Episcopal Press and News
First phase of Diocese of Haiti's reconstruction plan outlines losses, priorities
Episcopal News Service -- Miami. November 5, 2010 [110510-02]
Mary Frances Schjonberg
Prior to the Jan. 12 magnitude-7 earthquake, the Diocese of Haiti, numerically the largest in the Episcopal Church, served between 100,000 and 150,000 people in 168 congregations with 37 active clergy, most of whom serve multiple congregations in urban and rural areas.
The diocese's ministry included 254 schools which taught more than 80,000 Haitians from pre-school to trade-school and university level; medical clinics; a renowned philharmonic orchestra and children's choir based at the cathedral; agricultural, reforestation and other development projects and micro-financing efforts run in part with help from Episcopal Relief & Development; peace and reconciliation work, including the Desmond Tutu Center for Reconciliation and Peace and non-violence training provided by Episcopal Peace Fellowship (EPF).
The diocese funded its ministry by way of the rental income from a 12-unit condominium building in Port-au-Prince, grants from the Episcopal Church and investment from Episcopal Relief & Development, along with some income from its schools and congregations. The United Thank Offering also makes grants to Haiti ministries. In 2010, UTO grants totaled more than $146,000.
In addition, many Episcopal Church congregations and dioceses outside of Haiti are engaged in various relationships which bring money, materials and people into the diocese. Many of those relationships are represented at the Haitian Connection meeting in Miami.
An in-progress interactive map of quake damage and partnerships is available here.
The Plan for the Reconstruction and Development of the Diocese of Haiti (Phase 1) is divided into two parts.
The first is an assessment of diocesan churches and schools, along with five recommendations for major demolition and repair. They include:
- demolition of the rectory and part of the primary school at St. Martin of Tours in Delmas along with replacement of the church's roof;
- demolition of all of the school buildings at the cathedral complex and repair of the music school's amphitheater;
- demolition of the income-producing condominium building;
- evaluation of the stability of remaining buildings at the Episcopal University of Haiti in Port-au-Prince; and
- repairs to the church and refectory of St. Mattieu's in Léogâne (where the school and rectory are still usable).
This section also contains a $61.3 million estimate of the value of the diocese's total property loss.
The second part of the plan lists 13 reconstruction and redevelopment projects, leading with the Holy Trinity Cathedral in Port-au-Prince (estimated to be $34.7 million) and its adjacent complex of schools and a convent ($49.9 million). Haiti Bishop Jean Zaché Duracin told participants attending the Haiti Connections Conference in Miami that the diocese hopes that the Haitian government will give it the entire block on which the cathedral complex was relocated for its rebuilding.
The others projects and their cost estimates are:
- College St. Pierre reconstruction, $13.1 million;
- condominiums reconstruction, $3.8 million;
- bishop's residence reconstruction, $548,000;
- redevelopment of the conference center at Montrouis, $5.7 million;
- St. Martin of Tours Delmas reconstruction, $2.3 million;
- St. Vincent's School reconstruction, $11.9 million;
- Episcopal University of Haiti reconstruction, $18.1 million;
- new seminary and educational complex construction in Carrefour, $12.1 million;
- new training center construction at Merger near Léogâne, $9.5 million;
- renovation and construction of 20 rectories, $8.2 million; and
- "reinforcement" of churches and schools in Gros-Morne, Jeremie, Monchil, Lascahobas, Momboin Crochu and Lilavois, Cabaret, Croix-des-Bouquets, Petitie-Rivere de L'Artibonite, Duny and Bolosse, $23.3 million.
This second phase of work, according to the plan, is meant to reinforce the work that the diocese was doing prior to the earthquake while prioritizing work in regions of the diocese in terms of population and opportunities for development.
The Rev. Mathieu Brutus, a Haitian priest who was part of the commission that developed the plan, told ENS that the condominium building and the schools at Holy Trinity and St. Martin of Tours, along with College St. Pierre, brought in nearly 50 percent of the diocese's annual revenue prior to the quake. Thus, he said, the commission believed that reconstruction of those facilities was crucial "so that we can continue to have our own revenue."
Holy Trinity music school and the St. Vincent's School for Handicapped Children are in the first phase of reconstruction, he said, because of what their ministries represent to the country as a whole.