PTPA FRIENDS:

As we enter a new year of mission and service, I want to extend my deepest gratitude to all our members and partners for your continued support, engagement, and generosity. Because of you, the mission of PTPA remains vibrant and alive. Your commitment allows us not only to accompany and support our U.S. parish members, but also to remain actively engaged with parishes in Haiti and Latin America seeking twinning relationships. Your dedication truly sustains this ministry of solidarity.

On a personal note, as I mark six months in my role as Executive Director since joining PTPA on July 1, 2025, I want to thank each of you for the warm welcome and encouragement you’ve shown me. Your support has made my journey with PTPA deeply inspiring. Since July, we have launched several new initiatives aimed at strengthening our engagement with members and enhancing the support we provide; from our unforgettable August 2025 Conference, where our hearts were set on fire, to our comprehensive Member Engagement Survey seeking your insights on how we can better serve you, to our Haiti Parish Visit Pilot Program designed to assist U.S. parishes unable to visit their twinned communities. Most recently, we have begun reviewing our Strategic Plan to ensure we remain aligned with our mission and to help us offer services that are both impactful and sustainable within our resources. Each of these efforts reflects our ongoing commitment to walk alongside you and to live out our mission with purpose and care.

Thanks to your generosity, PTPA continues to nurture strong relationships with its member parishes through vital resources, virtual engagement, personalized guidance, and the cultivation of new twinning partnerships. Your support also strengthens our collaboration with Catholic leadership and helps maintain active, meaningful bonds between U.S. parishes and communities in Haiti and Latin America.

This coming year still promises to be a time of growth and transformation for PTPA. We remain fully committed to doing all we can to support our twin parishes in the important and hope‑filled work they continue to do. At the same time, we must work to form new twinning relationships.

This month's newsletter highlights the following:

Thank you for walking this journey with us. We hope that 2026 brings renewed hope and joy.

With gratitude,

Cassandra Bissainthe 
PTPA Executive Director

Great progress has been made in the review of our Strategic Plan, which will guide our work over the next three years. Key strategic objectives and activities have been identified to help us remain focused and effective in achieving our mission.

Our Mission Statement remains:

“Live the Gospel by seeking, promoting, and supporting the formation, growth, and development of twinning relationships between Catholic parishes in the US and Catholic parishes in Haiti and Latin America.”

As part of this renewed strategic vision, PTPA will prioritize several core initiatives designed to strengthen member engagement and better support active and emerging twinning relationships. A summary of these Core Services and Support areas includes:

These priorities reflect PTPA’s commitment to strengthening relationships, accompanying our members, and equipping parish communities as they live out the transformative work of twinning.

The visits in the initial phase of the Haiti Parish Visit pilot, focused on the Northern Department, have now been completed. We will soon be launching Phase 2, targeting the Southern Department, Les Cayes and surrounding areas.

The program is designed to support U.S. parishes that are currently unable to visit their twinned parishes in Haiti. Our Haiti-based team, led by our in-country director, Domond, is conducting visits on behalf of the U.S. parish to its twin parish in Haiti to help maintain engagement, gather updates, and strengthen relationships.  

We then draft individual reports, which include photos from the visits and share them with the U.S. twins. Once the parishes receive their report, PTPA schedules individual follow-up calls with Domond to address any questions the U.S. parish may have and provide an opportunity for him to share additional updates from his visits.

To hear more about about "Lessons Learned from Phase 1 and Next Steps in the Haiti Parish Visit Pilot Program" join us at the February Zoom Gathering, details below. 

Here is additional information for PTPA members who have not already registered to participate:

Participation in this initiative requires approval from both the U.S. and Haitian parishes for an in-person visit by PTPA team members. If your parish is twinned with more than one Haitian parish, please complete a separate form for each.

If you haven't already done so, register here: Haiti Parish Visit Pilot - Interest Form

Our January 2026 PTPA Zoom Gathering featured presenters from the University of Notre Dame’s Global Center for the Development of the Whole Child (“GC-DWC”), a group that shared its systems based approach to strengthening education in Haiti: its work across the home (lakay), church (legliz), and school (lekòl) environments, and highlighted emerging opportunities for alignment between PTPA members and GC DWC to support parish families throughout Haiti.

We were honored to welcome the following presenters from the UND GC‑DWC team:
     • Dr. Neil Boothby, Professor and Director, GC-DWC
     • Ms. Kate Schuenke Lucien, Director, GC-DWC, Haiti

The University of Notre Dame's Global Center for the Development of the Whole Child (GC-DWC) has collaborated for over 15 years with local educators and experts in Haiti in the creation of curricula and other resources spanning early childhood education, early grade literacy, social and emotional learning, health and nutrition, and parish system activation. On the GC-DWC website, you can explore classroom resources, children’s books, curriculum, teacher training materials, and parenting resources. These resources are completely open-source, available in French and Creole, and tailored to the Haitian context.

Click Here to view the January Zoom Gathering on the PTPA YouTube channel.
Click Here to learn more about the University of Notre Dame’s Global Center for the Development of the Whole Child.
Click Here to access their resources.
For more information, please contact Kate at kschuenk@nd.edu.

On a related note, at the 2025 PTPA National Conference, we addressed the burning question:
"How can we ensure a brighter future for our brothers and sisters in Haiti and Latin America?"  The answer: "Through Quality Education."
Kate presented "The Power of Parish Twinning for Education in Haiti."
Click here to view the presentation in the PTPA Members Portal. 

Over the years the best means by which the ministry of parish twinning has spread has been the same way that the Gospel itself has been spread – by current believers.  PTPA is calling on all of you – our parish twinning community – to engage in your communities to spread the good news about parish twining.

Hardly a week goes by that we don’t hear from a pastor from a parish in Haiti or Latin America, pleading for help to find a U.S. parish to join with them in solidarity as a twin parish. The demand is a flowing faucet, yet the supply is nearly a trickle. We need your help to turn on the spicket to help meet the demand. You, our current parish twins, are the best ambassadors for spreading the good news.

We are asking your parish to become an ambassador by talking to friends and family who attend other Catholic parishes, inviting them to take on a parish twin. You could also ask to speak to the parish council and/or the social ministry committee (or some similar name) at parishes in your area. You might ask them to join your own parish in your ministry or to take on their own twin and offer to mentor them as they begin their journey.

We have twin requests from Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Cuba, Mexico, Dominican Republic, Ecuador and Guatemala.

If you have additional ideas for how we can recruit more parishes, please let me know! Or, if you need any assistance, please reach out.

Click here to share ideas or become an ambassador.

If you have topics that you would like to focus on in upcoming Zoom gatherings – topics that you would like to see and/or a topic that they (or someone else) would like to present,

or

If you have an item or story that you would like to be included in an upcoming edition of the PTPA e-newsletter, 

Click here to submit.

Topic: Haiti Parish Visit Pilot Program — Lessons Learned from Phase 1 and Next Steps

Presenter: Cassandra Bissainthe, PTPA Exec Director & Pilot Program Chief            

Click here to REGISTER

PTPA is a Catholic, non-profit organization. Our mission is to live the Gospel by seeking, promoting, and supporting the formation, growth and development of twinning relationships between Catholic parishes in the U.S. and Catholic parishes in Haiti and Latin America.

“I assure you, as often as you did it for one of my least brothers, you did it for me.” Matthew 25:40

Parish Twinning Program of the Americas
407 W. Smith Valley Road #1222
Greenwood, IN 46142
www.ptpausa.org
contact us: info@ptpausa.org