Give to the Red Cross

Please consider helping the Red Cross as so many of our friends and neighbors struggle to rebuild after floods and tornadoes.

Our Lady of Akita, Pray for Japan!

Please pray for Japan through the intercession of Our Lady of Akita!

Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection, implored thy help, or sought thine intercession was left unaided.

 

Inspired by this confidence, I fly unto thee, O Virgin of virgins, my mother; to thee do I come, before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful. O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in thy mercy hear and answer me.

PONTIFF URGES PRAYER FOR NEW ZEALAND QUAKE VICTIMS

The following comes from Zenit.org:

Benedict XVI is promising prayer for those being "severely tested" by the earthquake in New Zealand.

Today at the end of the general audience, the Pope mentioned the victims of the quake that struck Christchurch at 1 p.m. Tuesday, local time. The current death toll is at 75, but some 300 people are still unaccounted for. More than 100 people were rescued the evening and night of the quake.

"At this time, my thoughts turn especially to the people [of New Zealand] who are being severely tested by this tragedy," the Holy Father said. "Let us ask God to relieve their suffering and to support all who are involved in the rescue operations. I also ask you to join me in praying for all who have lost their lives."

Rescue teams as well as condolences arrived from around the globe.

From nearby Australia, Archbishop Philip Wilson of Adelaide, president of the bishops' conference, assured solidarity with the New Zealanders.

"It is with great sadness that the bishops of Australia and the Catholic people of this nation watch the unfolding events following the massive earthquake in Christchurch yesterday," said his message to Bishop Barry Jones of Christchurch. "The proximity of our countries and the solidarity we share in times of disaster lead us to feel enormous grief for what your people are experiencing. [...] You and the people of Christchurch are very much in our prayers at this time, and we pray that Our Lord will continue to accompany you."

Christchurch is one of New Zealand's bigger cities, with a population of some 350,000.

Salesians in Pakistan assisting 150,000 impacted by flooding

The following comes from the CNA:

The press office for the Salesians reported this week that the congregation is helping more than 150,000 people in Pakistan affected by the severe flooding that has already taken the lives of 1,500. An additional 20 million Pakistanis are suffering from shortages of drinking water and food.

Fr. Peter Zago, director of the Salesian operations in the city of Quetta, recently told Vatican Radio that while they have been able to assist many families, international aid still has not been able to reach the area. “This morning we received around 100 families and gave them what is essential for at least a month: flour and oil, … some beans and medicine.” The priest added that several of the children they have seen are “presenting symptoms of cholera and other deceases due to non-treated drinking water.”

“Here the U.N. is not yet present,” he continued. “We are a private institution at work. We have 80,000 euros ($101,500) and we are the only ones helping around here, looking after the families most in need.”

Fr. Zago said he realizes that when the funds run out he will have to stop the humanitarian help.

Disease has also become a problem. “The north of the country has been hit by cholera. To my knowledge there are more than 10,000 who have died of cholera, but no one wants to count them as casualties.

There are “25,000 soldiers, who could easily give a helping hand, but are kept in the Swat valley, to stop the Taliban and therefore there are no personnel to help.”

Bishop Joseph Coutts of Faisalabad set aside August 24 as a day of prayer among Catholics for the 1,500 victims and the more than 20 million Pakistanis who have had to evacuate.

Sunday declared a day of prayer by Louisiana Legislators

This Sunday is declared a day of prayer for the oil spill recovery in New Orleans. Let's join everyone in this prayer that this terrible disaster will be cleaned up and that all those affected will be lifted up in the hope that God gives us in His Divine Providence. Hat tip to the Abita Deacon on this one:

A STATEMENT FROM MOST REVEREND GREGORY AYMOND, ARCHBISHOP OF NEW ORLEANS
June 17, 2010

Archbishop expresses gratitude to legislators for declaring Day of Prayer for Oil Spill Recovery

We thank the legislators for declaring Sunday a Day of Prayer. This is a public sign of our humble dependence upon God.

Our hearts and prayers go out to those who were killed in the explosion. Likewise we offer prayerful consolation to their families and friends.

The oil spill has very challenging affects on many people in our community, especially the fishing industry, oil industry and related works. We also need to be attentive to the impact on our environment and economy.

We ask God to reassure us and to walk with us in this very challenging time. We pray that:

• we may not lose hope,
• we will persevere in tough times,
• we will see God’s compassion and love in these trying circumstances,
• God will lead scientists and engineers to a permanent solution soon,
• we will bear this cross with trust,
• we will reach out in prayer and with financial resources to those whose livelihood and family life have been affected.

The Catholic Church through Catholic Charities will continue to be present to those affected by offering food, counseling and other emergency services now and in the long-term.

God never abandons us but walks with us during this challenging time in the history of our state and nation.

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New Orleans

The Floods in Rio de Janeiro

We need to continue to pray for the victims of natural disasters. As we pray for the earthquake victims of Haiti and Chile, we also pray for the flood victims of Brazil. The following comes from the Salesian News Agency:

The strong storms which on 6 April hit the metropolitan area of Rio de Janeiro and caused more than 100 deaths and 60 missing persons, also caused problems for the Salesian schools in the area.

