Haitian community celebrates feast day, prepares to open new food pantry
July 29, 2019 at 12:37 p.m.
Haitian community celebrates feast day, prepares to open new food pantry
Mary [email protected]
For the diocesan Haitian Apostolate, the event had a two-fold purpose – to celebrate the Feast of the Assumption and to raise funds needed for a community service project.
According to Magda Dorleans, director of the Haitian Center, and Father Pierre Michel Alabre, a Haitian priest who oversees the spiritual needs of Trenton’s Haitian Catholic community, the feast of the Assumption, is a major celebration in almost every diocese in Haiti and Our Lady of the Assumption is patroness of Haiti. Father Alabre said, “The people here in the Haitian Center wanted to do something to celebrate the feast” on a social level.
Also, said Father Alabre, the Haitian Apostolate is in the process of opening a new food pantry to assist parishioners and members of the local community in need. Proceeds from the Caribbean Feast Day were going toward the purchase of food supplies for the first three to six months of the food pantry’s operation.
Dorleans acknowledged that there are many people in the Haitian community living in the Trenton area who have lost their jobs or work minimal hours and, as a result, they cannot buy food.
When Haitians need help, Dorleans added, they are not inclined to seek assistance from social service agencies that are in the communities in which they live.
“We thought that if we had a food pantry that was within the Haitian community, they would come for help.”
About the Haitian Center
Established by Bishop John C. Reiss in 1986, the Haitian Apostlate continues to be a “much needed ministry in the diocese,” said Father Alabre.
Bishop Reiss saw the need to create an outreach program that ministered to Haitian immigrants following the political upheaval that took place in Haiti in 1986 when the country’s president, Jean-Claude Duvalier (Baby Doc), was overthrown, causing more than a million residents to flee their homeland. Five years later, some 50,000 of the reported 1.3 million Haitians who were then living and working in the United States returned home when Father Jean-Bertrand Aristide assumed the presidency in February, 1991. However, when Aristide was overthrown by a military coup in September, 1991, thousands of people fled Haiti and returned to the United States.
Because the diocese had experienced an influx of Haitian immigrants, Bishop Reiss charged the new Haitian Apostolate with the primary task of responding to the spiritual and social needs of the immigrants through liturgy, education and advocacy services. The Haitian Center was first housed in a tiny one-room office in downtown Trenton. A year later in 1987, it was moved to larger quarters on the campus of St. Francis of Assisium Parish, Trenton, where it remained until the parish was closed in 2005. The center was then relocated to its current facility in the former St. Anthony Parish Convent.
When Haitian immigrants come to the United States, Dorleans and Father Alabre said their transition to living in America is difficult at best, given that most are unemployed, without money and are not able to speak English.
Outreach services provided by the Haitian Center include assistance with finding jobs, English as a Second Language classes, counseling families and children and translating paperwork from French to English.
Every year at Thanksgiving time, the Haitian Center holds a food collection and distributes turkeys to families in need. For Christmas, parties are held for children and adults and there is always a “big celebration” on Jan. 1, when Haiti observes its Independence Day. The community honors all mothers on the last Sunday in May.
Spiritually, the Haitian Center ministers to folks by providing retreats during Lent and Advent, through its youth, charismatic, Legion of Mary and liturgy committee groups and making the celebration of the Mass and other sacraments available in Creole and French.
Father Alabre said there are between 40 and 50 people who attend the 11 a.m. Mass on Sunday which is celebrated in the Haitian Center’s chapel. Later in the evening, a Mass is celebrated at 6:30 p.m. in St. Anthony Church, where 200 people “come faithfully every Sunday.”
It’s very important for the Haitian community to celebrate Mass in their native language, said Father Alabre.
They feel they are home because they have Mass in their language and the music is Haitian and they can go to Confession and speak with a priest in Creole.”
“It’s a blessing to have the Haitian Apostolate,” said Dorleans, “and the Haitians here in the diocese are grateful for the center. It’s a place where they can gather and call their own here in their own little corner of the diocese.”
