The (not quite) Holy Family.

How am I? Happy to not have to live in Haiti, some people assume. Some days there’s so much going on with family life that it’s like we’ve been back for a while. I did live in America all 26 years of my life before moving to Haiti so eventhough it’s a difficult transition and we’re experiencing "reverse culture shock", my experience is probably nothing like what my kids have going on in their  heads (they left for Haiti as newborns and lived there most of their lives). Then again, in their naivety and innocence, they don’t comprehend the weight of having left the thing we gave all of ourselves to for years. The past couple of months we have done some activities that the kids have  never even heard of before (apple picking, hayride at a pumpkin patch, a carnival, etc.) so that’s been fun.  But then there are the days like today, that my heart hurts so bad and I can’t handle the fact that we are no longer in Haiti. And I cry randomly thinking of all the beautiful faces...

Frustrated, angry, upset, annoyed, betrayed, hurt…just a few of the   words that explain how I feel about the scandal going on in the Church; a church that I love so much and have given my life to, a Church that has done so much good, saved so many lives, and has had such a positive impact on society. I can’t help but ask how we got to this point. However, before I get into that, first things first. SORRY! Sorry to those who trusted the Church to take care of them, protect them, father them and lead them to heaven. Sorry to those who allowed the Church to enter their homes, confided in her, and ran to her in times of sorrow and joy. Sorry to those who went to the Church when they needed help but instead were victimized by the Church, abused by her, taken advantage of, and assaulted. My heart breaks for you. I am extremely sorry. I know I am not an ordained minister, a spokesperson of the church, nor a high-ranking prelate of the Church but I do  help form the body...

We have a secret. We don’t really build houses in Haiti. Lots of people think we do. But actually we are here to evangelize—with a focus on teenagers. Evangelize as in preach the Gospel, share Christ’s love and joy with people, encourage people living lives of sin to make a change and truly follow Christ, to let him be their reason for living, to know His peace and joy, to realize their dignity and worth and their reason for living—those are some of the many ways to define it.   The main reason we are in Haiti isn’t due to a need unique to Haiti. It exists in the U.S. too. Americans need to be evangelized just as much as Haiti but for some reason God called Paul & I to Haiti, at least for this season of our lives. The specific spiritual needs sometimes differ but Americans still need to know their dignity and worth, better understand God’s love for them, be catechized, evangelized, etc. and there are plenty of people in the U.S. who can do this. But it’s j...

“While they were worshipping the Lord and fasting, the holy Spirit said, ‘Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.’ Then, completing their fasting and prayer, they laid hands on them and sent them off” (Acts 13:2-3).  August 29th will be 7 years since Anna and I have been married. I remember it like it was yesterday. We were actually supposed to get married on the 28th but Hurricane Irene had another plan, but that’s a whole other blog that I’ll let Anna write.  Anyway, we got married, went on our honeymoon for almost a week, came back to Boston and began our drive down to Northeast Georgia to begin our formation year as Life Teen missionaries. After the completion of the formation year, we moved to Haiti with our newborn son and several other missionaries, to start Life Teen’s mission base in Haiti and to implement Life Teen youth ministry in parishes.  The original plan was to stay for 2 years but here we are almost 6...