HAITI: Two religious Sisters murdered as gangs storm city
Two religious Sisters were among those brutally killed when an armed gang ran riot near Haitian capital Port-au-Prince on Monday (31st March).
Sisters Evanette Onezaire and Jeanne Voltaire sought refuge in a house as the gang attacked the prison and other public buildings in Mirebalais, 30 miles north-east of Port-au-Prince.
Gang members found the Sisters’ hiding place and shot them dead. A young girl sheltering with them received gun wounds to her chest.
Archbishop Max Leroy Mésidor of Port-au-Prince wrote in a message to Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) yesterday (Wednesday, 2nd April): “Several murders took place during this attack, including two Sisters from the local congregation of the Little Sisters of Saint Thérèse.
“All the prisoners have escaped, and the city is controlled by bandits.”
More than 500 inmates were freed by gang members who stormed the city’s jail.
In a letter to religious, dated Sunday 30th March, Archbishop Mésidor stated: “We are going through one of the worst periods in our history as a people.”
He added: “Over the past few weeks religious communities have been displaced, many schools are closed, elderly and sick religious Sisters have had to be evacuated in the middle of the night, and entire congregations had to leave their nursing homes, with nowhere to place the sick Sisters.”
Archbishop Mésidor said that the crisis caused by the increased violence has greatly impacted the Church’s ability to carry out its mission in the capital.
He added: “Twenty-eight parishes in the Archdiocese of Port-au-Prince are closed, while around 40 are operating at minimum levels because the neighbourhoods are controlled by gangs.
“The priests have been forced to flee, finding refuge with their families or with other clerics. They need help. The archdiocese is also in difficulty.”
He said: “Here in Haiti our Lent has become a true Way of the Cross, but we offer it up in communion with the suffering of Christ.”
Marco Mencaglia, director of projects at ACN (International), said: “We ask that God grant [Sisters Onezaire and Voltaire] eternal rest, and we pray for their families and the safety of the congregation.”
Mr Mencaglia added that the charity remains committed to supporting the Haitian Church, issuing “an urgent call for prayer in the face of the increased violence and its devastating impact on the community”.