Print Issue: October 31, 2002

Twinning Offers Unique Opportunities To Understand Third World

Sacred Heart parishhioner Wendy Strasser sits with her new friends during a recent trip to Haiti. Sacred Heart is one of six parishes in the archdiocese of atlanta that has a twinning program with a parish in Haiti, considered the poorest country in the Western hemisphere.

By Tom Reichert, Special To The Bulletin

ATLANTA - According to Pope John Paul II, solidarity is both "the path to peace and at the same time development." Solidarity is the realization that an injustice to one is an injustice to all; that what happens to the least happens to Christ himself, that we have a responsibility to care for each other, regardless of country, race or religion. It is in this spirit of solidarity that six different parishes from the archdiocese of Atlanta have twinned with a sister parish in Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. Other parishes have twinned with countries in Mexico, or Central America. Parishioners are building medical clinics, bringing medical teams, working in the schools, building water cisterns, working with economic development, providing solar generators, as well as supporting catechists, and the evangelical mission of the Church. Doctors, engineers, economists, nurses, educators, house parents, artists, and business men and women are using their skills and blessings to give back to others who have not been as fortunate. Twinning involves a mutual liberation, and most who go on a mission trip feel they have received more than they have given. Maybe the most important thing they do is build friendships and relationships, bridging the "first" and the "third" world into "one" world.

Sacred Heart Church, Atlanta, will host its annual Haiti mission gathering Saturday, Nov. 16, from 12:30-5:30 p.m. Father Serge Miot, bishop of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, will be there. The gathering will include presentations of parish twinning efforts, and a discussion of ways to support each other. Roundtable discussions will focus on health care, education, economic development, and logistics relating to the transportation and shipping of goods to sister parishes. Anyone involved in a parish twinning effort, or those interested in starting one at their parish, are invited.

For more information, contact Tom Reichert at (404) 522-6800 or outreach@sacredheartatlanta.org.

Friends and families use their collective muscle in an attempt to move a car out of the mud in Haiti. The vehicle was used during a Sacred Heart parish mission trip to the country.