The difficulties experienced by teachers and pupils in reaching the schools led to them suspending normal activities; some districts were completely cut off by land slips caused by the heavy rains.

The worst situation is that experienced by the “Our Lady Help of Christians” Institute Praça de Bandeira, run by the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians (FMA). The flooding reached the first floor making access impossible. On Monday the students and staff were unable to leave and return home, and had to stay on the school premises.

At the Salesian Institute in Rocha Miranda lessons were suspended. According to Fr Braz Carnielli, the buildings were not damaged. The same applies to the “Alberto Monteiro de Carvalho” School in Jacarezinho, and the “Saint Francis of Sales” Institute in the Riachelo district. In this last building the rain damaged and partially cut the telephone system.

In the city of Niteroi too lessons were suspended. Fr Antidio de Andrade Carvalho, Delegate for Schools in the “Saint John Bosco” Province of Brazil-Belo Horizonte (BBH), reports that the city has been seriously affected by the floods, with at least 50 people who have lost their lives. The buildings of the “Saint Rose” school and of the “Colegio Salesiano Región Oceánica” however have not been damaged he says, although there will be a great deal of clearing and cleaning up to do in the flooded classrooms.

Pope Benedict prays for Chilean earthquake victims

The following comes from the CNA:

After the Angelus on Sunday, the Holy Father directed his words to the population of Chile and victims of its massive earthquake. He prayed that quake victims receive relief and courage from God.

"My thought also goes to Chile and to the population hit by the earthquake," Pope Benedict XVI said.

Chile was hit by an 8.8 magnitude earthquake very early on Saturday morning, at a strength 500 times that of the January earthquake in Haiti, ABC News reports. At least 214 deaths have been confirmed and the government estimates millions of people are without homes.

"I pray for the victims and am spiritually close to the people tested by such a grave calamity; for these I implore from God relief from the suffering and courage in this adversity," the Holy Father said at St. Peter’s Square.

He assured victims of the support of the Church, adding "I'm sure that there will be no lack of solidarity of many, especially ecclesial organizations."

Prayer Need: Massive Magnitude 8.8 Quake Hits Chile

Please pray for the people of Chile. Here is the story from Fox News:

A massive 8.8-magnitude earthquake struck Chile early Saturday, collapsing buildings, killing dozens and downing phone lines. President Michele Bachelet declared a "state of catastrophe" in central Chile and said the death toll was rising.

Chile's top emergency official said at least 78 people were killed

There have been a number of aftershocks to hit Chile since the quake, the largest one registering at magnitude 6.9, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

"It has been a devastating earthquake," Interior Minister Edmundo Perez Yoma told reporters.

Tsunami warnings were issued over a wide area, including South America, Hawaii, Australia and New Zealand, Japan, the Philippines, Russia and many Pacific islands.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's tsunami warning monitors reported a wave measuring nearly eight feet hit near Talcahuano, Chile, about 90 minutes after the quake hit. Other waves of up to four feet hit other coastal areas. The NOAA has placed its alert on the highest level — severe.

"We have had a huge earthquake, with some aftershocks," Bachelet said, appealing from an emergency response center for Chileans to remain calm. "Despite this, the system is functioning. People should remain calm. We're doing everything we can with all the forces we have. Any information we will share immediately."

Bachelet said "without a doubt, with an earthquake of this magnitude, there will be more deaths."

In the 2 1/2 hours following the 90-second quake, the U.S. Geological Survey reported 11 aftershocks, of which five measured 6.0 or above.

She urged people to avoid traveling in the dark, since traffic lights are down, to avoid causing more fatalities.

U.S. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley tells Fox Nows: "We are doing a few things. First, our Embassy is reaching out to the Chilean government to offer assistance. Chile has both significant capabilities and strong building codes. Second, the Embassy has activated its Warden system to communicate with Americans in Chile and make sure they are okay. You should check with the Pentagon as well to see what SOUTHCOM is doing."

Crowley added: "We have more than 100 personnel at the Embassy. They are all okay and accounted for."

The quake hit 200 miles southwest of the capital, Santiago, at a depth of 22 miles at 3:34 a.m., the U.S. Geological Survey reported.

The epicenter was just 70 miles from Concepcion, Chile's second-largest city, where more than 200,000 people live along the Bio Bio river, and 60 miles from the ski town of Chillan, a gateway to Andean ski resorts that was destroyed in a 1939 earthquake.

In Santiago, the capital, modern buildings are built to withstand earthquakes, but many older ones were heavily damaged, including the Nuestra Senora de la Providencia church, whose bell tower collapsed. An apartment building's two-level parking lot also flattened onto the ground floor, smashing about 50 cars whose alarms and horns rang incessantly. A bridge just outside the capital also collapsed, and at least one car flipped upside down.

