ROCOR priests in Haiti ask for help

New York, February 15, Interfax – Priests of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, who work in Haiti, ask for help.

“The needs are immense. We need help in rebuilding our churches, rebuilding our schools and a clinic, making temporary lodging for our flock with food, clothing, toiletries, medicines and financial assistance,” they said in their letter to the ROCOR First Hierarch Metropolitan Hilarion published in the Fund for Assistance to the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia website.

The priests said they also needed liturgical books, vestments for clergy and acolytes, liturgical materials and icons as well as the education of future clergy.

“We would like to find international financial organizations in Russia, in France, in Switzerland, and in the United States capable of organizing reconstruction and other projects with us,” the clerics wrote.

According to the latest bulletin from the Haitian Government, the violent earthquake that devastated Haiti three weeks ago caused 212,000 deaths and injured more than 194,000, four thousand people have become amputees of one or more limbs and a million have become homeless.

Three million people “find themselves in great difficulty.” In the three cities that are most devastated, Port au Prince, Jacmel, and Leogane, half of the homes of ROCOR parishioners were destroyed, the reader Vladimir perished in the ruble, and five of the parishioners were reported missing, the letter further reads.

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