MQP partnership is more than bricks and mortar

    What a difference a year makes.
    When Msgr. Wildor Pierre of Haiti made his first trip to Mary Queen of Peace in Mandeville last October, he was pastor of a parish that lacked many things: a full roof for its church, a roof for its school, salaries for its teachers and a lunch program for its students.

    This year, Msgr. Pierre came back to Mary Queen of Peace to share a message of gratitude from St. Benoit Dessources: “In one year, you have changed the face of Dessources … you are not our sister, you are our mother. Only a mother can take care of her child like this.”
Significant impact
    The parishioners of Mary Queen of Peace, led by the parish’s Haiti Solidarity Partnership, have provided money for St. Benoit to complete the church roof, build a roof for the school, institute a school lunch program that feeds 400 children a day and pay teachers their $4.25 daily salary for nine months.
    With all of these projects completed, Msgr. Pierre visited Mary Queen of Peace Oct. 4-10 to thank parishioners for their generosity, update them on the progress of St. Benoit and lay out his priorities for projects in his parish, where the pastor has no salary and the weekly collection at Mass is approximately $5.
    St. Benoit’s Pastoral Council president, Sauveur Orival, traveled to Mandeville with Msgr. Pierre. Orival has been in Dessources for 18 years, and he gives credit for the changing face of Dessources not only to Mary Queen of Peace but also to his pastor.
    “When Father Wildor showed up he started with absolutely nothing,” Orival said, but the priest was determined. He asked the locals to start digging for a foundation, and people would come by and ask what he was doing. “He told them he was building a church. One man offered rebar and cement, and the church grew from there.
    “It is not only a church and school that Monsignor has built but a true community,” Orival said. It is a community that is growing stronger, with a determined pastor and a dedicated sister in Mandeville.
In giving we receive
    Although St. Benoit has benefited from the generosity of Mary Queen of Peace, it is not a one-way street, according to Muguet Bolotte, who leads the Haiti Solidarity Partnership for MQP. Bolotte and four others from Mary Queen of Peace visited St. Benoit last February, and it was a journey that changed their hearts.
    “It is very difficult to describe the love we feel when we are in Dessources,” Bolotte said. “The people are so calm and genuinely happy to greet us. They carry a sense of dignity. … All they want is for their children to be educated so they can have a more comfortable life.
    “This partnership has given us a view outside of our parish to others who are just like us but have a very different reality. Mostly, it is allowing us to grow in our faith by experiencing the universal nature of the Catholic Church.”
    The visit to St. Benoit touched the visitors so deeply that one of them, Andrew Worrel, will go back to Haiti at the end of October to spend a month at St. Benoit.
    “I hope to strengthen our relationship with them as well as follow after what God has placed in my heart,” he said. “I will help teach English classes, provide medical screenings each week, visit and pray with the people, and take part in other activities with the community that will further our partnership ministry.”
    Stories like this reinforce the idea of a true solidarity between the two parishes.
    “I feel a real difference with this visit,” said Father Ronald Calkins, pastor of Mary Queen of Peace. “There is a difference because some of our parishioners have been to St. Benoit. It makes all the difference in the world.”
Missionary spirit sparked
    He also noted a growing awareness among the parishioners of MQP.
    “It shows that this is producing much fruit in so many ways; we are not only helping Haiti, we are changing our hearts here, developing in our parish a love for missionary work.”
    In addition to preaching at all Masses at Mary Queen of Peace on Oct. 6-7 and visiting the school’s students, Msgr. Pierre also visited St. Margaret Mary Catholic School in Slidell and Archbishop Hannan High School and St. Scholastica Academy, sharing with the students the needs of the people of St. Benoit Dessources, particularly the needs of the young people.
    Msgr. Pierre was grateful for many surprises during his trip, including the presentation of a travel chalice and paten from the Harry Tompson Fourth Degree Knights of Columbus on Oct. 6 and a special celebration with the Haitian community of St. Katharine Drexel Parish during the 11:30 a.m. Mass on Oct. 7.
    Karen Baker can be reached at [email protected]