In the coastal city of Vina del Mar, the earthquake struck just as people were leaving a disco, Julio Alvarez told Radio Cooperativa in Santiago. "It was very bad, people were screaming, some people were running, others appeared paralyzed. I was one of them."

Bachelet said she was declaring a "state of catastrophe" in 3 central regions of the country, and that while emergency responders were waiting for first light to get details, it was evident that damage was extensive.

She said the initial death toll was 16, "but we cannot dismiss the possibility of more," and encouraged people to stay home and not travel unless strictly necessary.

Several hospitals have been evacuated due to earthquake damage, she said, and communications with the city of Concepcion remained down. She planned to tour the affected region as quickly as possible to get a better idea of the damage.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center called for "urgent action to protect lives and property" in Hawaii, which is among 53 nations and territories subject to tsunami warnings.

A huge wave reached a populated area in the Robinson Crusoe Islands, 410 miles off the Chilean coast, Bachelet said. There were no immediate reports of major damage there, she added.

"Sea level readings indicate a tsunami was generated. It may have been destructive along coasts near the earthquake epicenter and could also be a threat to more distant coasts," the warning center said. It did not expect a tsunami along the west of the U.S. or Canada but was continuing to monitor the situation.

The largest earthquake ever recorded struck the same area of Chile on May 22, 1960. The magnitude-9.5 quake killed 1,655 people and left 2 million homeless. The tsunami that it caused killed people in Hawaii, Japan and the Philippines and caused damage to the west coast of the United States.

Haitian days of mourning bring together whole capital

Please continue to pray for the people of Haiti and all those struggling to lift them from this tragedy. The following comes from the CNA:

Haitians have remembered the victims of January’s devastating earthquake with three days of mourning and fasting. Stores, gas stations and banks have closed down and the roads have been emptied to make way for the event’s processions.

“Time has stopped in the different parts of Port-au-Prince,” reported Mathilde Magnier, Caritas Communications Officer in Port-au-Prince.

From dusk until dawn in Port-au-Prince, loudspeakers broadcast the Gospel, sermons and prayers. Writing in a report on the Caritas blog, Magnier described the mood as “a strange atmosphere of joy, despair and reverence.”

She said that Catholics, Protestants and followers of voodoo joined in the observance.

Since the main places of worship were destroyed, ceremonies took place in the city’s waste grounds, schoolyards and temporary shelter camps.

The solemn mourning processions were made up of people openly grieving. Women were dressed in white, children wore their best clothes and men tied black armbands of mourning around their arms.

“Those who can walk help the injured in their wheelchairs and support those hobbling on crutches. Some sing and dance while others are prostrate,” Magnier wrote.

Thousands of faithful gathered on the steps of the destroyed cathedral for a memorial Mass celebrated by Fr. Serge Chadic, Director General of Caritas Haiti.

A man named Janel told Caritas that all his family members survived the quake. He was at the Mass to support those who were suffering.

“We were all deeply affected by the quake, we must help each other. That is why I am here,” he explained.

A woman named Lérénie was also among those at the cathedral. She sat on a piece of rubble in the middle of the crowd, holding her four-month-old baby in her arms. Her husband and two brothers were killed in the earthquake.

“These are difficult days. As Haitians we have to mourn our dead together,” she commented to Caritas.

Lérénie said she had to cling to her faith. “That and my boy are all I have left,” she said.

US Bishops: Coherent strategy needed for Haiti relief

The following comes from the CNA:

The United States needs a “long-term coherent strategy” for recovery, development, and anti-poverty efforts in Haiti after its devastating earthquake, Bishop of Albany Howard J. Hubbard has said in a letter to U.S. political leaders.

Bishop Hubbard’s comments came in a Jan. 26 letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and U.S. Trade Representative Ambassador Ron Kirk.

Writing as the chair of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Committee on International Justice and Peace, he said the USCCB welcomed President Obama’s “leadership and compassion on behalf of the American people.”

He noted the president had appointed Administrator Raj Shah to coordinate the U.S. government’s response and also had invited President Bill Clinton and President George W. Bush to lead a bipartisan relief effort.

He added that Catholic Relief Services (CRS) took “immediate” steps to respond to the conference and the USCCB took up a special collection for relief efforts after the disaster.

Bishop Hubbard advised that different government agencies should be coordinated in a “comprehensive approach” that engages other groups with expertise and experience in Haiti. The bishop recommended debt relief, trade preferences, extension of protected status for Haitians living the United States, and sustained development assistance as part of the aid strategy.

“When the international community and Haitians move beyond the most urgent aspects of the emergency, we urge a substantial and sustained commitment by the U.S. Government to provide long-term funding for reconstruction and poverty reduction,” he continued.

“At the same time, our nation should work to support and strengthen the role of the Haitian Government and institutions in the reconstruction and long-term development of their nation.”

The letter closed by thanking the U.S. leaders and pledging the bishops’ assistance.

“Be assured that the Conference of Bishops and Catholic Relief Services are also doing everything possible to act in solidarity with the people and Church in Haiti at this time of terrible loss and suffering.”

