Pints With Aquinas - Inspiring Stories from The Church in Haiti 🇭🇹 w/ Fr. Louis Merosne

Episode Date: November 22, 2021

Fr. Louis is a Catholic Priest from Haiti, we got the chance to sit down and talk about life in Haiti, the history of the Haitian people, exorcising vudu spirits, encountering deep faith in poverty, and the inspiring strength of the Haitian Church. Fr. Louise's Mission Fund. (Lets show him a bump in donations!): https://www.missiontothebeloved.com/ 📃SPONSORS📃 🙏 Hallow: http://hallow.app/mattfradd 📈Ethos Logos Investments: https://www.elinvestments.net/pints 🟦STRIVE: https://www.strive21.com/ 

Hey, Matt Fradd here, welcome to Pints with Aquinas. If this show has been a blessing to you, please consider supporting us directly at pintswithaquinas.com.com. Or at patreon.com.com. Any dollar amount would be a blessing to us. Thank you so much for considering. What if we sang this entire interview? You know how angry people would be? Well you know when I was in Stubbenville I instituted musical Monday for my dorm. I was a residence director and so I on Mondays you you sing everything. I tried it for a couple Mondays. Did you like make it through the whole day? No no but I tried. I thought it'd be fun to be in a musical. I hate musicals. I hate them. Yeah, but I thought maybe if it's real life, it'll be fun. And it was a nice idea. Yeah, it was a good idea. So I was with you last night and I was chatting with your bishop and it struck me that your English is obviously much superior to his. Is that because you

lived here for a while? Are you trying to get me in trouble comparing me to my bishop trouble compared to my much more handsome and orthodox but for 17 years before I moved back to Haiti oh I see I moved to the States to Boston in 1993 and went to school there from fourth grade on okay Okay. And so I came to Steubenville in 2002 and this was the suggestion, oh I don't know if I should call it a suggestion, but you're a good friend Jason Everett from Catholic Answers. This is when I was coming to an understanding of my faith and discovering that there's such a thing called apologetics, Catholic apologetics, I thought wait a minute,

wait a minute, we can give reasons for faith. I never knew there were reasons. I just figured the people I talked to were just like, I was born Catholic, I'm on di-Catholic, and that's how it's going to be. And I thought, okay, I guess that's just how it is. But I'm listening to Catholic answers. And that's how I actually got to know you as well first. Now, did you know Jason when you went to Franciscan?

Nope, but I had spoken to him. I was a sophomore in college, I believe, and I had a question, so I decided, I'm gonna call up Catholic Answers, I wanna talk to Jason. So they passed him the phone. I don't know how that happened. You don't just call up, but anyway, they did.

And I told him, dude, I listen to you. You're so good at explaining. Would you learn your stuff? And he goes well, you know, I did study theology at the Franciscan University. Where? Franciscan University. So I looked it up and fell in love, of course came to visit fell in love even more and attended from 2002 to 2007. And you were in Boston when you were calling up Jason. That's correct. Why did you move from Haiti to Boston? Oh and what a insure that must have been it was a huge shock

culturally winter yes I still remember my first snow and so yeah played a prank on me I remember it too and someone played a prank on me. What happened to you? They told me that in order not to get sick. I've got to get the snow and wash my face with it So I did I trusted them something similar happen to traumatize. Yeah, I was in Canada I was 22 years old and I saw the snow falling for the first time and it was so beautiful I nearly teared up. Oh and people don't understand that I say to them Imagine if you never saw the stars ever and then one day you did right and anyway, somebody said to me

This is I'm so glad you like this you know what we're gonna do we're gonna give you a face wash and the way they said it it made it sound like a nice thing so I said thanks guys and then they threw me on the ground and rubbed snow in my face it was awful I guess that's what they do to foreigners yeah come into this to the US but see you were like what 10 or 11 or something? Yes. So I should have known better because I was 22 or something. That's true. Yes. Yeah, you should have known better. So did your family move here? Yes. Okay. My dad was already here and so I'm with my mom and my sister and it was a shock. Definitely a shock and but we got through it not learning English, learning the ways of the school system here.

Haiti, they're very disciplined in school. You get up when the teacher walks in, when anyone walks in actually, you get up to greet them. There was a lot of rote memorization at school in Haiti, which is why at my school, which is the Boston Latin School, awesome school, At least that was my third school in Boston, elementary, middle, and then Boston Latin. It's an exam school you get into. One of the things we do is called declamation,

where you every semester, or whatever they called it back then, you memorize a speech or some text from somewhere, and you get in front of the class and present it by memory. And it was always easy for me. I just waited till the night before because we'd have to memorize chapters of history books and everything else. Yeah, so it's a very different experience. Wow, wow, wow. Tell me about Haiti because one of the most embarrassing questions I've ever

asked in my life is, father, how far is Haiti from Uganda? And what did I tell you? Well, what was good? You were so lovely about it. You just went, I don't know, it's pretty far. And now, I don't know if you took me seriously or not, but that's like someone saying, how far is London from Australia? And I'd be like, I don't know, like really far though. Like you did take a while.

Right, yeah, yeah, exactly. And you can't go by car. But Haiti is by Cuba. Haiti, it is by Cuba. It's to the right of Cuba, so to the east of Cuba. And it's southeast of Florida. We also have Jamaica, not far from us. And we share the island, one island, two countries, with the Dominican Republic, our brothers

on the other side, on the east of us. And there's Puerto Rico on the east of the DR, but across the water. So we're part of the Caribbean. Haiti has about 12 million people in our population. 27,000 square kilometers. I don't know it in miles. It's funny because I'm now in between both. There's a lot of people on this island. There's a lot of people on this island. That's correct. Yeah. And Haiti is a very interesting country because it is the first black republic and it's the

second country in the Western Hemisphere to gain independence. The US in 1776 and Haiti in 1804. January 1st, 1804 on the feast of Our Lady, Our Mother, which is interesting. We thought maybe they probably chose that date because of that feast, because the readings speak of freedom, being free in Christ, and we decided to declare our freedom on that day as well. Tell us about that. How did Haiti become a republic, first black republic?

