By Ana Rodriguez Soto - Florida Catholic newspaper

Photographer: ANA RODRIGUEZ-SOTO | FC

Archbishop John C. Favalora speaks to parishioners of Notre Dame d'Haiti Jan. 17. The archbishop told Haitians their suffering is not in vain. "Finally, finally, the focus of the world is on Haiti."

Temporary protected status: Granted.

Donations: in the millions of dollars and counting.

Aid: Flowing slowly but surely into Port-au-Prince from every corner of the world.

Amid the devastation, amid the thousands dead and hundreds of thousands unaccounted for, some good news came for south Florida’s grieving Haitians, still trying to make contact with missing relatives, still reeling from the worst earthquake to strike their homeland in 200 years.

Photographer: ANA RODRIGUEZ-SOTO | FC

Natacha Louis prays outside Notre Dame d'Haiti during Sunday Mass Jan. 17. "My family is alive. But the problem is they don't find no food."

As they gathered at Notre Dame d’Haiti for Sunday Mass Jan. 17, Archbishop John C. Favalora assured them that their suffering was not in vain, and that the earthquake was not a punishment from God.

“The Lord Jesus himself was a suffering son of the Father and that was not for punishment. That was to bring about new life,” an emotional archbishop said during Mass Jan. 17 at the church in the middle of Little Haiti.

“We Catholics believe in miracles. And we look for a miracle in this situation. Finally, finally, the focus of the world is on Haiti. Finally,” the archbishop repeated, as Father Reginald Jean-Mary, pastor of Notre Dame d’Haiti, translated his words into Creole.

“It was a natural disaster that brought them there. But finally the focus of the world is on Haiti. And it should be on Haiti. New life, I hope and I pray, will come because of the suffering of the Haitian people. Jesus was innocent and he suffered. I believe that your people are innocent and have been suffering and the Lord will reward that,” Archbishop Favalora said.

He pointed out the great number of nations, governments and businesses that have pledged to help Haiti.

“That, itself, is a sign of God’s being with us and of the consolation of God being with us. We must see the hand of God in all of this,” Archbishop Favalora said. “Good Friday was not the end of the story. Easter Sunday was the end of the story. People of faith believe that. And that’s what gives us life.”

Photographer: ANA RODRIGUEZ-SOTO | FC

Christiana Lavilet prays during Mass at Notre Dame d'Haiti Jan. 17.

A few days earlier, Archbishop Favalora had led a chorus of activists and community leaders in urging the Obama administration to grant the Haitians temporary protected status — a legal distinction that gives undocumented immigrants from affected nations the right to stay and work legally in this country without fear of deportation.

It is a humanitarian gesture that has been invoked in the past when immigrants’ country of origin has been beset by a natural disaster, such as an earthquake or a hurricane.

“It’s not about telling your people to come to the U.S.,” Father Jean-Mary told his congregation Sunday. “Don’t encourage your friends or your family members to take to sea to come to the U.S. We don’t want any more tragedy.”

Instead, work and “save your money to help the children in Haiti. You’ve got to sacrifice for Haiti,” Father Jean-Mary said.

The archdiocese also asked federal officials to grant humanitarian parole to orphaned Haitian children.

Deacon Richard Turcotte, chief executive officer of Catholic Charities, said at a press conference Jan. 13 that the Church is ready to house them and find permanent homes for them in the U.S., either with their own relatives or adoptive parents.

This would be similar to the Pedro Pan program which brought 14,000 unaccompanied children to the U.S. in the early 1960s, and some in the Haitian community are already referring to it as Pierre Pan.

“This is going to be a very special, focused program,” said Randy McGrorty, chief executive officer of Catholic Charities Legal Services.

He said he already has received hundreds of e-mails from people interested in serving as foster parents or adoptive parents for the children. But it is too early to make those requests.

The first step, he said, is to work with the U.S. government “to create an orderly program to bring those kids (here) legally.”

Vice President Joe Biden and Homeland Security Director Janet Napolitano met with Archbishop Favalora, Father Jean-Mary and other archdiocesan officials Jan. 16. “They’ve indicated they’re receptive,” McGrorty said.

He explained that the second step is to work with child care agencies in Haiti “who are the experts” to identify the children in need.

But that will happen only after the initial search and rescue work is completed. “Right now, everyone’s priority is to rescue people from the rubble,” McGrorty said.

Many of those present at Notre Dame d’Haiti Jan. 17 had relatives in Haiti.

“I lost my cousins with their two kids and I can’t find two of my sisters,” said Patricia Charles, who made a point of kneeling at the altar after Mass and saying a special prayer.

Next to her was Marie Balthazar, also kneeling, also praying with hands outstretched, but in thanksgiving because her sister, brother and father were OK.

“My sister was at church. The church broke and then she’s saved,” Balthazar said.

Outside, at an earlier Mass, Natacha Louis wept and prayed.

“My family is alive. But the problem is they don’t find food,” she said.

Her brother and his children lived in Village Solidarité, about 35 to 40 minutes outside Port-au-Prince. She said they lived in an apartment building whose walls cracked during the quake, so they could not go back inside.

The village was “very affected and nobody came to help them” because everyone is so focused on the capital.

“The kids survive with water and salt,” Louis said. But the stench of the dead is starting to make them sick. “Last night they sleep by the sea because the sea, there’s not too much smell.”

Among those killed in the earthquake was Archbishop Joseph Serge Miot of Port-au-Prince. His vicar general is missing and feared dead, as are many of the country’s seminarians.

“The center of government, as well as the center of the Church in Haiti, both in Port-au-Prince, have been completely destroyed,” Archbishop Favalora said at the press conference Jan. 13.

At the Mass Jan. 17, he expressed his condolences to the Haitian people.

“Words really do not carry the full meaning of what is in our hearts,” he said.

He then praised the “beautiful faith” of long-suffering Haitians and added: “The saddest people in this world are not the people who suffer. The saddest people in this world are the people who have no faith. They have no hope. They don’t believe that life comes from death. But that’s what we believe. That’s why the crucifix for us is a sign of hope, not a sign of death.”

Photographer: ANA RODRIGUEZ-SOTO | FC

Patricia Charles prays at Notre Dame d'Haiti after Mass Jan. 17. "I give thanks," she said. All her family members -- her sister, her brother and her father -- survived the earthquake. "My sister was at church. The church broke and then she's saved."