PTPA FRIENDS:
Welcome to our second edition of the PTPA e-newsletter!

Below you will see articles on some of the things that PTPA is doing now to help facilitate twinning with impoverished parishes in Haiti and Latin America and to share best practices, and ways our PTPA member parishes can help now.

In addition to articles related to PTPA itself, consistent and thorough communication within your parish and your community is the best way to keep the mission of your parish twinning relationship in front of your supporters (and for us, our PTPA members). If your parish is struggling to keep the passion alive for your parish twin mission, you might consider a regular newsletter. To see an excellent example, 
follow this link to see the November edition of the Twin Parish News from St. William parish in Saint Simon Island, GA.

God Bless,

David Siler,
PTPA Executive Director

PTPA staff members Karen and David, along with several members of the PTPA Board of Directors, will be traveling as guests of Food for the Poor to San Pedro Sula, Honduras on March 31 – April 4. We will be visiting some of FFTP’s projects, visiting a few parishes and meeting with the Catholic leadership of the diocese. Our goals are to get better acquainted with the work of FFTP overseas, to meet their main in-country partner, Cepudo, learn about the state of the Church in Honduras and to establish a working relationship with the Honduran bishops.

PTPA currently only has a few U.S. parishes twinned in Honduras and following our trip, we hope to identify many new parishes interested in beginning a twin relationship with a parish in Honduras. Due to the ongoing conditions in Haiti, forming new twin relationships is very difficult, so it is our hope that we can continue to expand the mission of parish twinning by focusing on another country where travel is safer.

Of our approximately 250 parish members, only about 30 are twinned with a parish in a country in Latin America. There is tremendous need and surely the U.S. Catholic Church can respond!

On Monday, October 21st, I, PTPA's Executive Director, traveled from Fort Lauderdale to Cap Haitian, Haiti. Together with my traveling companions, Mr. Gilbert “Chip” Wirth and Father Tom Streit, CSC, I then traveled the extremely bumpy road to Hinche, in the Central Plateau.  We had the great privilege of attending the grand opening of a new entrepreneurial school, which is part of the University of Notre Dame, Hinche.  It was a grand celebration, with about 30 priests from the Hinche Diocese who celebrated a mass with other dignitaries, special guests, current Notre Dame students and prospective students, followed by a ribbon cutting and fantastic meal.

This new school of Notre Dame is headed by Father Herald Jean, a priest of the Hinche diocese and the school will begin accepting applications in January of 2025. The course of study will be two years in length and the tuition is $1,000 per year. If you have a student who you would like to send to the school, you can reach Father Herald at hjean@nd.edu

While in Hinche I was able to meet with Mr. Ernso Sylvain, who is employed by our friends at Unlocking Communities. Ernso is a very enterprising young man, who also has a very successful English school. If you have a student in the Central region interested in learning English, you can reach Ernso at ernso@unlockingcommunities.org

I had the pleasure of meeting Father Jacques Volcius, the director of Caritas for the Hinche diocese. For those of you not familiar with Caritas, it is essentially the Haitian equivalent of our U.S. Catholic Charities. They operate a very robust and successful microcredit program in many parishes throughout the diocese. All ten dioceses of Haiti have a Caritas and director and many also manage microcredit programs. If you’ve ever wanted to start a microcredit program at your parish, often Caritas is able to function as the local manager. Caritas Hinche also purchases iodized salt from a plant in Port au Prince, started by Father Tom for about 90 parish schools. Father Tom educated me on the extremely important connection between iodine and early brain development. Most Haitians grow up deficient in iodine, inhibiting their ability to learn.

On Wednesday, October 21st we returned to Cap where I stayed until my return on Monday, the 28th. One of the highlights of my time in Cap was the opportunity to meet Dr. Moussanto Dantil, the veterinarian who will be my guest on our November 26th Zoom Gathering. He is a fascinating and brilliant man who is interested in expanding his model of training vet technicians beyond the central region to other parts of Haiti. He taught me more about chickens than I thought I’d ever know!

Moussanto came to visit me at St. Mary Who Unties Knots parish in Bois de Lance, just outside of Limonade. He was able to inspect the new chicken house started by Father Max as both a social enterprise and a source of food for his school children. Father Max is starting out with 200 chickens, on his way to raising 1,400 at a time.

I am constantly amazed at some of the things that I witness while in Haiti. While I was waiting for our truck to be pulled out of a huge mud puddle, I saw a new record for me – 8 humans on a single motorcycle! 