Yes, so the slaves that came here from Africa that were brought here with Columbus and the others after him, they were brought over after the natives, the Arawaks and such and Tainos were killed off by diseases and everything else. So they went to get Africans to come to work the land because they could resist more even though thousands died. And of course there was chattel slavery. so all the stuff that we know about slavery back then. But those people decided late 18th century that this really is no way to live, where

humans were meant to be free and it's better to die than to not be free in their minds. So it was liberty or death. And they decided we're going to rise up against these slave owners, the French, it was France, Spain at first. And then France came and was like, we want a piece of that land because it was so fertile. And so they kind of camped out in the north until eventually they shared a treaty, the Rizvik Treaty between Spain and France, which gave France the chance to be able to have a part of the land, the western third, if you will, of the island, which is why we speak Creole and French and the DR still speaks Spanish from the Spanish side. So after a while, we decided that we're going to rise up and we're going to

fight to death in order to gain freedom. And so we fought against Napoleon and his undefeated army and miraculously. That's incredible. Tell us about that. Do you know much about how that happened? I know a little bit. Under, we were led by Toussaint Louverture, who was then arrested, taken to France where he died, and then Dessalines took up the fight and those after him and with him. And see, Toussaint was a smart guy. He grew up in the system, but went to school, was about to

learn, and was an amazing military man. And so he could learn all the different things, and he could play the different armies against each other. That's how he was able to keep the fight going and with Dessalines afterwards. And so we, November 18th, we just celebrated the fight there, the of Vertier, which was the last battle to gain independence, 18th of November, 1803. to gain independence 18th of November 1803 and so Yeah, eight the first of January we we said after we kicked off the French and Napoleon was very angry about that was not happy at all and Coincidentally, that's how the US got Louisiana

Yes, how well US got Louisiana. How? Well, Louisiana belonged to France at the time. Yeah. And Napoleon had big dreams for his empire in the West. So he, once he realized that his plans would not go through with these pesky Haitians, who just beat him. And so he sold it for pocket change to what was then the US. Oh, wow US and that purchase, the Louisiana purchase, more than doubled the size of the US at the time and so it was huge for the US. So here's this tiny island and these people over there that are making world history that are impacting world politics and so but more than that though there was fear that was struck in the heart of the land here because, you know, slavery was still well and alive here and

like we can't have this rebellion going on here so we can't let these guys know about it. But apparently they did find out and a couple beautiful things I learned from that, you know the Declaration of Independence and then living out that life of course we were put to our knees back then I mean slave slaves fighting against an undefeated army so we were put to our knees but we gain our freedom and we wanted to live as humans and so we did now under God's protection and his blessing we we did France though was very sore about that they're sore losers and they decided to Now, under God's protection and his blessing, we did.

France though, was very sore about that, they're sore losers, and they decided to put what's called an independence debt, or they call it reparations for the slave owners. Reparations, yeah, you know, well these guys lost a lot of things in integrated reparations, like, oh, that's interesting, okay. So we had to pay in today's equivalence of currency, it would be something like $22 billion. Holy moly. We never defaulted. We didn't have the money. So we had to borrow from French banks in order to pay France. And we just finished

paying that recently. And it's funny. And that's a different how did they threaten you because you had just defeated the army. We did exactly. you? Because you had just defeated their army. We did, exactly. And not because we were so, we were like, oh my gosh, we're so tired. They came back with so many warships. And they just parked and we're like, hey guys. We were just kidding.

We weren't trying to be weird about it or anything. So yeah. Wow. So we're like crap. What a cool way for a country to start. Oh dude. Kick Napoleon's ass. How great is that? Is there a great pride of the Haitian people? Huge pride. Because of this. But more than that, more than that is we would also help others in other countries, slaves in other countries, in Latin America, for example, we would pay ship captains for any runaway slaves they brought back from Latin America and that they brought to the land of Haiti. We would declare immediate citizenship for anyone that touched the soil that was a runaway slave so that he could become a free man

in this free land. That is amazing. Yeah, so Haiti is really a leader in the fight for freedom and human dignity and independence, which is beautiful. Haiti is one of the few countries in its books, in the constitution at least, where abortion, for example, is completely illegal. It's 100% illegal because it's the dignity of the human person, right? It's freedom, equality for everyone. And so has that, so it's kind of in your DNA then, huh? Like the dignity of the person, freedom for everybody.

So has that idea staved off abortion to a great degree? Is that kind of why you think? We think so, we think so. Even though the international community has been really good at brainwashing people, telling them it's not really a child in your womb, it's just a clump of cells. And I've had to tell people, and when you show them, I remember talking to some people and I show them, they're like, this is the

baby in your womb? Why would they kill that? It is funny how the lie evolves, because it felt like maybe back in the 80s, whatever, that was the lie. It's a clump of cells. And then we were like, no, it's not. Or if it is, so are you. Right. Exactly. But then people don't say that anymore. They don't. It's a clump of cells. It's funny how the lie evolves. Yeah. So they go to y'all and they use the lie from back in the day. Absolutely. It's a new colonialism. That's what it is because they cannot stand the fact that we can think for ourselves and can have moral values that are not shared with them, with those evangelizers, if you will, of those who consider themselves superior.

Correct. Correct. Indeed. You know, these poor Haitians. In fact, I had a debate with this woman, this beautiful white woman, who was in Haiti and she was mourning the fact that Haitian men refused to use condoms. And I thought, well, what's wrong with that? They need to use condoms.

They have too many children, these families. And I thought, okay, that's interesting. I said, if I brought a family to you, would you be able to point out the child that's extra, the one that shouldn't exist? She couldn't, of course. But the fact that she felt superior in her morals than the Haitians, she thought they just were stupid.

