His death came as a shock to everyone in the parish, the diocese, and Fr. Doug's family. The fact that it came just a day or two after the death of another priest of our diocese, Fr. Tom Zimmer, age 82, made it all the more poignant.

Fr. Doug was originally from Cleveland, as are several priests of the Lafayette Diocese, having come to our diocese (I presume) through the "Gallagher Connection." Bishop Raymond Gallagher, our third bishop (1965-1983), was originally a priest of the Diocese of Cleveland.

Fr. Doug was ordained in 1969 and first served in various parishes as Associate Pastor, including Our Lady of Mt. Carmel. In 1976, he became Diocesan Youth Director, a position in which he served for 12 years. He was active on the national youth ministry scene and is well remembered there as well. Fr. Mel Bennett, an ordination classmate and Senior Associate Pastor at St. Elizabeth Seton Church in Carmel, gave the homily at the Funeral Mass and remarked that Fr. Doug's vision for youth ministry was very much ahead of its time. Perhaps in some way we can be grateful to Fr. Doug that OLG has had vibrant youth ministry for a good long time.

Download Lent Giving Tree document

Today, the First Sunday of Lent, we recognize and pray for our catechumens (non-baptized) and candidates (baptized) who will join the Catholic Church at the Easter Vigil. The catechumens will travel to the Cathedral today (Sunday) to be formally "elected" or chosen for baptism by Bishop Higi. The candidates will make the trip next week to be affirmed by the bishop on their faith journey as well. As we participate with the catechumens and candidates in the various Lenten rites, it's well to remember that Lent was first developed as a retreat for those preparing for baptism. The rest of us are johnny-come-latelies!

Despite all efforts at thoroughness we still managed to neglect mention in last week's Lenten bulletin insert of the Lenten Giving Tree.

Like our Advent Giving Tree, the Lenten tree will be filled with tags, but rather than suggested Christmas gifts for needy local families, these tags will list dollar amounts for full or partial student sponsorships at the schools in our sister parish in Haiti, St. Louis du Sud. Only $100 will pay for tuition and books for one child for an entire school year. Our goal this year is to raise funds for 240 scholarships, or $24,000. I am very confident that we can and will reach this goal. And if we raise more, those funds will be used to sponsor additional students.

"At St Louis about four times from August to November before 12 of January we felt some light earthquakes. At these times the rectory danced. And at 12 [of January] he danced strongly more before. So, after this sad event because of many "after shock" I decided to sleep outside. In a first time in the kitchen, in a second time in the garage and now in the parochial room. Therefore I plan to build some rooms with roof in sheet iron. In the future we have to build some classrooms with roof in sheet iron because students are afraid of roof in concrete. These are some of our priorities after 12 of January. So, I don't know how your parish can help us to realize these projects. About your visit in the parish you'll let me know when it will be possible. May the Almighty Father bless you and your parishionners. My greetings! - Fr Claude."

Although Fr. Claude's English is be perfect, it is better than my French or Kreyol! I left his words as they came to me because of their unintended but very poignant poetry. Our Haiti Mission Committee hasn't yet begun discussing how OLG might help SLDS, or whether and when we can make up the trip that had to be cancelled. Please keep praying for the people of Haiti and for all engaged in relief efforts there. (Several years ago, OLG paid for the construction of the Community Center, or "parochial room," where Father is now lodging.)

After Haiti won its independence in 1801, most of the world's powers sided with France against the new republic.
Although Haiti actively assisted the independence movements of many Latin American countries, it was excluded from the region's first meeting of independent nations in 1826.
The United States did not recognize Haiti, the second republic in the New World, until 1862.
The indemnity demanded by France in exchange for diplomatic recognition was not completely paid until 1947, and was only made possible by taking out other large loans.
Haiti has been invaded and/or occupied by military forces from the U.S., Britain, and Germany. The American occupation, 1915-1934, included brutal reactions to any Haitian revolts. Over 2000 Haitians were killed in one skirmish.