Joseph Meaney, February 11-14, 2008

Going to Haiti on the first Human Life International (HLI) mission to this Caribbean nation was exciting. It also turned out to be a singularly opportune time to go. Shortly after the trip, food riots and violence brought down the government, and instability continues to the present. HLI is now reaching some of the more desperate corners of the globe where the purveyors of abortion and anti-life propaganda faced little international opposition in the past.

THE "LAND OF MOUNTAINS"

The history of Haiti is a long series of tragedies. The first colony planted by Christopher Columbus in 1492 disappeared without a trace. Soon thereafter, the Taino Indian inhabitants were decimated by disease. This prompted the importation of slaves from Africa, who were treated with such cruelty that their numbers could only be maintained by constantly bringing more across the sea to work the sugarcane plantations. The land was so productive that at one time it accounted for 40 percent of all the sugar and 60 percent of all the coffee consumed in Europe.

The French established their prosperous colony of Saint Domingue on the western third of the island of Hispaniola in the 17^th century. (The Spanish remained on the other two thirds in what became the Dominican Republic.) Soon the 32,000 Europeans were outnumbered by 500,000 slaves. There were also 25,000 or so persons of mixed race who played a decisive role in the revolt of 1791 that continued until independence in1804. Haitians are very proud that theirs is the second colony to achieve independence in the Western Hemisphere. The name Haiti was taken at that time from the original Taino Indian expression "land of mountains."

THE STRENGTH OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

As Jacqueline Mangones and I flew into Haiti from Miami, we had an excellent view of the area around the capital of Port-au-Prince and the tallest mountains in the Caribbean. Jacqueline was born in Haiti of French ancestry and had to leave for Florida due to the violence and economic hardships there. She is a friend of Mrs. Magaly Llaguno, the director of our HLI Latin American regional office. They are both 3^rd order Carmelites. Thanks to Jacqueline's connections from her frequent trips back to Haiti, we were able to start working with the Church to defend the culture of life.

Father Gilbert, the chaplain of the religious house La Villa Manrèse, met us at the airport and drove us to our appointments during the trip. We passed through the crazy traffic in the capital to the hills above and the headquarters of the Saint Viateur fathers. This French congregation came to Haiti in 1965 via Quebec. It was a blessing to stay at a religious house so close to the diocesan major seminary, especially since most hotels in Haiti are expensive and unsafe. We began our days with 6:30 AM Mass at the Villa Manrèse chapel and ate meals with the community.

Archbishop Joseph Serge Miot of Port-au-Prince very kindly met with us at the Villa Manrèse and suggested that we confer with his auxiliary bishop, Pierre-André Dumas, who serves as the rector of the Université Notre Dame d'Haïti. It is remarkable how many educational institutions the Catholic Church maintains in Haiti. We were told that only 15% or so of school children go to public schools. The vast majority are in the private sector. I was impressed by the throngs of children in Catholic school uniforms on the streets.

FIGHTING THE CULTURE OF DEATH

Bishop Dumas thanked us very much for the pro-life educational materials in French we brought for the students. Their "Notre Dame" University has a medical school with 600 students, a nursing school, and many other disciplines. Our scientific information on prenatal development and the failure rates of the condom will now be distributed to the students in the health sciences. At our meeting we learned about the dire situation of respect for human life in the country.

A very heroic priest goes every week to the public morgue to collect the bodies of those who died abandoned by all. The Church provides a simple but dignified burial for these poorest of the poor. What shocked Bishop Dumas was the news from the priest that most of the bodies discarded at the morgue are those of preborn babies-sometimes 30 in a week.

Jacqueline and others told me about the pagan practice of child sacrifice that still continues in Haiti. The African Voodoo religion is unfortunately widespread and feared. When Jean-Claude "Baby-Doc" Duvalier was on the verge of losing power in 1986, he consulted Voodoo priests in an attempt to stay in office. Their price for helping him was the sacrifice of his son. "Baby-Doc" chose exile instead. It is widely reported that young children disappear as a result of pacts with Voodoo priests. President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, a former priest, was notorious for resorting to Voodoo and magic.

The Church has a major task of evangelization to fight Voodoo and a culture of violence in Haiti. Fortunately, they do have many religious vocations. The three major seminaries have a combined total of over 500 young men in formation. Father Guy Boursico, rector of Notre Dame Seminary, told us that HLI's Seminarians for Life program was very welcome, and he thanked us for the books and other materials we brought.  Father William Smarth, rector of the CIFOR (Centre Inter-Institut de Formation Religieuse) gave me a tour of the common seminary for religious congregations. A consistent refrain on our visits was an interest in HLI doing some training sessions for the professors and seminarians on the life issues.

It is hard to move around Haiti without being assaulted by the yellow "Pante" signs for condoms, courtesy of Population Services International and the US taxpayer. They make the false promise of "safety" and "pleasure."  AIDS is a severe problem in Haiti with one in 20 people infected. I was told that homosexual sex tourism was to blame for some of the initial outbreak of the disease. It is certainly true that sexual promiscuity is a big problem in Haiti, and the condom campaigns have done nothing to fight this.

On the other hand, the Missionaries of Charity of Mother Teresa of Calcutta, launched a successful campaign for public decency. The most popular brewery had a terrible idea of advertizing their beer with the image of a naked woman. This ad-campaign took the form of billboards and posters throughout the country. The sisters responded with a call to boycott the beer and tear down the posters. It caught on. With sales declining and outrage mounting, the brewery pulled its ads. The government ministry of women eventually got behind the campaign once the Church had done all the work.

FALSE "HEALTH CARE"

Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. The government is really a cruel joke. They do not educate more than a tiny minority of the children or provide police protection. The 8,000 strong MINUSTAH UN peacekeepers are universally recognized as the only thing keeping the gangs and criminal elements from instituting mob rule. (This was one of the few times I saw the UN objectively providing a useful service.)  The economy is largely based on foreign aid. In this kind of unregulated environment, the anti-life groups thrive.

Profamil, the Haitian Creole name for their local Planned Parenthood organization, is opening clinics at a rapid pace. Their friendly-sounding name, "Pro Family," and the promise of free "Reproductive Health Services" make them popular. This is mainly because Planned Parenthood's deception is combined with a near total lack of health care facilities. People actually wait in line for hours thinking they will get health care, but Profamil's staff is only there to dispense birth control. It reminded me of the BBC documentary called "The Human Laboratory," which showed Haitian women from the slum of Cité Soleil being used in clinical trials for the Norplant birth control implants. The Population Council owns the patent for this population control method that severely damages women's health, and Haitians and other women were used as guinea pigs.

PRAYERS FOR HAITI

Please pray for Haiti. It is a beautiful country that is beset by many ills. HLI hopes to become part of the solution for many of the problems in their society that stem from a breakdown of the family and morality. It is certainly edifying to see how much the Church does to comfort and help the Haitian people. AIDS and violence against preborn children spread a deep sorrow in Haiti. Hidden human sacrifice and disregard for the dignity of the human person are eating away at the soul of this nation.

One light in the darkness is Venerable Pierre Toussaint (1766-1853), who is likely to become the first Haitian canonized saint. He began life as a slave but turned his back on hatred and violence and instead became a peacemaker and generously gave the wealth he acquired later in life to the poor, the sick, and the homeless. His example and that of the Missionaries of Charity are sorely needed in Haiti today.