Catholics continuing to respond to help Haiti

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Earthquake survivors huddled amid hundreds of tents and makeshift shelters at a soccer stadium in the Santa Teresa area of Petionville, Haiti, Jan. 24. The camp is so dense that people have posted street names along the narrow passages between their shelters.

SALT LAKE CITY — Two weeks after the terrible earthquake that shook Haiti, help is needed more than ever.

In a letter sent to all U.S. bishops urging Catholics to donate to the annual Collection for the Church in Latin America, the Most Rev. José H. Gomez, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Subcommittee on the Church in Latin America said, "Thank you all for your support for the Collection. Many parishes and dioceses have special relationships with communities in Latin America and especially in Haiti. Such bonds of solidarity are a concrete expression of the ecclesial communion which makes us the one Body of Christ. I would ask, however, that each (Arch) diocese consider the Collection for the Church in Latin America as an effective way of expressing the support of the entire Church in the United States to the our neediest brother and sisters."

The collection is set to be taken up over the next few weekends in most dioceses, in solidarity with the tremendous losses the Church in Haiti has undergone.

In the Catholic Diocese of Salt Lake City, a special collection for Haiti was taken up two weeks ago, and donations continue to be accepted. "The response has been great," said Deacon Silvio Mayo, Chancellor of the Catholic Diocese of Salt Lake City.

At Saint Therese of the Child Jesus Catholic Church in Midvale, "It has been the largest second collection in recent memory, and I’ve been here just three years," said Father Martin Díaz, pastor, "The generosity of the people is fabulous."

In the letter, Bishop Gomez said that "each hour we see the faces of the widows and orphans, and all of those who have lost family and friends and all of their life’s possessions. We are reminded of so many who are injured or dying or hungry as a result of the earthquake."