Karrie Ann Jean
Editor, Boston Connection Newspaper
P.O. Box 303 , Readville MA. 02137
January 1, 2000
His Eminence Cardinal Bernard Law
2121 Commonwealth Ave
Brighton, MA 02135
Your Eminence Cardinal Law:
I am writing this letter on
behalf of the Haitian community of Boston, as a Catholic, and as a contributor to this great agency called Catholic Charities. I come to
your Eminence full of strength from my faith in God, the son and the holy spirits and with
the confidence that you will pay attention to my legitimate concerns as Jesus would have
done. I believe that at the dawn of this new millennium, it is the perfect time for every
citizen in this community to do an assessment of the past, to overcome our prejudices, our
personal egos and to take a resolution to become a better instrument of God as Christians,
to proclaim the love, devotion and kindness of our lord Jesus Christ, and to challenge the
evil spirits among us.
A few years ago, the Haitian community of Massachusetts
was composed of nearly 70,000 people of whom the majority were Catholic. Back in Haiti,
Catholicism is the common religion of the Haitian people, but recently we have observed a
fast breakdown of Boston’s Haitian Catholic community, in fact, the church is being
deserted in a hurry. Today only a few Haitians remain in the Catholic Church. As a result,
Protestantism has taken over the Haitian community. Presently, there are nearly 60 Haitian
Protestant churches in the Boston area alone, an estimated 75% of the population of the
Haitian community has chosen to attend other churches, including all Christian
denominations and sects that do not form part of the Roman Catholic or Eastern Orthodox
groups. The other 25% of the Haitian population in Boston are divided between the
atheists, Catholics and voodoo practitioners.Within the framework of this new Haitian
Protestant community are the Anglican Communion, Seven Day Adventists, Baptists, Brethren,
the Church of God, Disciples of Christ, Friends (or Quakers), Lutherans, Methodists,
Mennonites, Moravians, Pentecostals, Presbyterians, Reformed groups, Shakers, United
Church of Christ, all Christian fundamentalists, and many more.
A major factor contributing to the strength of
this growing Protestantism is the failure of the Catholic Charities Haitian Multi-Service
Center in its mission to provide service to those most in need, to advocate for justice,
and to act to their clients with indulgence compared to the clemency and reverence
demonstrated by the Protestant groups. Other causes of the desertion of the church are (1)
the active role played by Cawardtholics in Haitian politics during the past few years, (2)
the defection of many Catholic priests to enter in marriage, (3) the liberal attitude
adopted by the Haitian Catholic leaders in term of moral integrity of the church. All of
these factors together are generating a lack of trust among Haitian immigrants whose faith
is rooted from a very conservative European wing of the Catholic Church.
A man that was dismissed by the Center for allegedly embezzling the
allowances of the refugees has been rehired under the eyes of his victims. It has been
reported that the Haitian Multi-Service Center is selling the food (intended to be given
to the poor) to local grocery stores, and also distributing it to friends and family
members of the people in charge, who are not even eligible to receive food assistance. An
employee, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told The Boston Connection Newspaper
that expensive cars are seen pulling into the yard of the Haitian Multi-Service Center and
left there, packed with all kinds of food, while the people in need are unable to obtain
enough provisions for their children.
Political refugees in need of help are being insulted
and psychologically tortured because of their political affiliation. Many refugees have
become too scared to go to the Haitian Multi-Service Center ever since Mrs. Jacqueline
Thomas, the leader of a New York-based radical political clan, claimed, over a political
radio show, that Pierre Morquet is one of her clan members. Morquet, a high school drop
out, is now serving as program manager of the refugee program at the Haitian Multi-Service
Center. He has made a reputation for treating the refugees with arrogance.
A man who arrived in Boston in 1996 after spending a few months in
Florida told The Boston Connection that he rushed to the Catholic Charities Haitian
Multi-Service Center, where he faced the most humiliating insult of his whole life. He
said that they treated him like dirt and his wife was sexually harassed by a staff member
of the Center.
The Haitian Multi-Service Center employs people who are practicing counseling without a
license, so causing more harm to the people instead of helping them. Haitian immigrants
are left with the impression that the Catholic leaders have turned a blind eye on our
community. Most Haitians have walked away from the Catholic Church because they want to be
with Christians who accept the basic early Christian creeds, who choose God as the supreme
authority in all matters of faith and practice, and believe in justice, clemency, love and
brotherhood.
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