Haitian Orthodox priest to speak at St. Sophia Greek Orthodox Cathedral and St. John the Baptist Russian Orthodox Cathedral in Washington, DC

Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.
Galatians 6:2

On Friday, March 5, 2010, at 8:00 p.m. at St. Sophia Greek Orthodox Cathedral in Washington, DC, Fr. Gregoire Legouté of Port-au-Prince and his wife Rose will give eyewitness accounts of the hardships Orthodox Christians in Haiti are facing as a result of the violent earthquake that devastated their poor Caribbean nation.

Fr. Gregoire and his wife will speak again at the Russian Orthodox Cathedral of St. John the Baptist on March 7, at 9:30 a.m. after Sunday English liturgy.

The Orthodox Mission in Haiti consists of five parishes and two chapels with about 2,000 Orthodox Christians lead by two priests, Fr. Jean Chenier-Dumais, and Fr. Gregoire Legouté. Both priests survived the earthquake and are doing all they can to rebuild the Mission.

There is no social support system in Haiti, so all social work is done by the Church. The Church communities use rented buildings so they have no church home of their own, and the priests were forced to travel many miles in a car they shared in order to visit their parishioners. This car was destroyed in the earthquake. The Mission was struggling before the devastating earthquake and now has found itself in a situation terrible beyond imagining.

Even before the earthquake, Fr. Gregoire in a recent interview declared, "We lack everything in Haiti. We don't have liturgical books, sacramental vessels, land to build a church, or money for our schools."

The needs of our Orthodox brothers and sisters in Haiti are now greater than ever.

You are cordially invited to both events, to hear about the struggles of our fellow Orthodox Christians at the front lines of our Church.


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