September 22, 2024 - "Archbishop Wenski's Ministry to Our Haitian Brothers & Sisters"

You can imagine that I was relieved to read comments by Miami’s Archbishop Thomas Wenski who has been ministering to Haitians for almost fifty years.  When then newly ordained-Fr. Wenski was assigned to Corpus Christi Parish in Miami’s Wynwood section in 1976, he found a community of about 40-50 people from Haiti who would gather for Mass and prayer.  Since Fr. Wenski had the firm conviction that every group should be ministered to in its own language, he took a course in Creole. When Archbishop Edward McCarthy found out Fr. Wenski’s efforts to minister to the Haitian immigrants at Corpus Christi Parish, Fr. Wenski was asked to work with the growing Haitian population in the Archdiocese of Miami.  He did this for eighteen years. At one point in time, he was concurrent pastor of three missions:  one in Miami, one in Fort Lauderdale, and one in Pompano—all of which he founded. When asked about this work, Archbishop Wenski made the following comment: “My task was to make the Church visible to the Haitians, and to make the Haitians visible to the Church.”  He continued, “All of God’s children should feel at home in their Father’s house. The best way to make them feel at home was to speak their mother’s tongue.”

 

As Archbishop Wenski sees Haitian immigrants coming to the U.S. simply to escape the economically, politically, and socially desperate conditions of their homeland, he noted that this is the story of America. As he put it, “Haitians have come to work, they’ve come to succeed. They’ll go where the jobs are.” Archbishop Wenski feels certain that communities where they land will be better off for it—"just like Miami where the grandchildren of Haitian immigrants of the past are heading to college or accepting positions of civic and professional responsibility to help South Florida thrive.”

 

For more information on Archbishop Wenski’s statement, I encourage you to read the Weekly Dispatch by Kevin Clarke in America magazine that was posted on americamagazine.org on September 2, 2024.

 

Until next week,

Fr. John