georgiabulletin.orgWASHINGTON (CNS) — While it has taken a while, reconstruction of Catholic churches and schools in Haiti following the country’s devastating January 2010 earthquake has started moving forward. The first $3.1 million in grants under the Partnership for Church Reconstruction in Haiti, or PROCHE, have been made. Another round of grants worth more than $3 million was expected to be approved June 11. Father Juan Molina, director of the U.S. bishops’ Office for the Church in Latin America, explained that the process under PROCHE is deliberate by design to assure that proper construction codes and engineering practices are followed.
PROCHE partners want to make sure that should another earthquake occur, buildings will better withstand the shaking and thus save lives and reduce injuries, he said. PROCHE, which means “close by” in French, is a collaborative effort involving the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, the bishops’ conferences of Haiti and France and Adveniat, the German bishops’ agency for solidarity in Latin America. It reviews all construction projects and signs off on them while administering a pot of $33 million donated by American Catholics in the weeks after the quake as well as millions of dollars from other donors. The process has been met with simmering frustration by some within the Haitian church because it is perceived as moving too slowly, especially in light of the promises of assistance to rebuild the church since the earthquake. The feelings emerged subtly during the One Table Many Partners National Solidarity Conference at The Catholic University of America June 1-3. While certainly not overwhelming, the frustration stems in part from the desire of the Haitian bishops conference to move forward as quickly as possible on reconstruction. Dozens of parishes and at least two cathedrals have had to celebrate Masses in small chapels, in the open or under tents for almost two and a half years.
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