Carroll parish receives visit from pastor of Haitian twin parish

By RENEE WEBB, Globe editor
August 17, 2006

CARROLL - St. Lawrence Church has been involved in a twinning parish project for about 15 years now, but it wasn't until they made a stronger, more personal tie that the project took off.

"We didn't have much communication, we use to just send them a few hundred dollars a month down and we didn't know who they were or what they did with the money," noted Deacon Tim Murphy. "About four years ago I decided to write a letter to their pastor."

After exchanging e-mail addresses, the two communicated on a regular basis.

"He came to visit us and I went down to Haiti three years ago," noted the deacon. "Exchange like that - people here seeing the pastor's face and then me being able to relate personal experiences from Haiti - more people became interested in our twin parish and the giving went up after that."

For the last four years, the communication with the twinned parish has remained regular.

Father Lucien Daniel, the current pastor from the twin parish in Haiti, recently visited the Carroll parish for about two weeks.

"He became the new pastor last fall - so we thought it was important to meet. Father Lucien was going to visit friends and relatives in the New York area, so we got him a ticket to come here," said Deacon Murphy.

Much of what the visiting priest did in Carroll was participating in Masses and being available to the people. While in Carroll, Father Lucien ate the majority of his meals in various people's homes.

The first weekend that Father Lucien arrived, St. Lawrence held a parish garage sale with all of the proceeds donated to the twinned sister parish. The garage sale netted about $1,900.

The deacon mentioned that in recent years the monthly collection is about $1,000, but when the collection was taken in the presence of Father Lucian, it netted about $2,100. Most of the money goes to the Haitian parish's Catholic school that serves 1,200 students for a primary and secondary education.

"Another thing we have done in the past is parishioner sponsoring students," he said. "People would get a name and picture and they would pay $20." That project had not gotten off of the ground this past year, but Father Lucien has agreed to take some pictures of the young ones and line up the sponsorship program. The parishioners here usually commit to $20 a month for a year.

The Iowa parishioners have been very welcoming to Father Lucien. Through conversations, the people here have learned that Haiti is the poorest country on this side of the world.

"They sometimes wonder why it's that way and we try to explain that much of it is political unrest and there is a terrible infrastructure there. There's lots of violence, disease, pollution," noted Deacon Murphy. "They had bad start. They were a slave colony for the French and when they got their freedom, they were the first Black republic in the world so people would not deal with them."

The deacon anticipates taking another trip to Haiti, possibly this February. He would love to take a few other parishioners with him. While it is more of a diplomatic, relations-building trip, he noted there may be some opportunity for service.

Father Lucien appreciated his visit to Iowa. Looking at the crops, he noted that God has truly blessed this part of the world.

"He visited the Grotto the Redemption and he was really overwhelmed with that place," noted Deacon Murphy.

While in Iowa, Father Lucien delivered some of the homilies at weekend liturgies. He used that as an opportunity to speak of the needs of his people and extend gratitude to the people of St. Lawrence.

The deacon said without St. Lawrence, Father Lucien's parishioners may get by but it would be very difficult.

"The pastor before, he had to serve a parish with seven mission chapels in an area about as big as a county - 8,000 people in that area - and he had to serve it by foot until we helped him get a vehicle," noted Deacon Murphy. "Father Lucien is about the only one in the parish with a car so he is the taxi service and ambulance when they need help."

Through the visit, in addition to creating an awareness about the needs of the people of Haiti, Deacon Murphy said it helped to form some solidarity among the people - knowing they are praying for each other and they are of one faith.

"It has enriched our parish," he said. "In subtle ways it has made our parish better. They are always looking for more parishes to twin and I would be glad to talk to anyone that is interested in how twin parishes work and what is involved."