Or maybe they're just wise with a wisdom that you don't share and that you need to learn from them. We've got a lot of issues in Haiti, but there is a certain beautiful natural wisdom and godly wisdom and godly fear that we have that I think a lot of people can learn from. Yeah. So, and Haiti today is still a gorgeous country. I mean, I can't wait to visit. Oh my gosh. I can't wait to have you. Absolutely. The door is wide open for you. If you try to go now though, the state department will say don't travel. There's a level four warning because of violence and COVID, even though COVID is not as prevalent in Haiti, but there is a lot of violence in certain parts,

especially the metropolitan part in the capital. As you know, as you may have heard, you know, there's still 17 missionaries that have been captured by a gang in Port-au-Prince. And it's very unfortunate. It's unfortunate that they were in the wrong place at the wrong time. They Americans? They are 16 Americans and one Canadian. And there's even a baby in there, maybe a couple babies, two you will I understand. And it's just so sad and they asked it's for ransom a million dollars per person so 17 million in order to release them and it's been over a month now it's very sad yeah now thankfully that's not all over

the country so like my area you may know my very good friend Sean Forest with Haiti 180 that area very safe you know and usually teams can get a helicopter from the capital to that village and they're good so too my own town i'm at the cathedral of san and in ensemble and it's a beautiful little place next to the ocean gorgeous view simple people lively people yeah they learn to live with simplicity. And so that's why I think being in Haiti is a joy, it's a challenge, it's also an exercise in faith, hope, and love. Joy because there is so much joy in Haiti. Like we love music. Every evening at the rectory we have a little community of the priests, deacons, our

sister, laypeople, young and old, I asked Bishop that special permission, like, you know, I like community. Is it okay if I have these people around me? That's my team, my ministry team, if you will. And he said, yes. And he's often with us and he partakes of our communion. Every night, you know, we rejoice in the Lord. We celebrate the Lord in the midst of poverty and difficulty.

We just got hit by another earthquake, of course, back in August. And I say another because back in 2010, yes, 2010, we were hit with a huge earthquake in the capital that annihilated about almost 300,000 people within seconds. This one killed thousands as well, but much fewer. And it was mainly in the south. My town also got hit pretty badly, and a couple others even worse,

and so homes destroyed, at least broken down. The cathedral itself is badly damaged, so we can't say mass in it. We're saying mass under a hanger. But the people, it's beautiful, because even right after the earthquake, right, they're poor, they're hungry, they take a bath and dress up so beautifully to come to the Eucharist, to come to the Lord, right?

Instead of just wallowing in their pity, say, why did God let this happen to us? But rather, thank you, God God for sparing our lives. Thank you for being with us even through this. That's beautiful. Like the faith is so beautiful in the poor and in the midst of suffering. And the story that usually comes to mind is that of Joseph in Genesis. And it's one of my favorites. It's one of my key lines of thinking and preaching in Haiti you've got because

you've got to have a you got to find a way to face suffering if you're in Haiti because there's been so much pain you know from slavery from before pre slavery slavery and natural disasters, hurricanes, earthquakes and of course poverty and hunger and such and we experience all that. But to be able to look at that and to have the key of the Christian faith of Christ on the cross, Christ crucified, to have that key to be able to unlock the different mysteries, even if we don't quite understand or grasp it, but to know that he's with us and to know that there is an answer and to know that we don't need to know the

whole answer. Like Joseph didn't, Joseph had no clue why these things were happening to him. The jealousy of his brothers all for a revelation of God to him in dreams. It's like, what did I do? And he was hated and he was accused and he was put in prison. But it was God had a plan. And it's funny, as they were trying to disrupt the plan of God to be obstacles to the plan of God, they were indeed through those acts, achieving the plan of God, accomplishing the plan of God for this man. And it's mind-blowing to me how, you know, the same act can have two different intentions, that of

the evildoers and the intention of God himself. And Joseph said that to the brethren. Yeah, you meant it for evil. Yeah, because they were freaked out. They're like, oh crap, our father died, he's gonna kill us. us. Which shows us there was such a respect, right, for the father figure, which is why we need fathers so much in our culture today. There's something special about fathers that cannot be replaced. More power to mothers that are doing this all alone.

God bless them and God is with them and we love them. But there is something that is never replaceable from a father, which is why I think it's awesome that priests can be fathers. Now Joseph yeah the father died and so Jacob there freaked out is like don't worry about it guys I'm good you meant all this for evil for me but God meant it for my good like I wouldn't have gotten to this position as like the basic a prime minister of Egypt without your evil acts. What a beautiful way to look at life and to look at our crosses

and sufferings. And of course you bring the New Testament into it and the cross of Jesus and it's just like wow. I don't know how to put it into words but I know that God has a plan and that it is perfect. How did Christianity spread in Haiti? Was it from slave owners? The slave owners and the priests that came over with France to minister to the people. Yes, and so for a long time we only had French priests. It was a long time before we started having native priests. I would think that there would be a rebellion against the religion that people who held us as slaves tried to push on us.

It's interesting that there wasn't as much of a rebellion. Thank God, because in a sense people would say... In a sense, it was through that religion you were able to claim your independence, right? It's like we're all equal, apparently, according to you. That's it, exactly. Like, God loves us too, you know. Now, of course, there were some horrible methods used in the beginning, right, in order to force the faith on certain people, which is why there is a certain syncretism today, for those who don't know what this is,

it's a mixture of the faith with other superstition and other religious ideas, for example from Voodoo, which is also prevalent in Haiti, from Africa. That syncretism though came from that bad method of evangelizing, which is horrible and we're going to have to answer for that before Christ, right? But somehow through the power of God and His mercy, He still allowed His pristine gospel to flow through. And to be able to make that distinction, to remove all the external chains, if you will, from the messengers, and to still be able to keep that beautiful truth of the gospel

is a miracle. It's a miracle and it's God's mercy because we don't deserve to have had it gone through because of how we acted, but God brought the gospel through after all. But I was talking about the syncretism, for example, you know, of people who'd be worshiping the old deities and stuff and these Catholic missionaries would be like, you can't do that, you know, you can't have these different spirits in voodoo for example yes you need to honor Mary you need to honor the Saints you need to honor Saint Michael you need to order so they were like okay one way to get them off

our backs is if we use like those statues and pretend we're honoring them but really behind those statues or in the back of our minds we're honoring them, but really behind those statutes or in the back of our minds, we're gonna be honoring our own deities and spirits. Yes, yes, yes. Oh, there's so much to say here. Even as a father, right, I'm trying to raise my children to love what's good and hate what's evil. Yes. And a child can pretend. Right. And you need to capture the heart of your child in a sense. Yes. And in a similar way, if the faith is just propagated by force, the heart hasn't been captured and these... Amen.