No sleep, little aid: Salesian nun pleads for more help for Haitians

The Salesian Sisters make a plea for more aid in Haiti. Let's not forget the tremendous needs of the people. The following comes from the CNS:

Sister Maria Sylvita Elie hasn't eaten all day, and the tiredness shows on her face as she pleads with a Brazilian nongovernmental organization for some tents for the homeless families who have camped out on the convent patio of her religious order, the Salesian Sisters of St. John Bosco.

Tents are in short supply in the Haitian capital these days, and she has to argue forcefully. Her persistence finally pays off, and she fills her pickup with two loads of tents.

"I'm going to hide them until dark, otherwise people will swarm all over us to get them. After it's dark I'll give them quietly to families that have small children," said Sister Sylvie, as she's known.

A Salesian nun who lives in one of the roughest areas of Port-au-Prince, Sister Sylvie has been sleeping under the stars since the Jan. 12 quake collapsed most of the church sanctuary and other buildings they used for educating neighborhood children.

"We're a center of reference for the community, and people come to us for help in solving their problems. Our job is to find the resources and people to solve those problems," she told Catholic News Service.

That has not been an easy task. With the exception of frequent shipments of medical supplies and food from her congregation's sisters in the neighboring Dominican Republic, few relief supplies have arrived here.

"While the people are dying, the international organizations are passing their time in meetings, in studies and planning. People fly around in helicopters looking at us, making the houses shake once again. But while they're planning, the people are dying. We've now gone more than two weeks without any help, and they haven't contacted those of us who could be most helpful in organizing the people. We've got to make the solidarity more concrete. We need fewer studies and plans while the people suffer and die," she said, beginning to cry.

"I'm sorry," she said after a moment. "But this is urgent."

Sister Sylvie's complex, now a collection of jumbled buildings around a patio filled with makeshift shelters, sits at the confluence of the Haitian capital's three most notorious neighborhoods: La Saline, Cite Soleil, and Belair. Before the quake, the seven sisters here ran a primary school and a jobs training program for more than 1,000 youths. Their special passion, however, was a residential school with 96 young women students. Sister Sylvie, who is 62, was in that building, walking down a hallway, when the quake struck.

"The building started shaking and I found a column and hugged it. The bottom of the column came loose from the floor and it started dancing around, but I asked God for mercy and held on. I heard the cries of the students who were studying.

"The building started to fall on one sister, and the girls screamed louder, but the wall stopped before it fell over completely on the sister, and the girls dragged her outside, where I found them on the patio. Since then we've been sleeping on the patio, with no wall to separate the convent from the street. I sleep covered with a towel from UNICEF," she said.

The two-story residential school didn't collapse, but it has huge cracks, and Sister Sylvie gives a visiting reporter a hurried tour of the ground floor. School papers still lie on desks and the floor. Everything is covered with a fine dust and chunks of walls and ceiling material that shook loose in the quake.

Sister Sylvie has obtained water from the Brazilian nongovernmental organization down the street, which also gave her the tents, donated by Norwegian Church Aid. She spends part of each day sorting the food and medicines that come from the Dominican Republic, shipping most off to other parishes where her congregation is serving similar homeless populations.

"I can't explain how the people have survived. The international community hasn't done much for them. We have to buy rice and beans and cooking gas, which is much higher priced now, and we have to try to control who gets in here. People wander the streets looking for something to drink and eat. People are getting frustrated; they're angry and will easily start shouting at you," she said.

She says she's particularly worried that the end of the month is approaching. With no work there will be no pay.

"I can't get that out of my head. Besides dealing with all the material needs, how do I lift up the faith of the community? How are they supposed to go out to animate and cheer up the groups? These questions won't let me rest. I didn't really sleep until two nights ago, when I finally collapsed. People told me the next day my face looked better," she said.

An aftershock rattles the ground. Sister Sylvie stops for a moment, staring straight ahead. Then she breathes again.

"Despite all our difficulties, the people have an extraordinary faith. Since the moment the earth started shaking they called out to Jesus to save them," she said. "It has been like a permanent retreat around here. The people don't sleep. They lie awake and pray. And they sing with even more faith than before. They don't see this as a curse, but know that the Lord wants to tell us something."

For now, Sister Sylvie worries about restarting her educational programs. Along with the damaged residential building, many of the other classrooms have collapsed.

"The government says we're going to have to reopen the schools. But our classrooms are under the rubble. I don't know when we'll be able to start classes again. Nor do I know what the students will do in the meantime," she said.

"Some of our people, including some of our students, are leaving the city, going to the countryside. But that's not the best solution. They're just going to make life in the countryside difficult for the people who already live there," she said.

Salesians and the Haitian Relief Effort

Here is the latest from our Salesian relief efforts in Haiti:

Fr. Mark Hyde, SDB (Mission Procure) is making another visit to Port-au-Prince on Friday, Jan. 29.

