By Stephen W. Fielding Special to the Journal
Ten parishioners from The Morningstar Catholic Collaborative, consisting of St. Mary of the Assumption Parish, Revere and Our Lady of Grace Parish, Chelsea/Everett, were evacuated by helicopter from their sister parish – St. Joseph, L’Asile, Haiti and flown to Port-au-Prince airport due to political unrest and violent protests. As a result of these outbursts, roads were blocked and personal safety became a major issue. From the Port-au-Prince airport they were able to catch a flight to Ft. Lauderdale, FL prior to heading back to Boston on Sunday, February 17, 2019. While awaiting travel assistance and arrangements to come home from Cardinal Sean O’Malley, Fr. Paul Soper, Fr. Bill Joy, and Mr. Joe McInnis of the Archdiocese of Boston as well as Representative RoseLee Vincent and her staff, the parish missionaries felt safe and protected at St. Joseph Parish in L’Asile with Fathers Lucan, Colbert and the Haitian parish community. They are extremely grateful to Fr. John Sheridan, pastor of the Morningstar Catholic Collaborative in Revere and Chelsea/Everett and its parishioners for their prayers and support.
The volunteer missionaries from Revere, Chelsea, and Everett had spent a little over two weeks in L’Asile and surrounding areas before being unable to depart for home. They had brought donated school supplies, household and hygiene essentials, and other everyday necessities and each day participated in projects such as cleaning St. Joseph church and school buildings, refurbishing playground equipment, building retaining walls preventing erosion, repairing church pews and statues, painting school classroom, and conducting retreats and prayer services. (A full story will be reported in next week’s edition).