Amen. That's it. You're right. And so that was a problem. So that's the rise of the syncretism of certain features that are unique to Haiti, which is interesting because as we do the spreading of the faith and defending the faith in apologetics, which I'm a huge fan of, I think it's necessary the catechism in 1285 tells us when we are baptized in Christ we've been confirmed, we are more bound to the church and we are more

strictly obliged to spread and defend the faith, which is funny because today for some reason in certain circles defending the faith or apologetics is a bad word which is which is anyway I don't know where people get that from. It certainly can be done in a bad way but it is still a necessity and I think it's one of the greatest services we can render to ourselves, to the Church and to those who do not share our faith if we respect them it's an act of charity to them to be to explain to them the truth

how we see it, and to help them understand it, at least how we do, at least how it is meant to be proclaimed. That way they have the true freedom based on truth as to whether or not they want to accept it, right? So that's, I think, the role of the service of apologetics. How do you respond to this syncretism then as a Catholic priest? So the accusation will be Catholicism is just basically mumbo jumbo and it's just the same thing as voodoo. It's just another face of voodoo, right? Which we respect as

its own religion. Do we respect it? Isn't it evil? We respect it. So if people are worshiping other deities, they're worshiping demons. I don't respect the falsehood in it which I don't share at all. I respect the people who choose to practice that and some of them maybe even as an inheritance from the old days in the sense of you know I don't like the fact that you guys are trying to force me and I don't see beauty in what you were trying to tell me. Sure. That, right? And it's so ingrained in the people and partly in the culture that obviously I'm a Catholic priest and I'm a disciple of Jesus Christ and I believe in the particularity of Jesus and He's the only one with a salvation. There's no doubt about that. There's no apologies for that.

That's just the truth of it, right? And I want to bring everyone to that faith. Right? And so, but the accusation will be, well, you guys are not really followers of Jesus. You're not even a Christian faith because you're just superstitious and you're just the same thing as voodoo. Because what they see is some vooodoo practitioners will still use some of the images of our saints, of Mary. They have counterparts, if you will. For example, a counterpart to Mary in the Voodoo religion would be Erzeli, which is a Voodoo spirit that manifests itself in different ways.

And I've, in my work of – what do you call it? Deliverance ministry, liberation ministry, uh, and exorcisms have encountered that, you know, personality, if you will, and, uh, and had, you know, uh, certain dealings, um, with, with that particular one. And yes, that's what I believe they are. Um, others would be offended if I called them that, but I don't see any, any way around that really. No, I don't either. But it's funny, the different spirits in that world act differently, depending on their own nature. They have their own personality. So one will be more like more womanly, one will be more manly and such, and one will have a truly dirty mouth and different things like

that. But yeah, so again, they use these counterparts, if you will. And so people will say, look, in that religion, they have an image of Mary. It's not really Mary, but it's a distorted image of Mary. And then Catholicism, we've got Mary. So our dear, separated brethren will look at that and they'll be like, you guys are the same thing. So what I'll say is, do you realize that the voodoo priests use the Bible and they call on God and the Trinity? Does that mean we should forsake the scriptures? Does that mean it is the scriptures that's the problem or is there a distortion of the use of the scriptures? And so to try to show them that and then to try to show them the truth of Catholicism

and of the way we see it, the way it is taught officially rather than what people have in their minds or rather than the bad examples of certain Catholics that are mixed in fact. There are certain Catholics that indeed are syncretists because they'll come to church but then they get sick and they want an easy answer, a fast answer, and they think if I just go to that particular priest in a different religion, yes, I can get a quick answer. Or if somebody's bothering me, well I know where to go for that person. So do you find on average that there's more demonic possession in your country? Manifestations, I find it. Tell us about your experience of that. Yeah, I mean, of course the church warns us to be very careful before we pronounce that so-and-so is possessed or

whatever, that we look for natural explanations first before we jump to conclusions. Now I've had a lot of dealings, both as a lay person, of course I couldn't do exorcism as a lay person, but some deliverance ministry there in accompanying people. First what I find is that when you come to an area and you preach the gospel, the truth of the gospel, and people have to make a choice, things start to come out. Things start to be like, wait, wait, wait, wait a minute. And I've had spirits tell me to my face that so-and-so, of course speaking in so-and-so,

so-and-so is not going to be going to church. No. So-and-so is mine, and so-and-so is going to church. No. So-and-so is mine and so-and-so is gonna be my servant. And I've had to tell it, well I can't say that on live TV, but whatever. But basically that's not gonna happen. Jesus shed His blood for that soul. He died for that soul and he's gonna... when the gospel becomes so real in these circumstances and to see people go from that bondage into freedom because of the gospel and the sacraments, confession and praying with them and for them. So beautiful. And I've had cases where you know they're very fast and done with

others that I've taken months, others years. There's a particular case you know that that is so convoluted that there's still an ongoing thing. It's still an ongoing prayer for that particular soul and the suffering is so much that I've had to just complete. Like I feel sometimes that I'm blind. Like, Lord, I have no idea what you're doing here. I have no idea why you are allowing the soul to suffer so much. But you gotta have a plan, I mean, and you gotta do something. This poor soul suffers way too much, oh Lord. So we had our talks, and you know, we've had cases where it's basically, it's unmistakably the work of the demonic, and I've had to get special permission from the bishop in order to perform like formal exorcisms in certain subjects. And God has been there for us. But to those who are not used to it, because some of the textbook