I am happy to report that during our many hours of travel in the north and central regions, we did not experience even a hint of insecurity! The violence that makes the news continues to be concentrated in and around Port-au-Prince. Nearly every conversation I had included lamenting about the circumstances in PAP that continue to make life difficult throughout the country – primarily due to inflation and the sparse availability of many items for purchase.

If you/your parish is considering traveling to Haiti, feel free to reach out to me and I am happy to talk to you about ways to stay safe.

God bless!

You can help! You, our current parish twin communities, are the very best ambassadors for this beautiful adventure we call parish twinning. We would like to challenge all of you to meet with at least one parish in your area that does not currently have a twin and invite them to take this leap of faith. Feel free to reach out to David or PTPA Board members if you would like some promotional materials and ideas for how to introduce parish twinning.

Meet our full team here.

Working together and coordinating efforts will ensure that international parishes get the best and most equitable help.

Founded in 1999 by Theresa Patterson, who had founded PTPA in 1978, VHF was born out of a vision to provide high-standard healthcare in Haiti. After years of groundwork, the first clinic opened in 2008, becoming a model for transformative healthcare in rural Haiti. The innovative, energy-efficient clinic offers a range of services including medical, dental, and public health outreach, impacting over 300,000 patient cases to date.

Since its beginning, Theresa has served as the Executive Director of VHF, the organization that supports the operation and funding of the hospital. She is now ready to retire.

With that said, VHF is seeking a new Executive Director to lead the organization’s efforts to provide health and health education at its outpatient clinic in southwest Haiti, and expand operations to include an Ambulatory Surgery Center.  The Executive Director is responsible for overseeing the relationship of the organization with our Haitian counterparts, reports to the Board of Trustees, and maintains fruitful relationships with both donors, our Haitian staff, and community leaders in southwest Haiti.  He/she is responsible for the financial success of the organization conducting fundraisers, grant writing monthly communication to donors, seeks to engage in community organizations and is available for speaking engagements, and reports on a bi-monthly basis at Board meetings.  The Executive Director supervises the Finance Assistant state side, hires staff as needed, and plans strategies for the financial growth of the organization.  Our desire is to hire someone with a missionary spirit.  A candidate who has worked in Haiti as a volunteer or paid position will be given preference.  For a full job description, please send an email to franrajotte47@gmail.com. 

PTPA hosts a national conference every several years - an event that provides an opportunity for twinning members to network and share and learn about new and best practices to serve your twin parish.  

Individuals from U.S. Catholic parishes will have the opportunity to share information and learn about best practices for building spiritually enriching twinning relationships by attending the PTPA National Conference in Nashville on August 15-17, 2025. 

Topics include:
Invigorating twinning relationships during challenging times
Ensuring successful transitions for twinning leadership
Forming vibrant regional networks for twinnings
Supporting the Catholic Church hierarchy in twinning countries

Keynote Speakers Include:

Cardinal Chibly Langlois, who has served as the Bishop of Les Cayes, Haiti since August 18, 2011 and formerly as the bishop of the Fort Liberte Diocese from 2004-2011, was elevated to the College of Cardinals on February 22, 2014 by Pope Francis. He is the first and only Haitian Cardinal in history, and will present on the amazing benefits of twinnning.

Archbishop Thomas Wenski of the Archdiocese of Miami is an outspoken advocate for Haitians not only within the Catholic Church but also within the community. The Archdiocese of Miami is home to the largest population of Haitian immigrants in the United States. 

Mr. Mike School, Executive Vice-President of Catholic Leadership Institute, will present on the topic of ensuring the future generation of parish twin leaders at the parish level.

A list of additional Keynote Speakers and Conference Session Topics to follow.

And please join the Twin Parish Poster Session - a perfect way to share your best practices with others.
Additional information to follow.

Click here for additional details about the conference,
including how to register with a discounted Early Bird Reservation fee,
and how to reserve a room at the Inn at a discounted room rate!

Presenter:  Moussanto Dantil, Doctor of Veterinary Medicine

Dr. Dantil has trained 37 “vet agents” to serve small family farmers, multiplying his ability to provide veterinary services. He has also established a vocational technical school, offering certificates in agronomy and accounting. Learn more about Dr. Dantil and his programs by clicking here.

Click here to REGISTER

A better future is being built by all of us right now, in the billions of twinning actions we take each day.
Care, share and pray with your twin parish: by helping impoverished parishes in Haiti and Latin America, we are building a better future for the poorest of the poor.
 
Whether it’s offering a kind smile, a helping hand, or an hour of your time—these acts have a way of rippling out, becoming part of something much greater. That is the power of radical generosity.

PTPA is a Catholic, non-profit organization. Our mission is to live the Gospel by promoting, establishing 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