St. Ann Parish is a Catholic church located in Nashville, Tennessee that is paired with St. George Parish in Bassin-Bleu, Haiti. Through the Parish Twinning Program, a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt nonprofit organization pairing U.S. and Haitian Parishes since 1992, St. Ann Parish has developed a long-standing, mutual-benefit relationship with St. George Parish, for over 20 years.
Historically, Haiti has struggled to maintain financial stability due to the increasing rate and intensity of natural disasters and political unrests. Through our work, the Haiti Apostolate hopes to help our Haitian sister parish and community in meeting their spiritual and material needs.
The funds that we receive from our church community in St. Ann’s help to support St. George’s endeavors to better help their community. Currently, the focus of the Haiti Apostolate is to contribute towards the financial and spiritual resources needed to build chapels around the Bassin-Bleu area and fund presbytery needs; however, the needs of the community in Bassin-Bleu also shift in response to political and economic upheavals and public health emergencies. In the past, we have shipped items ranging from hygiene products to a pick-up truck, in order to support the community of St. George.
Although we have been paired with St. George for many years, we want to continue strengthening our relationship with St. George, connecting our sister communities ever more closely. We have been lucky enough to have the former Parish priest of St. George, Fr. Chale, visit our church community in 2016. In the past, parishioners from St. Ann have also organized several trips to visit our sister parish. With the help of the Haiti Apostolate, a youth mission trip was conducted in 2017 to better build connections with St. George’s youth through a summer camp hosted at the parish center in Bassin-Blue.
St. George parish is located in a rural part of Haiti, just outside of Bassin-Bleu. The Parish constituents of the presbytery and principal chapel, which is located in the Bassin-Bleu town, and 5 outreach centers, each with a congregation of the faithful. St. George’s presbytery hosts seven individuals: the parish priest, a deacon trainee, two current high school students, and three staff members. Although there isn’t an orphanage, clinic, or retirement home directly connected to St. George Parish, the community funds a school (K-12 equivalent) year-round.
Currently, three chapels are under construction in the outreach communities. A lot of work is being done to help these outreach communities through this project. However, many parishioners are struggling financially to pay the school fees for their childrens’ education. Many students from St. George School are not able to proceed to university to further their education due to lack of funds.
The Haiti Apostolate meets approximately once a month to talk about St. George’s needs, fundraising, and future projects. We also work to keep our sister parishioners in Haiti on the minds of St Ann’s parishioners by remembering them during Mass and by fundraising events. Our apostolate has been funded through the generosity of parishioners.