symptoms, if you will, of the screaming, the rolling, the gnashing of the teeth, the foaming of the mouth and the eyes turning back and such, and almost superhuman strength, and the eyes turning back and such and almost superhuman strength and knowledge that you wouldn't think a certain person would have, right? And all these being experienced, you know you're dealing with more than just a natural occurrence. But Jesus always comes out. One cool story that I have is we were having a youth congress congress conference and the youth they were staying at schools in the area and I was taking some to their site and as I was going there was a school on the way and I saw a bunch of kids like

father stop stop stop what's going on somebody's possessed yeah okay so I'm oh my gosh. And to tell you the truth, I hate doing that ministry. Okay. Oh my gosh. Really? I absolutely hate it. I never look forward to be like, all right, now we're going to fight demons. You know, it's an obligation. It's an act of charity and of mercy, but it's so draining, dude. It is so draining. Oh my gosh. So these school kids. Yeah. So then I run up stairs to where that one girl was and of course they're all freaked out and but beautiful they are. They're all praying so loudly, so hard.

They just want to praise and they just want to get that demon out. So I told them, shh, why don't everyone step out please and leave me with a couple of people. It was a young girl so I made sure I had a couple of other ladies with me. And I was just inspired to bring the peace of the Lord in that situation and gently just pray to Jesus, right? Because it's not the noise that's going to drive out demons, it's the power of Jesus with your faith. So I call on Jesus to free that young lady and gently I spoke

in her ears the name of Jesus and asked her to open her eyes and she did gently and as she sat down, had her sit down by herself and I asked her to repeat you know that Jesus is my Savior, he's my God, Mary is my mother and if they're able to repeat that it's's usually a good sign, because very often the demon will not let them repeat that, even though with his ruse... Can I just pause you one second? Why is it that they thought she was possessed? What was she manifesting that made them think that? Sometimes, one of the main symptoms in Haiti, at least, that the person will fall to the ground violently and will start screaming and rolling around. So that happened and then they'll usually be speaking

in the third person like you know, she is this, she's not gonna go there, I don't like the fact that she went to the mass, she needs to learn her lesson, but it's the person speaking but in different voice and of course afterwards they'll remember nothing from that experience so that's why they thought. Okay so you're saying to say Mary is my mother and so and you say very often they will not say this. Because often what the demon will do is that in order to trick you into thinking that it's gone it'll respond respond. Yeah, sure. Mm-hmm. Yeah, I'm good. I'm good. It's gone. It's gone.

It's gone. And then you'll be like, OK, why don't you say this prayer with me? Jesus is my Savior. Mary is my mother. I remember this other girl. She would be like, Jesus is my, Mary is my. Shut up. What the hell are you saying?

Oh, I guess you're still here. All right, buddy. Well, let's keep working. Every time, she could never say, Mary is my mother. Isn't that interesting? The demon does not want you to know that Mary's a mother, does not want you to have a relationship with your mother. I have so many stories with Mary just kicking the arse, as you might say, of Satan and demons. I've heard that from other exorcists.

Oh my goodness. Remind me to tell you another story if that's... Please. ... plenty. But with that particular girl, she was able to repeat those prayers. But then as I was about to reach her, Father, wait. She says, I've got a message. She said, while my eyes were closed, I saw this man, very bright, with wings. He's got a big machete. I said, a big machete? He said, yes.

I was like, oh, crap. And he said to tell you, all of you, that he's with you whenever you call on him I was like oh man a bright man with wings with a machete so I was like is she talking about st. Michael so I pull up a picture of st. Michael like is this who you said yeah that's him machete he doesn't know swords she's never seen a sword like because she calls it a machete, which is the closest thing we have in here. That was so moving that Michael was so there with us and he's intervened many times in certain situations where we've lost, for example,

a subject, a young girl who ran out into the middle of the night in the darkness and nobody could find her. And when she eventually was found, the demon spoke, he said, I was almost gone and this Michael dude, he stopped me. It's beautiful, the confession that they make, like of course he stopped you, you stupid. But anyway, I promised another story, with Mary, that same girl that could not say Mary is my mother. I was inspired to sing a beautiful song of Mary in Creole, Haitian Creole, which is our main language, the common language of the people, and then French is the second official language. And as we were singing and dancing that Mary is our mother she's the queen of heaven nurse dancing around this

Yeah She completely dropped she said the demon said could you please why are you so mean to me? Please stop do not do this dog call this woman. Do not call this woman She broke one leg already. She's gonna break my other leg funny thing is, this girl would, as we began to pray with her, if at any moment you were distracted, she would take off running.

We had to shut the gates and everything. Yeah, so that she didn't run off. And sometimes they jump over the gates or the fences, like, oh my gosh, we had like physically restrained her But since that prayer every time she would be on the ground and she would get up to run She takes one step and falls on the ground. It's like her leg wasn't working And she's like she broke a leg already stop it will you it's funny a demon calling you mean Yeah, he's so mean because of course it's the mother is hurting it. And so, um, but after that session of praising Jesus through his mother, she

was freed and she's been freed for years now. Wow. She goes to school. She is, you know, she's always so thankful to the Lord for that freedom. But a final story is, uh, uh, this young girl I was praying with as well and they brought it to me and it's funny her dad came over as well and I said could you help me hold her down and the demon said, him? He can't do anything.

He's so involved with everything that we do. He just gets up because he knows. He knows he's not straight. He's too mixed. He's too, you know, syncretist. And so I was like, I guess you better get out of here and let us handle this. But the demon was like, you know, I hope it doesn't come across to anybody that I'm going to find demons because they stink.

