During
the
first Gesu mission trip, in March of 2002, members of Gesu Parish had
the chance to visit St. Jude Parish two times, including staying
overnight in the rectory at St. Jude. The warmth with which we were
greeted, as well as the overwhelming hospitality of St Jude Pastor Fr.
Delischar Bichara, made us feel right at home. Upon the group's return
to Gesu, a unanimous recommendation was made to the Gesu Parish Council
to initiate a formal twinning relationship with St. Jude in Haiti.
During this first visit and during each subsequent
visit, members of Gesu Parish have had the opportunity to meet with Fr.
Bichara, with Sr. Anne-Marie Dorecelus, pssst, the principal of St.
Jude grade school, to go to masses, to meet with individuals in the
Parish-at the church and in people's homes-and to learn more and more
about the people of St. Jude, their lives, their needs, their hopes,
their families and the possibilities for our on-going relationship.
Several hundred families live near the church and the building serves
as a location not just for prayer and worship: the youngsters play
soccer on a field behind the church and school; the older youth play
dominoes outside the church; many young people sing in the church choir
or play instruments in the band, and practice and socialize during the
evenings; a local charismatic, ecumenical prayer group, involving
thousands of people, use the church for prayer.
Over 400
children attend the school at St. Jude's-funding for the daily meal
program was dwindling at the time of the first Gesu visit in 2002. The
generosity of the people of Gesu parish has ensured that the students
have a daily meal of rice, beans, vegetables and sometimes meat. For
some of these students, this is their only predictable meal, as their
families have no money for food.
