U.S. church official says Haiti desperately needs political stability

Published: 2008-07-17

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (CNS) -- Haiti desperately needs political stability so that jobs can be created to lift the poor out of a critical situation, said the chairman of the U.S. bishops' Committee on International Policy. "The situation is critical, although there is still a glimmer of hope," Bishop Thomas G. Wenski of Orlando, Fla., told Catholic News Service July 16. "Haiti now needs a solid success story so that hope does not disappear." Bishop Wenski, who visited Haiti in mid-July, said that in a private meeting earlier that day, Haitian President Rene Preval expressed his thanks for the work of the Catholic Church in advocating for the Haitian Hemispheric Opportunity Through Partnership Encouragement Act and for the job opportunities it could create. The U.S. Hope Act I and II, as it is known, allows the United States to import Haitian textiles and could create 3,000 jobs in Haiti where, the bishop said, it is estimated that every job feeds an extended family of 10 people, so "3,000 jobs could feed 300,000 people." Without political stability, Bishop Wenski said, investors will not confidently invest their money into a job-producing market in Haiti.

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