This is the power of Jesus and his mother, right? It's like, I tried all day to pick up this girl or to enter this girl, but she had this stupid rope in her hand all day and I couldn't. He finally put it down and I'm in, baby. And that stupid robe Of course was her rosary that she held on to all day So many stories like that after blessed mother intervening and protecting her children

She is truly with her husband the terror of demons. She does not play so gentle yet Not with demons. Hmm. Anyway, so yeah Thank you. Jesus is alive. Yeah in Haiti. The Blessed Mother loves Haitians and Haitians love her. Oh my gosh, our national patroness is our Lady of Perpetual Help. She's in every home and it's a national feast on the 27th of June. It's our, you know, it's a solemnity for us of Our Lady of Perpetual Help. She's done so many miracles for us in the past, the curing of, what is it, smallpox, is it? Petite Veaule, and she also stopped a huge fire because the whole country is consecrated to her, the bishops and the president at the time did a consecration with the image of Father of Perishable Help

and so everyone has a deep respect for our mother which is why it's so painful when you hear people talk trash about her. She's such a mother and Haitian Catholics will be really angry when they hear people her because they call her all sorts of names. They call her, you know, they say, you know, she's you know, just oh, she's nothing really. She has no importance. All she is is an envelope that carried a letter. The letter is Jesus. Yeah, it's like an envelope. Is that how you treat your mother? He would even speak about your own mother like that. And you think Jesus would appreciate that the perfect Son of God who followed perfectly

the law of God, who honored his mother and father. So I ask people, do you think you could do a better job than Jesus honoring his mother? I don't think so because he honored her perfectly. So why don't we honor her perfectly as well as Jesus did with no worries because it's in the category of honor of not Latria, you know, but Julia. Honor, veneration, within that category there's no fear of too much honor. There's no such thing, right, of loving your wife too much. There's no such thing.

God is not jealous when you lavish your wife with love and honor and admiration. There is no – in fact, God demands that of you, you see. Justice demands that of us, to honor those who ought to be honored. And so, yeah, well, they'll, you know, they'll make the equivalent that she's just a demonic or voodoo spirit. It's like, now she's really the mother of Jesus. That's who she is. And so they call us idolatress and all that stuff. It's so confusing. There's so much confusion and darkness in Haiti where evangelization, true catechesis, and apologetics are a big necessity. We were at about 80% of the population, the Catholic church, Catholic faith. It's been said, and I think I believe it,

that we're not even at 50% anymore. And I think it shows the demographics of the schools and different activities show that we've gone down. I think we've been way too lazy at evangelizing and at catechizing. It's horrible. Who's filling up the gap? Protestants? Yes. Yeah. Our brethren, Protestants with assistance from the US mainly, sending out fundamentalists and other evangelicals and the Pentecostal movement and so the Adventism and all that. And I said to people, well, they try at least. We don't try. We don't get out there to evangelize. Yeah. least, we don't try. We don't get out there to evangelize. We need to get out there to evangelize, which is why we try to take up this call. We have outdoor missions. So like I'll have

like a week-long outdoor mission on the public square and blast awesome gospel music. We have awesome worship leaders come out and we just dance and praise and we do a teaching and then we do Q&A right there on the spot. And it's so different for people. I remember a friend of mine, a pastor, a Seventh-day Adventist pastor, he asked a sister who's a director with me, like, wait a minute, you Catholics do that stuff? Like, well, yeah, we preach the gospel. That's what we do.

What? Since when? Oh, that's what we do what since when oh that's sad it is very sad and he goes wait a minute and you said people can ask questions yes anybody yes I could ask questions would love that actually bastard it's like no way they could not believe it because I'll tell people is that look the truth is so beautiful and it fears nothing. The truth is meant to be proclaimed to all nations, to all peoples, and we need to do that as Catholics. And so, I try my best to explain the faith

in person, at mass. We multiply our masses. Remember to tell the blessing of COVID, if you will, in Haiti for my parish. And I started a YouTube channel in Creole, Haitian Creole. So I could do Bible studies from the St. Paul Center. Scott Hahn was gracious enough to give me all of his Bible studies.

And so what I do is I open it up and I do simultaneous translation into Creole as I'm reading it and I proclaim it in Creole so that people can, you know, eat up the word, right? And they love it. They eat it up. They're like, oh my gosh, feed us. Wow. People love the truth. And so we're trying to do that. You know, we don't diss people, but we do share the truth. 1285, the catechism. It is our duty to proclaim and to defend the faith, right? Matthew 28, the score of all nations. We need to just basically do what we are called to do, what we are as Catholics, as the Church. If the Church truly exists to evangelize, then we need to do that, to evangelize. And as we do that, of course, we must always keep in mind the preferential option for the poor. You can't not do that in Haiti with so many beautiful poor people. You know, I've heard a distinction made between poverty and misery,

whereas where poverty is having to depend on others to survive, misery is having no one to depend on. So I thought, oh gosh. That's good. Yeah, so I thought, wow. Yeah, because you can be rich and miserable then. Exactly. Yep. So, you know, one thing we do here, when I was at Franciscan, we started

a small little nonprofit called Mission to the Beloved. And it's been a lifeline for my parish, for my community, because as some friends who are generous, they donate the $20 or the $30 on our website. That's then deposited, we transfer that over to Haiti. We're able to run the ministries, we're able to help people with food, we're able to help people with some medical needs. As Jesus said, as he preaches, the apostles are like, you need to let those people go so they can go eat. He's like, why don't you feed them yourselves?

I was like, oh, well yeah, I guess we should do that. What is your website? Mission to the beloved dot com. Mission to the beloved dot com. People can give over that. Oh, yeah. It's a nonprofit source, all tax exempt. I just dropped water. Good thing I'm not drinking beer. Well, that's fantastic. What do you have, if people wanted to kind of come to Haiti, as you say, now might not be a as you say now might not be a great time

I'm a great time that same website also has information on that as you know contacting we have a contact person Jen Rice is our administrator over here on the US side. Okay, and so yeah, and I've got joining us on I've got a couple Mission associates if you will who's been to Haiti live there and who are in love with Haiti and in love with the ministry, with the mission, and they offer their assistance to us. And so what we'd usually do is one of them would help organize a team and then would fly out and then would come to the parish and would do a prison ministry, visit the poor, playing with the children. We've got a program called the Little Brothers and Sisters of Jesus, that a wonderful group in the US called HART, H-A-R-T, Haiti and Africa Relief Team, that they help us with. Every day they come after school so that they can be tutored.

