QUEBRADILLAS, Puerto Rico — A month after Hurricane Maria
devastated Puerto Rico, Catholic organizations, groups and individuals were
still among the most prominent responders to the needs of a suffering people.
Despite early logistical obstacles, as of Oct. 20, the local
Caritas chapter had disbursed more than $1.1 million in aid to an estimated
50,000 people — including food, clothing, first aid supplies, potable water and
sundries. At its San Juan office, hot lunches also were being distributed daily
to members of the community.
"We had to blindly design a response plan," Father
Enrique "Kike" Camacho, executive director of Caritas Puerto Rico, said
Oct. 19. "But after communications opened somewhat, we began improving the
plan based on diocesan reports. Today, we have a well-coordinated relief system
at Puerto Rico's 500 parishes in all six dioceses."
Caritas has been working closely with Catholic Charities USA on
Puerto Rico's recovery since Hurricane Irma brushed the island's northern coast
two weeks before Maria followed Sept. 20.
Kim Burgo, senior director of disaster operations for Catholic
Charities, said: "One of our biggest challenges is money because there
were two other hurricanes before ... but then Maria comes along, which in many
ways was worse than Harvey and Irma, and people have donor fatigue and it is
very difficult to get donations for Puerto Rico. The need here is so much
greater, yet the financial resources are so much less."
Puerto Rico's post-hurricane recovery efforts have been largely a
grass-roots impulse, mainly spearheaded by newly formed young adult movements
and religious groups that have become an alternative to slow, complex and
bureaucratic government procedures. Most of these groups, local and coming from
the U.S., include Catholics.
Katherine Riolo, a Catholic volunteer with the Canadian relief
foundation Impact Nations, came to Quebradillas, a town of 25,000 residents in
northwest Puerto Rico, with a team of four to help distribute 300 portable
water filters around isolated homes deep in the mountains. Riolo is a retired
schoolteacher and a 30-year missionary veteran who is a member of the Sangre de
Cristo Parish in Albuquerque, N.M.. This was her first disaster-related
mission.
"All the devastation ... when you see this, no electricity,
families living with no water to bathe in, it's hard and they are
traumatized," Riolo said while distributing the water filters around
Quebradilla's Guajataca sector Oct. 21. "When you come into someone's
house, they don't forget that, and when you tell them, 'God thinks about you so
much that he sent us ... and there's a whole lot of people in my town thinking
about you,' they don't forget that.."
Asked about what drives her to do missionary work, Riolo simply
answered: "We are the hands and feet of Jesus."
Bishop Daniel Fernandez of Arecibo touched on that exact
sentiment from Riolo at a Mass at St. Raphael the Archangel Church in
Quebradillas Oct. 22, World Mission Sunday.
"The Father sent his Son into the world — mission means to
send," said Bishop Fernandez during his homily. "If sending means
mission or mission means send, then Jesus was the first missionary."
Just as the church cannot avoid being missionary, the bishop
said, neither can Catholics avoid it. Therefore, he said, offering witness of
our faith has to be practiced with good deeds "in times of hurricanes like
this one."
Parishes in the inner mountain regions of Puerto Rico have fared
the worst after Hurricane Maria. Not only have their congregations' financial
support diminished due to massive unemployment, but also federal and local
government support is not being received in their towns. Many parishes, such as
St. Raphael the Archangel, are holding ongoing relief collections for them.
Before Mass, Bishop Fernandez said the Diocese of Arecibo is
distributing all aid coming from Caritas directly to its 59 parishes. His
diocese and the Diocese of Mayaguez are the most damaged of the dioceses. The
island has one archdiocese, San Juan, and five dioceses.
"I'm perceiving much unity and even calm within the faithful,"
said Bishop Fernandez. "However, (the priests and I) are attentive because
we know that as time passes and, if the situation doesn't improve at an
adequate pace, tolerance levels might diminish as the physical exhaustion
rises."
Recovery after Hurricane Maria, one of the most destructive in
Puerto Rico's history, has been slow. Official reliable statistics about
hurricane damage, including an accurate death toll, have been scarce and widely
debated by experts.
The latest government timetable for recovery announced Oct. 19
says 90 percent of the island will have its electric power normalized by Dec.
15. That recovery plan is said to yield a totally new and diversified power
grid that would bring back hydroelectric systems and add solar power components.
Traditionally a Catholic people, Puerto Ricans feel the church
tends to be the most trustworthy source of relief in disaster conditions. For
Father Kike, that represents one of the church's most important challenges.
"To me the greatest challenge in these situations is to meet
our people's expectations" he said. "They expect a lot from the
church because they trust it, and there's pressure on us. It's a high standard
and we cannot fail."