As of Jan. 26, the Salesians in Haiti are providing shelter to about 13,500 Haitians left homeless from the earthquake (approximately 6,500 in Carrefour-Thorland and 7,000 in Pétion-Ville). This doesn’t count what the FMAs are doing at their schools. Survivors are finding shelter in the limited number of facilities which remain standing, in makeshift tents, or in one of the more than 800 tents have been distributed by the Salesians. Currently, staff at the Salesian Missions headquarters in New Rochelle is working to secure an additional 2,000 six-man tents for distribution to the homeless.

In a true show and spirit of cooperation and solidarity, the Salesians in Germany and Austria are sending two 40-foot containers with 1,600 “schools in a box” kits, enough for 72,000 students. This is in preparation for makeshift schools (when deemed appropriate). Prior to the earthquake, Salesian Missions (N.R.) funded schools to these children. Every effort is being made to re-establish this as soon as possible, as well as attend to the more urgent, life-saving needs.

On Jan. 27 the Sandals Foundation has pledged $35,000 to Salesian Missions for its Haiti Relief Efforts (details to come).
After consultation with the SDBs of Haiti, the Emergency Response Team expects to carry out an assessment and identification of needs in the areas of water and sanitation infrastructure that can be turned into “shelf projects” for financing.

Fr. Joseph Simon, SDB, is receiving direct assistance in the form of a 40-kw generator for the street children program in Pétion-Ville.

Transition from emergency relief to reconstruction is expected to begin shortly after the flow of food assistance begins to normalize, which in turn is expected to happen a week or so after 40-foot containers of food assistance and other needed relief emergency items donated by Cross International begin to arrive in Santo Domingo for repacking and transport to Port-au-Prince. In the meantime, a continued food assistance bridge is in full swing with foodstuffs being purchased in the Dominican Republic.

Associazione Missioni Don Bosco from Turin has offered to defray the cost of buying and delivering some 2,000 urgently needed tents for Port-au-Prince. Salesian Missions (N.R.) is trying to find them; it’s a large number to find in stock.

If you would like to help our Salesian Missions in Haiti please click here.

Haiti Earthquake creates thousands of orphans

The following comes from the AP:

Jean Peterson Estime was outside playing soccer when his home pancaked in last week's earthquake and killed his parents and five sisters.

Now he sleeps with thousands in a Port-au-Prince park and forages in rubble for food and goods he can sell to survive.

"I'm trying to get a little job so I can take care of myself," he says, attempting to look brave even as he shuffles his dirty feet in too-big sandals.

What the 13-year-old really wants is someone to take him in.

Tens of thousands of children have been orphaned by the magnitude-7.0 quake, aid groups say — so many that officials won't venture a number. With buildings destroyed and growing chaos in the capital, they say many children are like Jean — living alone on the streets.

"Without doubt, most of them are in the open," said Elizabeth Rodgers, of the Britain-based international orphan group SOS Children.

Some may have family, but they've been abandoned or left unconscious at triage centers for care.

One 5-month-old patient at the Israeli field hospital has a number rather than a name.

No one even knows who left him at the makeshift medical center after he was pulled from a collapsed building four days after the quake. Doctors have a difficult decision as he recovers.

"What will we do with him when we are finished?" said Dr. Assa Amit of the hospital's pediatric emergency department.

Even before Tuesday's deadly magnitude-7.0 earthquake, Haiti, one of the world's poorest countries, was awash in orphans, with 380,000 children living in orphanages or group homes, the United Nations Children's Fund reported on its Web site.

Some children lost their parents in previous disasters, including deadly tropical storms and hurricanes that hit in 2004, 2005 and 2008, plus massive floods almost every other year since 2000. Others were abandoned amid the Caribbean nation's long-running political strife, which has led thousands to seek asylum in the U.S. — without their children — or by parents who were simply too poor to care for them.

International advocacy groups are trying to help, either by speeding up adoptions that were already in progress, or by sending in relief personnel to evacuate thousands of orphans to the U.S. and other countries.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security on Tuesday announced a humanitarian parole policy that allows orphaned Haitian children into the U.S. temporarily on a case-by-case basis, so they can receive the care they need.

Spokesman Sean Smith said orphans who have ties to the U.S. — such as a family member already living here — are among those who can get special permission to remain in the United States.

More than 50 children, most of whom already have adoptive families waiting for them, arrived in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Tuesday. After receiving initial medical treatment, they were taken to a "comfort center" with food, drink and toys, where they will stay until they are placed with foster families.

About 100 other children from the same orphanage, which was destroyed in the quake, are being cared for by Dutch and French agencies.

A charter plane is heading to Haiti to pick up 109 children being adopted by Dutch families and will reach Port-au-Prince on Wednesday, according to the Dutch government.

Indiana-based Kids Alive International, which runs orphanages around the world, is expected to take 50 Haitian orphans to group homes in the Dominican Republic, the organization said in a news release.

Notwithstanding the U.S. policy, the Catholic Church in Miami is working on a proposal that would allow thousands of orphaned children to come permanently to America. A similar effort launched in 1960, known as Operation Pedro Pan, brought about 14,000 unaccompanied children from Cuba to the U.S.

