000 donation which was made to its Legacy of Hope campaign with the request that it fund repairs at the St. Anne parish center.
In addition, the parish plans to earmark $30,000 of the $32,000 in its Haitian account to help St. Anne rebuild and to fund the many immediate medical, housing, food, and sanitation needs of St. Anne Parish.
“Our first concern is to try to help the pastor find something that he can live in so he’s not living in his vehicle,” Father Brault said.
Usually, St. Gabriel raises about $6,000 in change in bottles each fall for the homeless, but Father Brault plans to put that appeal on hold so the parish can focus on helping St. Anne rebuild.
Father Brault said the parish has already begun receiving donations in the mail for Haiti relief and the parish’s Haitian committee will plan further fund-raising. St. Gabriel will conduct the first of multiple special collections for Haiti on Sunday.
To donate to St. Gabriel’s Haitian relief campaign, send checks made out to St. Gabriel, with “Haiti” in the memo line, to St. Gabriel Church, 151 Mendon St., Upton, MA 01568 or visit: https://giving.parishsoft.com/app/Giving/stgabrielgiving. All donations will go directly to St. Anne Parish.
