Welcome to The St. Mary Twinning Committee Blog!

In our first blog entry we would like to introduce you to a bit of history of our Haitian Ministry and give you an overview of our program! Enjoy!

Twinning Ministry

The St. Mary Twinning Ministry is a unique program that, in Spring 2007, united St. Mary with St. Therese Parish located in Marbial, Haiti. At the outset, the Twinning Committee identified specific areas of need, including education, medical care, clean water, infrastructure development, entrepreneurial support and guidance. While the medical mission of 2010 has ended and another one has been planned for 2011, significant progress has been made in each of these areas. You can read about the 2010 medical mission here.

Overview
The St. Mary Twinning Ministry is a unique program that, in Spring 2007, united St. Mary with St. Therese Parish located in Marbial, Haiti. Why? In their call for Global Solidarity, the U.S. Catholic Bishops encouraged U.S. Parishes to build bridges internationally and thus enrich the Catholic faith throughout the world. In response, Pastor James Cronin encouraged the St. Mary Parish Council to answer the call, and we did.

St. Mary of Milford is a member of the “Parish Twinning Program of the Americas” (PTPA), which consists of over 330 “twins” between U.S. Parishes and parishes throughout Haiti, Central America, Cuba, Mexico, and Canada.

Haiti is the third poorest country in the world and the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. The challenges are immeasurable and unbounded, but the country presented an opportunity for Catholic social and humanitarian success. Our ministry has already made, and will continue to make a significant difference in the lives of our Haitian brothers and sisters, which, in turn, will enrich our own lives.

St. Therese is a very large parish of over 25,000 parishioners located in southeastern Haiti. The parish consists of a primary church, ten satellite chapels, and a school (K through 12) with over 500 students. The school provides food and living accommodations Monday through Friday for 15 children who live too far to walk to school. The needs of St. Therese are boundless: Pastor Bertrand Dieuveuille receives no financial support other than what St. Mary provides.

Thank you for dropping "in" on our blog and please come back as we will be updating our blog regularly!

Bye for now,
St Mary Twinning Ministry Committee