What's Happening

January 6, 2025, Winter Park, Florida – Sister Rosemary Finnegan, OP, and members of the Haiti Committee of St. Margaret Mary Parish, Winter Park, Florida, spoke on the parish’s 20-year ministry with parishes in Haiti. The December 17, 2024, livestreamed presentation was offered during the worldwide Dominican family’s 2024 Month of Peace, focusing on the people of Haiti.

In a letter to the Dominican family, Father Gerard Francisco Timoner III, OP, Master of the Order, described the reasons for focusing on Haiti in 2024. “For many years, the people in Haiti have been subjected to violent atrocities and human rights violations, incessant killings, kidnappings, sexual assaults, human trafficking, and forced labour,” he wrote. “These have greatly impacted members of the Dominican Family, including their ability to meet physically, while others have had to leave the country for safety reasons.”

In their ministry, the people of St. Margaret Mary Parish partner with a parish in Haiti for five years, partnering with them to establish programs aimed to meet the needs identified by the community. Some developments have included medical clinics, schools, chapels, agriculture programs, peace programs, community building, and a women’s banking program. 

“We attribute our success to a strong mission relationship” said Ken Firling, a committee member. “We depend on the Haitians to identify the needs that are most important to them. Never have they come up with one thing that’s not very valuable or useful.”

Sister Rosemary said the Haitian parishioners “work hard to get things going I’ve seen a lot happening because of the urgency of five years.”

Toward the end of the presentation, Sister Rosemary expressed her gratitude for the “people of Haiti, who have shared their joys and struggles with us. We love to be with them and share their love and joy and faith.”

The presentation was offered through the efforts of Sister Kathleen Nolan, OP, Director of the Adrian Dominican Sisters Office of Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation, as well as the Justice Promoters who work with her. Watch the entire presentation.
 

September 27, 2024, Winter Park, Florida – Members of the Haiti Ministry at St. Mary Margaret Catholic Parish in Winter Park, Florida, wrote a letter to the editor of The Orlando Sentinel and The Springfield (Ohio) News-Sun. In the letter, the committee notes their involvement for 18 years in partnership with parishes in Haiti, uplifting and empowering their communities. Noting that their brothers and sisters in Haiti “deserve our respect,” the committee writes, “It is heartbreaking to witness the recent attacks on the Haitian community in Springfield, Ohio, which were fueled by false claims and baseless accusations about their legal status.”

Sister Rosemary Finnegan, OP, (pictured above) is a long-time member of the parish’s Haitian Ministry.

Read the letter to the editor in The Orlando Sentinel