[[In-content Ad]]
Related Stories
Sunday, December 14, 2025
250 X 250 AD
E-Editions
250 X 250 AD
Events
250 X 250 AD
For the diocesan Haitian Apostolate, the event had a two-fold purpose – to celebrate the Feast of the Assumption and to raise funds needed for a community service project.
According to Magda Dorleans, director of the Haitian Center, and Father Pierre Michel Alabre, a Haitian priest who oversees the spiritual needs of Trenton’s Haitian Catholic community, the feast of the Assumption, is a major celebration in almost every diocese in Haiti and Our Lady of the Assumption is patroness of Haiti. Father Alabre said, “The people here in the Haitian Center wanted to do something to celebrate the feast” on a social level.
Also, said Father Alabre, the Haitian Apostolate is in the process of opening a new food pantry to assist parishioners and members of the local community in need. Proceeds from the Caribbean Feast Day were going toward the purchase of food supplies for the first three to six months of the food pantry’s operation.
Dorleans acknowledged that there are many people in the Haitian community living in the Trenton area who have lost their jobs or work minimal hours and, as a result, they cannot buy food.
When Haitians need help, Dorleans added, they are not inclined to seek assistance from social service agencies that are in the communities in which they live.
“We thought that if we had a food pantry that was within the Haitian community, they would come for help.”
About the Haitian Center
Established by Bishop John C. Reiss in 1986, the Haitian Apostlate continues to be a “much needed ministry in the diocese,” said Father Alabre.
Bishop Reiss saw the need to create an outreach program that ministered to Haitian immigrants following the political upheaval that took place in Haiti in 1986 when the country’s president, Jean-Claude Duvalier (Baby Doc), was overthrown, causing more than a million residents to flee their homeland. Five years later, some 50,000 of the reported 1.3 million Haitians who were then living and working in the United States returned home when Father Jean-Bertrand Aristide assumed the presidency in February, 1991. However, when Aristide was overthrown by a military coup in September, 1991, thousands of people fled Haiti and returned to the United States.
Because the diocese had experienced an influx of Haitian immigrants, Bishop Reiss charged the new Haitian Apostolate with the primary task of responding to the spiritual and social needs of the immigrants through liturgy, education and advocacy services. The Haitian Center was first housed in a tiny one-room office in downtown Trenton. A year later in 1987, it was moved to larger quarters on the campus of St. Francis of Assisium Parish, Trenton, where it remained until the parish was closed in 2005. The center was then relocated to its current facility in the former St. Anthony Parish Convent.
When Haitian immigrants come to the United States, Dorleans and Father Alabre said their transition to living in America is difficult at best, given that most are unemployed, without money and are not able to speak English.
Outreach services provided by the Haitian Center include assistance with finding jobs, English as a Second Language classes, counseling families and children and translating paperwork from French to English.
Every year at Thanksgiving time, the Haitian Center holds a food collection and distributes turkeys to families in need. For Christmas, parties are held for children and adults and there is always a “big celebration” on Jan. 1, when Haiti observes its Independence Day. The community honors all mothers on the last Sunday in May.
Spiritually, the Haitian Center ministers to folks by providing retreats during Lent and Advent, through its youth, charismatic, Legion of Mary and liturgy committee groups and making the celebration of the Mass and other sacraments available in Creole and French.
Father Alabre said there are between 40 and 50 people who attend the 11 a.m. Mass on Sunday which is celebrated in the Haitian Center’s chapel. Later in the evening, a Mass is celebrated at 6:30 p.m. in St. Anthony Church, where 200 people “come faithfully every Sunday.”
It’s very important for the Haitian community to celebrate Mass in their native language, said Father Alabre.
They feel they are home because they have Mass in their language and the music is Haitian and they can go to Confession and speak with a priest in Creole.”
“It’s a blessing to have the Haitian Apostolate,” said Dorleans, “and the Haitians here in the diocese are grateful for the center. It’s a place where they can gather and call their own here in their own little corner of the diocese.”
[[In-content Ad]]
Have a news tip? Email [email protected] or Call/Text 360-922-3092