A Staten Island parish recently began its annual Christmas Haiti Fundraiser to benefit its sister parish in the small Caribbean nation. 

The Church of St. Clare, in the Great Kills area of Staten Island, started its sister-parish relationship with the parish in Haiti, Our Lady Help of Christians, in 2021, by way of a Haitian-born former administrative staffer who served as liaison. Our Lady Help of Christians is in Cité Soleil, an impoverished and densely populated commune located in the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area in Haiti. 

In recent years, Lenten and Advent collections by St. Clare have assisted Our Lady Help of Christians in finishing building a grade school and a high school, as well as constructing a new church that replaced a chapel destroyed by an earthquake. And now a trade school is under construction. 

A necessary part of Catholic life 

“Yes, they really are building quite a compound there, which is good, so many of the parishioners take refuge there from all of the (gang) violence that’s roaming the streets,” Father Arthur Mastrolia, pastor of St. Clare, told The Good Newsroom this week in a phone interview. “The priest there is very active and proficient at fundraising; we’re one of his major donors.” 

Father Mastrolia added, “This ongoing effort keeps our parishioners in tune with the needs of our brothers and sisters in the wider Church. It breaks open our parochialism, as it were. It’s an absolutely necessary part of Catholic life.” 

Thousands of dollars have been raised by the Staten Island parish for the Cité Soleil church since the collection of funds began in Advent 2021. The average has been around $7,000 each year. 

Each Lenten and Advent season, St. Clare gives its parishioners little containers to take home; the church members place whatever change or spare money they have. At the end of each season, they bring in the offerings, and the parish sends the donations to Our Lady Help of Christians. 

A former St. Clare religious education director, Marie Noel, born in Haiti, had been familiar with the Cité Soleil parish and its construction needs. Noel connected Father Mastrolia with his counterpart at Our Lady Help of Christians, Father Edouard Ducarmel. 

Noel later worked as a Yonkers-based administrative staffer with the New York archdiocesan Youth Faith Formation. She is now on staff at a Boston-area parish as director of Faith Formation (Grades K-7). 

Words of gratitude 

“My message to them is ‘Look what you’ve done!’” Noel told The Good Newsroom this week by telephone, expressing her delight and gratitude for donations from St. Clare parishioners over the years. She said the initial plan by the parish in Haiti was to build the grade school and a new church. But she recently learned of the construction of the high school and the ongoing construction of a trade school on the parish property. “They’re giving the (neighborhood) community hope,” Noel said of the parish in Haiti. 

Later via email, Noel added, “I am truly amazed at what we have accomplished since the day we first began walking with this parish…Thank you, thank you, and thank you from this grateful Haitian sister. God bless you and blessed Advent to all of you, Marie.” 

In a video message sent to St. Clare last month, Father Ducarmel, speaking in Creole, expressed his gratitude and gave a tour of the finished construction projects and the one underway. At the end of the five-minute video, the pastor says, “Look at the amazing work we have done today. Together we can do even more. To everyone helping us, I tilt my hat to you.” And he literally tilts his construction hat and bows. 

Cité Soleil (Sun City) was originally developed as a shanty town and grew to an estimated 200,000 to 400,000 residents. The property at Church of Our Lady Help of Christians has served as a refuge center for residents seeking safety. The violent, gang-related turmoil in Haiti has included the kidnapping of clergy and nuns.