Block by Block:

Rebuilding in Haiti

Imagine that your home has been destroyed. Now imagine that the place you turn for help: for food and social services, for inspiration, for friendship and spiritual support, even for education, has also been destroyed. That’s what happened two years ago in Haiti, during the January earthquake that destroyed Holy Trinity Episcopal Cathedral along with the homes and workplaces of so many. Holy Trinity Professional School and the primary and secondary schools also located on the Cathedral grounds, raised up future leaders in an environment of cultural and spiritual grace. In 35 seconds, it was all reduced to rubble.

In Lent, we’re going to do something to rebuild and renew that source of inspiration and support, so we are helping to rebuild the Holy Trinity Cathedral complex, which houses schools and support services as well as worship space.

In the days after the quake, thousands of people flocked to the Cathedral’s rubble to receive food, water, shelter and support. The ministry continues today in the ruins.

Now we prepare to help this beautiful, essential building rise again.

A “building block” for this project costs only $10.

With help from UNESCO and the Smithsonian, workers have sorted through the ruins for surviving fragments of the church’s famous murals. Where rubble once choked the compound, tin roofs shade open-air classrooms, and the former cathedral’s checkered floor tiles lie cleared and open to the sky.

The new Cathedral will serve as an anchor to the expanded Episcopal presence in downtown Port-au-Prince, offering worship space for 1,000, housing diocesan offices and a rectory, and incorporating the former cathedral ruins as an historic memorial garden.

As the walls of a new Cathedral rise, so too will the hearts and fortunes of those who have depended on Holy Trinity for spiritual succor, for education, and for income. We have the chance to resurrect the spirit of a nation.

Read more about the national Episcopal Church effort to rebuild the church in Haiti, and see pictures and video here

http://archive.episcopalchurch.org/HaitiAppeal/