Catholic Priests Determined to Remain in Haiti

March 15, 2024

Violence continues to plague Haiti as the national government loses control. Despite the unrest, local Catholic priests are determined to remain on the island nation to care for those in need, whether that need is spiritual or material. 

“Where can we go? We have to stay in the midst of the people,” Haitian native Father Eugène Almonor, an Oblate of Mary Immaculate, said regarding his order’s determination to stay in Haiti. “It is our mission to be with them and to try to support them, to accompany them.” 

On March 4, armed gangs attempted to seize control of Haiti’s Toussaint Louverture Airport in Port-au-Prince, Haiti’s capital. The move was believed to be an effort by gangs to oust Prime Minister Ariel Henry, who had traveled to Guyana and then Kenya, with troops from the latter nation set to be deployed as part of a United Nations’ peacekeeping mission. Both domestic and international flights were reported to be suspended. 

The full story can be found here on the St. Louis Review website.