Pastoral letter on Haiti from Bishop Marc Andrus
Written by The Rt. Rev. Marc Handley Andrus
Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ;The Episcopal Church, alongside many other churches, institutions, and nations is making a vigorous, generous response to the disaster brought on by earthquake in Haiti.
There are 100,000 Episcopalians in Haiti; the Diocese of Haiti is not only part of the Anglican Communion, it is a constituent diocese of The Episcopal Church. A vibrant diocese, known for its extraordinary church-school system, the church in Haiti is suffering along with the country.
Haiti is the poorest country in the Western hemisphere, a fact whose implications become apparent in the light of this current tragedy, when infrastructure and support systems are shown to be inadequate to the demands of relief.
The Diocese of California stands in solidarity with the people of Haiti as we have in the past. Both regions were called "Ground Zero" at the peak of the AIDS crisis and each suffered devastating losses. The Diocese of California is no stranger to earthquakes and their destructive forces as well. Like the people of Haiti, we know that communities can rise from the ashes by means of compassionate action.
Episcopal Relief and Development (ERD: www.er-d.org) is The Episcopal Church organization that can and is responding to the immediate and ongoing relief needs of Haiti. I urge you to donate through ERD. Our website, diocal.org, has a link to ERD and is being updated with information about the Diocese of Haiti.
Soon after this initial response, we will call on the whole Episcopal Church and other compassionate communities to redouble their efforts to cancel the debt of our poorest nations. For Haiti to come out of this catastrophe with one penny of debt remaining would be the greatest insult.
Let us hold Haiti in our prayers.