We have 50 kids and 10 mentors, so five kids per mentor, so they really focus on them. We tutor them, we pray with them, we catechze them. We feed them and we follow their progress. The idea is to really accompany them. At six days a week they're with us. So instead of, you know, they're with their families and so we can meet and form the family as well through the children. And it's beautiful to see them grow. One of my favorite things about them is their new relationship to food in the past It was a survival mode, right? It's like there's food I better grab a lot of it and now before anyone else gets it so that I can make sure that I get some yeah

But once they realize that no you're gonna get this every day and there's always enough for you and and your friends they It's changed. Wow. Now, I'm so proud of them. They'll, when the food is served, they'll wait, they just sit at the table, wait to be served. And they won't touch it until all 50 have been served. All the mentors have been served. And they're all at table. And then we pray and, and Bonetit, and then they all eat gently. It's beautiful, right? You know, because

we've got to go from misery to poverty, and from that to at least having the necessities of life, right? And I think it's an act of justice, really. It's more than charity. It's an act of justice to give to the poor. If we don't, then we're keeping from them what rightly belongs to them. I forget which saint said that, some good saint said that. But yeah, submission to the beloved and all our beautiful generous donors, I'd like to take this moment to thank them so much and they know who they are, who help us stay afloat. It might surprise you to know that there is no salaries for the priests in Haiti and so there's no

fixed income. So I do not know next month how much money I'm gonna get, if at all, except for our donors, you know, who make monthly donations. So I know that at least I'm gonna have this next month. Our expenses are like at least six grand a month for the parish. It has grown now and I'll tell you why but our collection basket we're bringing about about $30 on a good Sunday, right? Because they don't have much. It's the opposite in Haiti. Here the parishioners are supposed to support the clergy and the people, right? In Haiti it's the opposite. I gotta find a way to feed my people and to help my people.

The first person they'll come to when they're sick or when they need an ambulance, so I'm an ambulance driver, my car is the one that takes people to the hospitals, they come to us. Obviously, I don't want it to stay that way. I wanna help them get to be able to feed themselves, to learn how to fish, right?

And so, yeah, but I was that you know the reason why our expenses have grown is because the necessity for good Catholic education I realize is one of the best tools to use if we're gonna re-evangelize the culture with the new evangelization because the children you have them for hours a day. So why wouldn't we multiply the model of Catholic education? So we have a school at the main parish, the cathedral, but we also have four chapels or mission churches that belong to the cathedral of which I'm pastor. And so I said instead of having those kids pay so much money to come all the way to the center of town in order to

get a good Catholic education. I said, I'm going to start little schools in every chapel. I don't have money yet to build all the schools, but we have the space of the church. So we're going to meet inside the church. With the K1, we have three years of kindergarten. K1, K2, K3. And then we're going to grow. So you know, K1 you're in that corner, K2 you're in that corner, K3 you're in that corner of the church, and we get teachers and I knew that the first three years or so at least was going to be humongous sacrifice because there's no income, and the parents pay per year about 45 to 60, between 45 to 60 dollars for the whole year in order to send the kids to school.

And even that is a lot for some of them, apparently it's sad. But the idea is to provide an awesome solid Catholic education, which is also an excellent academic education. Don't let it become like how Catholic schools have become in this country. No, absolutely not. Absolutely not. It's beautiful because through our Catholic schools so many kids are being awakened to the beauty of the faith and they're like, can I become Catholic? Really? Yes, we've got a catechumen right now. Actually we've had a few that have gone through our school system. They're like, oh my gosh. Because at the very least, so we take all kids and mass, all the Catholics at least, they've got to come to

mass every Sunday. If you're a Catholic, you're obligated to do that. And they come in their uniforms. We have uniforms, pretty uniforms. And the non-Catholics are like, all right, you don't have to come every Sunday to us. However, once a month the school choir sings, we all have to be there. And I said, it doesn't mean we're forced to be Catholic, but if you're gonna go to a Catholic school and receive a Catholic education, then at least you should know what it is

that you're going through. Have that knowledge of it so that you can speak to that. Because wouldn't it be embarrassing if in 10 years, they're like, you went to Catholic school? Oh, sweet. You ever been to a mass? No, no, no. Wait, you don't even know what a Catholic mass is and yet you receive a Catholic education? No, but we, I've got a great team. Uh, that's with me. That's helping with the education part.

So we now have basically six Catholic schools. Um, we started with one and now we have six because we started these little ones so that we can grow organically with them. So if anybody wants to help there that's one of the big projects that we have. Eventually we're gonna need to build schools for each one. And is that Mission to the Beloved? Mission to the Beloved, that's correct. That's all there. Yep. Cool. What's seminary like in Haiti? How many men do you have coming in?

