Twinning program helps St. Thomas Aquinas pastor and parish form connection of the heart in Haiti

Father Steve Schwab distributes Communion during one of the Masses he celebrated at St. Jean-Marie Vianney Parish in Haiti in September. (Submitted photo)

By John Shaughnessy

The story touched Father Steve Schwab, making him picture the horror that the small child must have endured alone during the deadly storm.

On that September day in 2004, Hurricane Jeanne roared near Haiti, creating floods and mudslides that killed more than 3,000 people in that Caribbean country, including most of the residents in the village where a small boy named Anthony was born.

As rescue and relief crews rushed to the village, they found bodies everywhere in the water and the mud. Amid the

bodies, a priest, who was a part of the crews, also found Anthony, struggling to stay alive.

The priest picked up the wet and mud-covered child and carried him to a Red Cross unit. Later, Anthony was taken to an orphanage in Haiti for

children who are abandoned, unwanted and terminally ill.

There, on a September day in 2007, Father Schwab visited that orphanage in Haiti, heard the story about Anthony and met the boy.

“Anthony was a very affectionate little child,” says Father Schwab, the pastor of St. Thomas Aquinas Parish in Indianapolis. “He wanted us to really just pick him up and hug him.”

In that moment, Father Schwab knew the heartbreak and the hope of Haiti, a country that continually struggles with poverty and disease.

In that moment, during his first visit to that country, Father Schwab also began to better understand why St. Thomas—just like nearly 350 parishes in the United States and Canada—shares a sister relationship with a parish in Haiti.

“It’s probably the most effective way the Catholic Church has of responding to the suffering and the injustices in Haiti,” he says.

Meeting heroes face-to-face

There are journeys to foreign countries that show us the wonders and the beauty of the world, that give us glimpses of different cultures and lifestyles. There are also journeys that take us into the hearts of people, journeys that reveal something about our hearts, too.

In his second year as pastor of St. Thomas Aquinas, Father Schwab wanted to see firsthand the efforts of his parish’s

longstanding commitment to Haiti and its people. He also wanted “to see the face of poverty—maybe to learn something about myself.”

Meeting Anthony and hearing his story were part of Father Schwab’s education. So was his introduction to several people he considers as heroes.

“There are people in Haiti—religious and lay people—who have left a North American culture and transplanted themselves into the culture of Haiti,” he says. “These are just very inspirational people who are living out the Gospel in a way I’ve never tried. They’re just heroic.”

He met Salesian Father Tom Hagan, a retired priest from Philadelphia who left the United States to run a school in Haiti.

He met Tony Cortesi, who came from Illinois to create an orphanage in Haiti, the same orphanage where Anthony found a home.

He met Theresa Patterson, the executive director of the Parish Twinning Program of the Americas, the organization that helps parishes in the United States and Haiti make a connection that changes lives from both sides.

“What a remarkable woman,” Father Schwab says. “Her husband is a plastic surgeon in Nashville, Tennessee. She’s 65. She’s devoted the last 30 years of her life to this program. She told me she spends three months a year in Haiti. What an inspiration to know there are people like her out there.”

A moving experience

According to Patterson, St. Thomas Aquinas is one of four parishes in the archdiocese that has a sister relationship with a parish in Haiti. St. Bartholomew Parish in Columbus, St. Malachy Parish in Brownsburg and St. Ambrose Parish in Seymour are also part of the twinning program.

“Perhaps the most powerful and most significant lesson gained from working with Church people of another culture is that they are truly living the Gospel,” Patterson says. “Once you decide to join and walk with them in their suffering, you become enriched by their faith experience.”

Joe Zelenka wanted to show that faith experience to Father Schwab as they traveled across the country together. As the leader of the Haiti program at St. Thomas, Zelenka has come to the country for 17 years, often organizing medical teams to provide health care for people.

One of the places they visited was the ruins of St. John Bosco Church in Port-au-Prince. In 1988, the church was attacked by government-connected thugs as then-Father Jean-Bertrand Aristide—an outspoken critic of the government at the time—celebrated Mass. Father Aristide escaped, but 13 people were killed and 70 wounded.

“I thought it was the most inspiring place we went to,” Father Schwab says. “The church was burned in the attack. It’s a ruins now. It’s not used as a church. It’s a kind of a shrine. People still have an enormous affection for Aristide.”

Father Schwab experienced his own sense of deep affection from the Haitian people as he concelebrated Mass with Father Jean-Lucien Exantus at St. Thomas’ sister parish since 1990—St. Jean-Marie Vianney Parish in Belle Riviere.

“The two liturgies were really emotional experiences,” Father Schwab recalls. “At the sign of peace, I had a line of people waiting to hug me. I’m not an overly emotional guy, but I experienced something that I’ve experienced very seldom in my life. It wasn’t like I was being hugged. I was being embraced.”

Speaking to the parish members after Communion, Father Schwab thanked them for what they taught him about faith and hope. He also assured them that his parish will continue their prayers and their financial support for them.

“This is the kind of thing Jesus told us to do,” Father Schwab says. “In Belle Riviere, with $60,000 a year, St. Thomas supports a school and a medical clinic and provides drinkable water. Think what would happen if every parish in Europe and North America had a sister parish in the Third World.

“Being there certainly sharpens the meaning of so many things Jesus said about responding to the needs of the poor and those that suffer from injustice. Being in the middle of that poverty and suffering is a very humanizing experience.”

Zelenka saw the difference the experience made to the parish priest.

“I saw Father Steve really moved,” Zelenka says. “He was touched deeply by the poverty, but he was also touched deeply by the joy and the hope he saw in their eyes. I saw it when he hugged the people. It was a moving experience to see him so moved.”

A connection of the heart

The memories of Father Schwab’s journey to Haiti in September are still fresh and raw for him.

He still wrestles with the anguish of watching children and wild boars rummage through the same trash heap for food.

He still smiles at the joy of being invited by children to kick a soccer ball with them on the street.

He still speaks with hope about the new Visitation Hospital that is scheduled to open soon in Haiti, a

hospital being built by a foundation led by Theresa Patterson.

“Competent medical care is essential to any progress Haiti may achieve,” Father Schwab says. “Healthy people at least have a chance.”

Still, when he’s asked about the moment that lingers the longest from his journey, he talks about Anthony.

“I wonder what will happen to him. I really do,” Father Schwab says. “I know a couple who is having trouble adopting a child. I’m going to find out information about the Haitian adoption laws. I might pass it along to them.”

Across different cultures, different lands and different people, a connection has been made. Call it a connection of the heart.

(For more information about the Parish Twinning Program of the Americas, contact Theresa Patterson at 615-356-5999 or by e-mail at parishprogram@aol.com.) †