[Parish] Prayers for Haiti

[Malcolm Young]

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I know that you are praying with me for the victims of the earthquake  
in Haiti.  Our bishop has a pastoral letter with suggestions for what  
we might to do help raise funds for the relief efforts there.  I'll  
include it below.

I hope you are well tonight.  I'm praying for you as I come closer to  
finishing the week's emails.

Love,

Malcolm



Dear Sisters and Brothers in  
Christ;                                                                  
       January 14, 2010

The Episcopal Church, alongside many other churches, institutions,  
and nations is making a vigorous, generous response to the disaster  
brought on by earthquake in Haiti.

There are 100,000 Episcopalians in Haiti; the Diocese of Haiti is not  
only part of the Anglican Communion, it is a constituent diocese of  
The Episcopal Church. A vibrant diocese, known for its extraordinary  
church-school system, the church in Haiti is suffering along with the  
country.

Haiti is the poorest country in the Western hemisphere, a fact whose  
implications become apparent in the light of this current tragedy,  
when infrastructure and support systems are shown to be inadequate to  
the demands of relief.

The Diocese of California stands in solidarity with the people of  
Haiti as we have in the past. Both regions were called "Ground Zero"  
at the peak of the AIDS crisis and each suffered devastating losses.  
The Diocese of California is no stranger to earthquakes and their  
destructive forces as well. Like the people of Haiti, we know that  
communities can rise from the ashes by means of compassionate action.

Episcopal Relief and Development (ERD) is The Episcopal Church  
organization that can and is responding to the immediate and ongoing  
relief needs of Haiti. I urge you to donate through ERD. Our website,  
diocal.org, has a link to ERD and is being updated with information  
about the Diocese of Haiti.

Soon after this initial response, we will call on the whole Episcopal  
Church and other compassionate communities to redouble their efforts  
to cancel the debt of our poorest nations. For Haiti to come out of  
this catastrophe with one penny of debt remaining would be the  
greatest insult.

Let us hold Haiti in our prayers.


Faithfully,

The Rt. Rev. Marc Handley Andrus
Bishop, Diocese of California