Bogotá, 17 January 2010

From: The General Secretariat of CLAR
To: National presidents and religious of Latin America and the Caribbean

This first Sunday following the earthquake in Haiti we can celebrate the faith in a profound communion with our Brothers and Sisters struck by the catastrophe of this past Tuesday. Communication with the Haitian Religious Conference continues to be difficult, almost impossible, but we are receiving news from the Dominican Conference of Religious-CONDOR--and, as is the case with all of you, from our communities and in general from the media of social communication. There is an abundance of data, taking into account that what is transmitted continues being scarcely a shadow of the reality that is being lived there. I will limit myself to sharing with you four matters:

1. Among the thousands of dead and disappeared are more than 100 religious. Just the community of the Daughters of Mary has lost 16 sisters, 14 are unaccounted for, and 6 have been brought to Santo Domingo for medical attention. Not only have the houses of the poor and public building collapsed, but also those of the Church and of religious communities.

2. Because of their importance I am attaching three [MS Word] documents: the conference given by Dr. Zilda Ams Neumann shortly before she died to 100 persons, among them religious, priests and seminarians; the first communication written by the National President of the Haitian Conference of Religious, Fr. Dufiene Auguste, FIC, in spite of the challenging circumstances; a first-hand report from Sister Rosa Lenis Gutiérrez, HHA, a member of the presidential council of CLAR who had gone to represent it at the Assembly of National Conferences of Religious of the Caribbean. We had known that Dr. Zilda had been invited expressly for this meeting. She had participated in the opening Eucharist and had left, planning to return at 5 in the afternoon, that is, shortly after the earthquake, in order to work with the Assembly for the entire day on Wednesday; the ex-president of CLAR, Sister Carmen Margarita Fagot, has confirmed for us that she had been formally connected with our projects during her term.

3. Little by little it is becoming clear that the presence of Religious Life, without neglecting to attend to the urgency of the situation, needed to gather itself in a moment of solitude, after which they experienced the first reaction of solidarity of the whole world. It is clear also that, while the Conference of Religious of Haiti gets back on its feet, CLAR should channel its support through CONDOR. Thanks to its nearness and its human resources, it is developing an emergency plan which we will support.

4. From them and many other direct contacts, we have received the following SOS: doctors and nurses are urgently needed. They can enter through the Dominican Republic, and across their borders to those places in Haiti most in need. Economic aid are and will continue to be very necessary, with a generosity as great as possible; this and human resources we will reserve for the second stage of the emergency.

May Our Lady of the Wedding Feast of Cana help us discover the abundance of new wine, and on approaching this catastrophe anoint with it, as happened with the Good Samaritan, the wounds of our Haitian brothers and sisters.

Fr. Gabrien Naranjo Salazar, CM
Secretary General
CONFEDERACIÓN LATINOAMERICANA Y CARIBEÑA DE RELIGIOSOS Y RELIGIOSAS
[unofficial translation by T. Michael McNulty, SJ]