Under the new plan, dubbed "Pierre Pan," Haitian orphans would first be placed in group homes and then paired with foster parents, said Mary Ross Agosta, spokeswoman for the Archdiocese of Miami.

Meanwhile, U.N. humanitarian chief John Holmes said the United Nations is establishing a group on the ground in Haiti to protect children — orphans and non-orphans alike — against trafficking, kidnapping and sex abuse.

Orphanages that were operating in Haiti before the earthquake are scrambling to keep their kids safe, sheltered and fed.

Three of the four orphanages operated in Port-au-Prince by Planting Peace, a Melbourne, Fla., nonprofit, have been damaged, forcing staff to move everyone into one building. They are now trying to secure homes in Haiti for the kids, the group's founder, Aaron Jackson, told The Associated Press in an e-mail. Rainn Wilson, who appears in the TV show "The Office," is raising money for the group, Jackson said.

All 37 of his orphans are physically fine, Jackson said, and he would like to help more children.

"There needs to be some communication from the government level about what we need to do. Can we take these children?" he said. "We're ready. We've already raised a fair amount of money where we can go out and get an orphanage running soon."

Sherrie Fausey had to evacuate 30 children from her Christian Light Foundation orphanage in the capital after her facility was badly damaged in the quake.

Fausey, a former Florida elementary school teacher who came to Haiti 10 years ago, acknowledges that her job — daunting before the quake — has become even more challenging now.

"Wherever the Lord sends you, he'll make you content to be there," she said. "Times can be hard, but I'd rather be here in all this rubble. It's where my kids are."

Jean, a charming boy who kisses the extended hand of a foreign woman instead of shaking it, has found work so far loading food from a warehouse to trucks. The warehouse owner has given him something to eat.

He's only had a few years of school. He dropped out when his family could no longer afford it, and he can't read or write much. But he'd like a family who could feed him and let him return to school.

At the Israeli field hospital, patient No. 236, a 6-month-old boy, lies on a hospital stretcher, crying in pain. Relatives brought him to the medical center shortly after the disaster, then left. They didn't leave his name. His parents are dead.

Doctors suspect the infant had meningitis long before the earthquake. They also suspect that no one is coming back for him.

"We will wait to discharge him until there is a facility that can grant continuous care," Amit said.

Update: "All Children in Port-au-Prince are now street children"

Here is the latest on the Salesian in Haiti:

Bits of news have been arriving in our Salesian Provincial House in New Rochelle from Port-au-Prince via Rome.

1. The 2 young Salesians who were unaccounted for at school, Brothers Atsime Wilfrid and Vibrun Valsaint, in third year of philosophy studies, died when the Saint Francis de Sales Institute of Philosophy in the Fleuriot-Tabarre district of Port-au-Prince collapsed. Their funerals have already been held. Thus, with the already known death of Brother Hubert Sanon, we have lost 3 confreres.

2. One report, coming to us from Fr. Adriano Bregolin, vicar of the Rector Major, through our British confreres, says that up to 500 pupils are buried under rubble at one of our schools, presumably ENAM (St. John Bosco), and that “all six Salesian houses in the area of Port-au-Prince have been destroyed.” All other reports mention “200+” students in the collapsed building, including 2 posted today by ANS. Efforts are being made to get Haitian National Police and/or OCHA to ENAM to try to extract the students.

3. Fr. Attilio Stra, director of ENAM and already reported as seriously injured, has sent an e-mail to Italy acknowledging, “It’s a miracle I’m alive.” Dominican soldiers are evacuating him to Santo Domingo for medical treatment.

4. Fr. Calixte Iguintz from Gonaives in the northern part of Haiti, has gone to Port-au-Prince to establish contact with the Salesians in the capital. The provincial treasurer of the Antilles Province, Bro. Alberto Rodriguez, and the director of the Development Office for Haiti, Bro. Franklin Ortega, went from Santo Domingo to Port-au-Prince to make an assessment and find news about the situation of the Salesians and their works. A report from the Dominican Republic is expected later this evening with news collected the 2 brothers.

5. All of the FMAs (Salesian Sisters) are safe. They suffered only one minor injury, Sister Piard Mathilde, who was treated and released from a hospital. None of their students were in their buildings when the quake struck. Many of their buildings are heavily damaged.

6. Two sisters from the Dominican Republic reached Port-au-Prince yesterday and reported that many of the sisters and their boarding students have gathered at the damaged provincial house and are sleeping in the open. They are rendering whatever assistance they can to others. They suffer from not knowing how the sisters in other communities are faring, or about their own relatives. They are sustained by their trust in Mary Help of Christians. The FMAs in the Antilles Province are organizing relief, and the 2 visiting sisters marvel at the dignity and hope they see in the suffering people of Haiti.

7. Salesian Missions in New Rochelle has acquired six satellite phones and a solar charger for them and is trying to get them to Port-au-Prince so that reliable communications can be opened.

8. The New Rochelle Salesian Mission Office has already sent a container of rice, which is due to arrive by Monday, January 18, but won’t immediately have any possibility of being unloaded because of port conditions.

