Parish-Haiti Twinning Program

MISSION OF LOVE  Sister Elsa Jeronimo, a member of the Congregation of St. John the Baptist and social outreach director at St. Vincent de Paul Parish, Stirling, poses with little girls during one of the parish’s recent mission trips to Haiti. St. Vincent’s has raised more than $87,000 to benefit the impoverished town of Nanpol and its parish, St. Paul’s, for the building of a rectory, replacement of a pump for its well and the installation of a new solar-powered water purification system.

STIRLING  St. Paul Parish and the impoverished town its serves, Nanpol — home to a vibrant Catholic faith community — seemed overdue for a physical rebirth by last year. Nestled in the mountains of northwest Haiti, it has a 60-year-old church that had been suffering from the ill effects of time and weather. The pump for its only well stopped working, leaving residents without well water. A lack of funds halted construction of its rectory, which consisted of only a concrete slab.

Then along came members of St. Vincent de Paul Parish here, who last year began opening their generous hearts to help St. Paul’s and Nanpol — both stuck in a backward time with outdated or non-existent facilities and in a dark place of desperate poverty — move gradually into the 21st century.

So far, St. Vincent’s has raised more than $87,000 for the completion of the rectory for Father Theona (Theo) Celestin, St. Paul’s pastor of four years; the replacement of the pump for the well; and the installation of a new solar-powered water purification system scheduled for the well this week — the focus of the parish’s successful Lenten appeal this year.

“If people are given an opportunity to make a tangible difference in the lives of others, they’ll do it. Our generous parishioners see evidence of their generosity being translated in physical projects,” said Father Richard Carton, St. Vincent’s pastor, who headed up his parish’s ministry to its new “twin” parish in Haiti. Its quickly growing outreach to St. Paul’s started with an initial meeting a year ago, continued with visits to the area June of last year and January of this year and promises more initiatives in the future.

“When many of our parishioners sat down to Easter dinner, they knew that they made history — giving the people of Nanpol clean drinking water for the first time,” he said.

In fulfilling the first request of St. Paul’s parishioners, St. Vincent’s completed the rectory in six months, starting last August. Constructed of brick and cement and topped by a tin roof, the rectory, which cost $30,000, houses two bedrooms, a kitchen and a dining room along with new furnishings. Father Carton and Father Theo — who used to travel 90 minutes from another parish — dedicated the rectory, during St. Vincent’s second trip, when it hosted the contingent, said Father Carton, who traveled on both mission trips to Nanpol.

“Our purchasing power is much stronger down there. We bought the materials for the rectory in Haiti for a fraction of what they would cost in New Jersey. We also helped boost the economy by hiring local workers,” said Father Carton, who proposed in March 2017 to start an outreach to Haiti, the poorest, least developed and most densely populated country in the Western Hemisphere; and 21 parishioners attended the first meeting.

During the visits to Nanpol — a five-hour drive on dirt roads from Haiti’s capital of Port au Prince, many St. Vincent’s parishioners were shocked at the level of poverty there in the forested region. Residents live in one-room shacks without heat, water or electricity. People had to walk several hours barefoot to get jugs of water that weren’t even clean enough to drink. So, St. Vincent’s raised money for the installation of the new pump for the well and more than $57,000 for the anticipated installation of the solar-powered water purification system by the Colorado-based Innovative Water Technologies. The project was researched and facilitated by Nancy Giacumbo, a parishioner, along with Kevin Dempsey, also a parishioner, who traveled in January with his wife, Laurie, Father Carton said.

“I had never seen any place like this before. In Port au Prince, where we landed, people were sleeping in the streets; there was garbage in the streets; and buildings were crumpled,” said Dempsey, who works in technology. “Like in the capital, the people of Nanpol have no jobs and barter what they can to stay alive. It was a shock to me,” he said.

In September, Father Theo visited St. Vincent’s to thank the Morris County faith community for its generosity and update it on the rectory project.

“We are aware of the sacrifices you make to assist us. The Lord will reward you a hundredfold. We are proud to belong to the Catholic Church which is One — Ki fee yon seal kod fanmiy (we are one family),” Father Theo wrote in St. Vincent’s bulletin. “Thanks to you, the parish of St. Paul saw a new beginning. We hope this twinning relationship will continue this adventure in Christ Jesus, who loves us and gave his life to open the entrance to heaven by his Father and our Father,” he wrote.

The horrible conditions in Nanpol that the parishioners of St. Vincent’s witnessed are caused in part by the government’s neglect of Haiti’s rural areas, which receive little food, medical supplies or educational services. When parishes receive supplies from mostly Catholic agencies, they share them with the wider community, Father Carton said.

“The poverty was prevalent in Nanpol, but the people were warm and accepting of visitors,” said Sister Elsa Jeronimo, a member of the Congregation of St. John the Baptist and St. Vincent’ social outreach director. “They were so surprised that we have accomplished so much already in such a short amount of time.”

St. Vincent’s pastor for six years, Father Carton was inspired to start a ministry to Haiti by his many mission trips that he had taken over the years to other parts of the impoverished nation, while serving other parishes of the Diocese. The outreach connected with Parish Twinning Program of the Americas, which got it in contact with St. Paul’s. In June, the first contingent learned about St. Paul’s needs from Father Theo and its pastoral council, said Father Carton, who described Father Theo as “energetic and enthused.”

“The people of Nanpol are beautiful and hospitable,” said Father Carton, adding that St. Vincent’s missioners talked to residents, who speak Creole, though Father Theo or an interpreter. They attended several Masses, including one for the parish’s patron saint, Paul. “The Masses were joyful. The church was filled to overflowing. The Masses were three hours long and had an African spirit with lots of singing and dancing,” the pastor said.

Still basking in the love that it felt from the people of Nanpol, St. Vincent’s looks forward to an even brighter future for them, perhaps by funding the replacement or repair of the old church building or the start of a medical clinic, Dempsey said.

“This work has been humbling and amazing,” Dempsey said. “We are building things that they need — these simplest of needs. They [people of Nanpol] are so happy. I’m excited to see what we do next,” he said.