Holy Week 2012 is the time for the next Immersion Retreat in Haiti.
Currently there are over 60 parishes with twinning relationships in Haiti. Some are with other parishes, others with schools or orphanages and still others with organizations.
Relationships between the Diocese of Richmond and Haiti are varied and rich and groups from Virginia are constantly traveling to Haiti.
So what is a diocesan immersion retreat about and who should go on one?
The answer to the latter part of this question is easy enough — any adult interested in furthering their relationship with God is welcome to join this pilgrimage to Haiti. Whether you have been to Haiti a dozen times or never, you will learn about Haiti and listen to God speak to you through the people and places of Haiti.
Indeed, it will be a pilgrimage. We are not going to fix or build, we are going to learn, pray and be transformed. While it is true that so many of our relationships with Haiti have to do with charity, this is about becoming more aware of what Haiti has to offer us.
Each person will likely experience Haiti differently, but what we will see are people of faith who know from their poverty a radical dependence on God. We all, of course, have this radical dependence on God, but we have an illusion of providing for ourselves and earning what we have. It is such a strong illusion that we are most often not aware of it until we can get out of our comfort zone.
This pilgrimage will occur at the end of our Lenten journey where we are asked by our faith to turn away from sin and turn toward God — this is conversion pure and simple.
Our Holy Week pilgrimage will be about conversion, removing the scales from our eyes and deepening our relationship with God. It will be about the movement from charity to the justice God calls us to.
The diocesan immersion trips to Haiti are designed for individuals to be immersed into Haiti and give them an opportunity to learn about its history, culture, economics, politics and religion.
Taking this trip to Haiti is not a tourist visit, but truly it is a pilgrimage. It is the carving out in our lives a holy space and time to be open to the gifts of Haiti and the transformation of God.
Haiti offers the unique possibility for this to happen. In Haiti we, who live and only know the developed westernized world, gain a glimpse of what 80 percent of the world’s people experience every day.
When we humble ourselves and allow ourselves to be vulnerable to this experience and the people, God provides us with amazing change. We begin to see how very interconnected we are with the world and how the developing world has much to offer us.
We come to learn that the future of our world and humanity lies in a large extent to our willingness to build bridges, heal the wounds of the past and create relationships which enable us to work together toward a common fate. Haiti offers us this gift of life.
Please consider taking a pilgrimage to Haiti this year. Applications and deposits must be received by February 1, 2012.
Contact Paul Amrhein at paul@saintbridgetchurch.org, 804-282-9511 x311;
Diane Atkins at atkins@churchredeemer.org, 804-746-4911 Ext. 2222, or
Carrie at estoncarrie@hotmail.com, 757-761-0504
for more information and for an application.
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