9. Fr. Julian Fox, “trawling through the stuff coming in” at his office in Rome, was hard hit by this remark: “The humanitarian aid organization [the Salesians are meant] has its work cut out for it as all children in Port-au-Prince are now street children.”

10. The Union of Superiors General in Rome is establishing a network among the various religious orders to share information. The De La Salle Brothers have lost three of their confreres. All the Claretians in the country are safe, but the buildings of the parish they were looking after have been destroyed.

11. At least one American died, Molly Hightower, niece of a Jesuit in Spokane, who was doing volunteer work at Friends of the Orphans in Port-au-Prince. Their 7-story building collapsed. [This comes to N.R. from Seattle, not Rome.]

12. Water, food, and medical supplies are the most urgent needs. Salesian Missions has had many offers for these, for volunteers, for transportation, etc., as well as a flow of cash donations, and is working at coordinating all. Much depends upon establishing the above-mentioned communications and, of course, on a place or places to set up operations in the city. The Rector Major has appointed 2 Spanish SDBs to go to Port-au-Prince and coordinate efforts there.

13. Salesian Missions is also planning already for development work after the immediate crisis: for clean-up and rebuilding. Fr. Steve Ryan may bring a Gospel Roads III team there in May.

14. Salesian Missions set up a special account to receive donations for Haiti:

Haiti Disaster Relief Fund

Salesian Missions

Box 30

New Rochelle, NY 10802-0030

Or you may call 914-633-8344.

Finally, the Salesians ask for prayers for our suffering and dead confreres, pupils, sisters, and all the people.

First Haitian Salesian Brother dies in Earthquake

From the Salesian News Agency:

One of the tens of thousands of victims in the Haitian earthquake was Salesian Brother Hubert Sanon, 85. Salesian Father Mark Hyde, executive director of the Salesian Missions based in New Rochelle, N.Y., said Brother Hubert was the first Haitian to become a Salesian brother. Details surrounding Brother Hubert's death were unknown, but Father Hyde said he died in the Salesian compound that houses the National School of Arts and Trade, known as ENAM among Haitians. The Salesian generalate in Rome issued a brief statement Jan. 15 saying that Italian Salesian Father Attilio Stra, the school's director, "confirmed the destruction" of the trade school and said it was most likely the more than 200 students and several staff members were dead. The number of students believed dead later was estimated by the Salesians at up to 500. Father Stra, who was seriously injured during the earthquake, sent an e-mail to Rome saying, "It's a miracle I'm alive." Brother Hubert professed vows in 1947 and worked at the school's Lakay program for young adults and teenagers on the streets. The program tries to reunite the young adults with their families. For those unable to find their families, the program offers the young people a place to stay and teaches them a trade in preparation for employment. Father Hyde said Brother Hubert was a graduate of the school and was so impressed with the work of the Salesians that he decided to join the order.

Here is more on the terrible tragedy:

Cross of Christ Remains in Haiti

Ed Sousa over at In God's Company 2 posted this image from the devastation in Haiti. The cross of Christ remains amidst the ruble. Let's continue to pray for this suffering people and to do what we can to help.

Archbishop Dolan on Haitian Earthquake

Here is the good Archbishop of New York on the Haitian Earthquake. Also, please help through the Salesian Missions.

The Face of Haiti's Children

The Salesian Missions has given the children of Haiti a face. You can click here to send your donation to help Haiti's children.

Note that these images come from before the quake.

Update: Earthquake in Haiti

Please continue to pray for the people of Haiti. Here is the latest from the Salesian News Agency:

In spite of the difficulties in communicating with Haiti we have heard that among the victims of the earthquake which struck the Caribbean island of Haiti yesterday there is the Salesian Brother Hubert Sanon 85 years of age.

At present among those missing is a Salesian priest aged 38, Fr Harold Bernard, buried under the ruins; there is no further news of him. The two Salesians were at work when at 16.53 local time, a few kilometres from Port-au-Prince there was a scale 7 earthquake.

As yet there is no news whether or not among the victims there are youngsters or other Salesians from “Saint John Bosco” in Port-au-Prince-Enam, where Br. Sanon and Fr Bernard were living. Here the Salesians have a primary school, a technical school and also a reception centre for youngsters in difficulty and an oratory.

At Port-au-Prince there has also been damage to the house in Carrefour-Thorland. The Daughters of Mary Help of Christians have suffered damage to their works in Port-au-Prince and at “Sanit Mary D. Mazzarello” in Pétion-Ville. At present there is also a Daughter of Mary Help of Christians in hospital.

“We have been hit very hard,” says Fr Ducange Sylvain, appointed the new Superior of the “Blessed Philip Rinaldi” Vice Province of Haiti last December, referring to the situation of the Salesians.

In a short and dramatic communication Fr Sylvain gives a picture of the situation a few hours after the earthquake measuring 7.0 on the scale, which struck Haiti yesterday afternoon local time.

The house of Port-Au-Prince Enam and the foundations nearby the “Saint John Bosco” Institute such as the Work of the Little Schools of Father Bonhem, entrusted to the Salesians, and the “Lakay”, suffered the greatest damage in the city. The Salesians from the centre are injured. Brother Sanon died under the ruins and sadly over 200 pupils are still buried there.

The Provincial House and that of Fleuriot, both in Port-Au-Prince, have been severely damaged; two young Salesians in formation who were at the university are still missing.

At the house of Carrefour-Thorland a part of the building and the reception centre collapsed but the Salesians are safe. At Gressier class-rooms collapsed.

At Petion-Ville the buildings suffered serious damage.

Fr Harold Bernard has been rescued from the ruins alive.

“It is a very difficult situation,” Fr Ducange Sylvain concludes. The emergency rescue services and the Salesians themselves are concentrating on trying to pull survivors from the rubble, in particular the more than 200 pupils at Port-Au-Prince Enam.

Archbishop Joseph Serge Miot, the archbishop of Port-Au-Prince, died under the rubble.

We need to pray for the poor people of Haiti who have endured their strongest earthquake in 200 years. Here is the story from the AP:

The strongest earthquake in more than 200 years rocked Haiti on Tuesday, collapsing a hospital where people screamed for help and heavily damaging the National Palace, U.N. peacekeeper headquarters and other buildings. U.S. officials reported bodies in the streets and an aid official described "total disaster and chaos."

United Nations officials said a large number of U.N. personnel were unaccounted for.

Communications were widely disrupted, making it impossible to get a full picture of damage as powerful aftershocks shook a desperately poor country where many buildings are flimsy. Electricity was out in some places.

Karel Zelenka, a Catholic Relief Services representative in Port-au-Prince, told U.S. colleagues before phone service failed that "there must be thousands of people dead," according to a spokeswoman for the aid group, Sara Fajardo.

"He reported that it was just total disaster and chaos, that there were clouds of dust surrounding Port-au-Prince," Fajardo said from the group's offices in Maryland.

Read the rest of the story here.

AP has some pictures here.

Prayer need: Earthquake in Solomon Islands

The people of the Solomon Islands need our prayers. They suffered another earthquake yesterday while still recovering from quakes from October. The following news comes from the Bosconet site:

A 7.2 magnitude earthquake rocked the New Georgia island group (part of the Solomon Islands), which are part of Gizo Diocese under the care of Salesian Bishop Luciano Capelli. It is known that some 500 homes were affected, some destroyed. The earthquake caused a minor tsunami that did not injure anybody but caused panic.

The bishop, writing immediately after the event, indicated that the diocesan “Peter’s Boat,” as it is called, has joined the relief operation to the islands of Rendova, Tetepare, and Marovo lagoon, the most affected area. A Solomon Islands village home would house normally at least four people, so it is possible to make an initial guess as to the numbers of homeless, but further forays into this isolated area may reveal yet more damage. There are just a few Catholic communities in the area, since much of that part of Gizo was evangelized by the Adventists and United Church.

In April 2007, islands in the Gizo Diocese were hit by an even more powerful earthquake which killed 53 people and left thousands homeless, also destroying the Catholic cathedral on Gizo Island. Some of the Italian volunteers who helped with reconstruction were in the area yesterday and experienced firsthand what it means when a major earthquake hits these low-lying islands. But at least they had the satisfaction of seeing that their work (the cathedral and the kindergarten) stood strong.

The earthquake was felt in Honiara (where the Salesians have a strong presence) but caused no damage there. It may also have been felt in the adjoining Salesian diocese of Alotau, Papua New Guinea, but we have no reports from there as yet.A 7.2 magnitude earthquake rocked the New Georgia island group (part of the Solomon Islands), which are part of Gizo Diocese under the care of Salesian Bishop Luciano Capelli. It is known that some 500 homes were affected, some destroyed. The earthquake caused a minor tsunami that did not injure anybody but caused panic.

The bishop, writing immediately after the event, indicated that the diocesan “Peter’s Boat,” as it is called, has joined the relief operation to the islands of Rendova, Tetepare, and Marovo lagoon, the most affected area. A Solomon Islands village home would house normally at least four people, so it is possible to make an initial guess as to the numbers of homeless, but further forays into this isolated area may reveal yet more damage. There are just a few Catholic communities in the area, since much of that part of Gizo was evangelized by the Adventists and United Church.

In April 2007, islands in the Gizo Diocese were hit by an even more powerful earthquake which killed 53 people and left thousands homeless, also destroying the Catholic cathedral on Gizo Island. Some of the Italian volunteers who helped with reconstruction were in the area yesterday and experienced firsthand what it means when a major earthquake hits these low-lying islands. But at least they had the satisfaction of seeing that their work (the cathedral and the kindergarten) stood strong.

The earthquake was felt in Honiara (where the Salesians have a strong presence) but caused no damage there. It may also have been felt in the adjoining Salesian diocese of Alotau, Papua New Guinea, but we have no reports from there as yet.

Learn more on the quake here and here.