It's interesting. We have hundreds. Haiti does not have a vocation crisis, if you will. In fact, there are more men that knock on our doors than we can handle, in a sense. And so we have a national seminary for philosophy and theology and there's also a different house of study for the religious that they sent to us called C4. Yeah and they go through the whole thing they're linked to the some school in Rome, some awesome school in Rome that they're related to. Yeah. How

many dioceses are there? We have 10 dioceses. Yeah and mine is the baby one. It's only what 13 years old. Yeah. Yeah and we've got 39 parishes and we have about over 60 priests for 39 parishes. That's pretty good. Yeah. We're blessed. We're blessed and this year alone I'm vocations director as well so there are four guys that are going to be entering into what's called the Propedutic year, which we have in Haiti, which not many daises here have it, but it's the preparation year before seminary. But it's a time of prayer, kind of like a little novitiate, if you will, for the a machine gun involved. Oh my gosh, that was crazy. Now again, I don't want to freak people out

thinking that Haiti is just, you know, all of Haiti is just crazy. Now, obviously I live there, I'm still alive and there are pockets, especially in the capital. However, one of the gangs in the capital, he started to look towards our area, which is further away and out in the mountains like they wanted to build a little base there and they trickled in and by the time people the population realized that it was too late because they were in with their guns automatic guns or weapons and they started doing some bad stuff in that area we have we've got a parish in the mountains there where they are. And they stopped the priest one day, the pastor was like, Father, they stopped the car when

they're gone. And they were like, oh, Father, okay, we just wanted to verify. We need to know what your car looks like so we don't give you any trouble, but we don't let any car just come in through here. And they were like, oh my gosh. So they started doing some pretty bad things. They kidnapped a couple of people, they stole a vehicle at least, and causing trouble in the area. The police did nothing about it, unfortunately, at first. Until one day we had a funeral

in that parish, and the police were called to just provide general security so that you know no incidents happened. The Cardinal of Haiti was supposed to come and celebrate and my bishop was going to be there as well, a bunch of priests and a bunch because it was a priest who was from that area whose mom passed away. It was the mom's funeral. So I'm driving in and I noticed some things look weird. I noticed two of the special force police officers on the ground with their guns pointed in one direction. I thought, what are you guys doing on the ground? Like what's going on? Some cute exercise?

And then I started hearing the gunshots. I was like, oh, what's going on? It's like, oh, the gang, of course. Then I found out that that morning they went early and they arrested two guys that I guess were lookouts for them. Then I found out that that morning they went early and they arrested two guys that I guess were lookouts for them. They arrested them and that got the gang really angry. So they decided they want the guys back and the way they're gonna do that is they're gonna fight the police to get them back. And so the police had to be on their game and they said, they sent word to us saying that you're not gonna have your funeral.

We're gonna shoot this place up. Whoa. Like you need to, you need to talk to the police and have them release our guys. And then we're having the trouble with you, then you can have your funeral and then you can leave. We're like, we're not the police though. We didn't arrest them.

And then they said, well, you're not gonna leave then. I thought, I guess we'll die together All of us sure if that's how you want it to happen So, you know throughout the whole funeral I was outside Watching the back door and another brother priest was on the side and the police were upfront mainly But I was in the back door cuz I didn't want anybody to try to sneak through There they would have to go through me before they could get inside to get the cardinal or the other priest. Well, let's turn off camera.

There's no need to get into that. And any hassle? No hassle there. However, at the end, as everybody's getting into their cars to leave At the end, as everybody's getting into their cars to leave as one line of cars, they were ready. At the end of the road, they opened fire, like just a few yards away. Just like, ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba. And I see the police diving and jumping. I'm like, what the?

And you can't run back, because there's cars behind you, cars in front. They're like, oh my gosh. And then eventually, the police responded, shot back, provided cover for us so we can get out and rush away. We thought we were good. No, because about five minutes into the trip, all the cars come to a stop. There's about at least 60 cars.

They all come to a stop and we hear the gunshots up front. So I'm probably a car number like 40 something and I hear pop pop pop pop up front. I thought oh gosh what they did is they went to block the road ahead and waiting for us to come through and they put stones, boulders in the road. So the police, thankfully they sent a unit up front and the unit in the back of the cars. So the unit up front was stalling them off or fighting them so that they can get out of the way to let the cars through and I'll never forget this. But the guys in the back, and this always moves me so beautifully. They got out of their car and were rushing into the gunshots. And it's like, wow, what a beautiful, virtuous and heroic thing to run into danger for the

sake of others. Wow. I mean, it's just like, wow, like I will always have so much respect for the armed forces that and all those professions that Really give their lives for others. They live for others and That's and really for some time in the car. I did my act of contrition Yeah, because I thought this could be it today I mean the gunshots were so close to my ears that I thought I had the priest in the back I said lay down just lay low. I have to drive so I'll stay up

But please just get down father you get down up front and I'll watch and drive and hopefully we'll make this we'll make it out alive here and Thank God we did some cars got shot, but nobody got majorly wounded no one died from our People a week later the police went back, they organized a very effective raid and they annihilated that gang. They're gone and they've been gone and that place has gone back to peace. So our state or département is one of the few ones that are like, that are, that don't mess with those guys.

Like, you're not gonna ruin this. Like you guys ruined Port-au-Prince. There's no, no, no. We're not gonna have this. No way. And so, and we're watching out. We're all watching out to make sure that we keep it safe and we keep it, we keep the people good. But yeah, so that was a crazy thing. God's providence though, protecting us. Do you like coming back to America? I do. Is it a culture shock every time you come and go back? I've done it so much that I easily adapt.

Sometimes I ask myself, how do I do it? People ask, how do you go back? Because I don't have 24 hour electricity. We have an electrical system, a solar system, but it's over five years and so it's old. The batteries are old. I think we're down to like four batteries now. The batteries are, so the solar panels goes through

an inverter which charges the batteries and then that same inverter takes the battery power, sends it to the house and so it'll stay on for like a couple hours in the night, just to turn on the fans, and then it'll die because it'll run out of power, right? So they're like, what the heck? And I'm walking in my room and I hear,

grr, grr, and it's my tiles breaking up all over the place, and my roof leaks, and so it's like what the heck or poor internet service as I'm trying to do a live show. What the heck am I doing here? People would ask you, are you crazy when I told them I was going back to Haiti? But I went back because I felt cold. I think it's a vocation. I do not blame anyone for leaving because I think so many are put in a position where they cannot live with the dignity of the human person, where the basic services are provided to them. And so a lot of them leave to look for life, a better life. So I'm very sensitive, for example, to those trying to look for refuge in other countries or even in the US, there was a group of them at the border under

the Texas bridge. It saddened me to see it so politicized because all I could see was wounded people because I know what they go through. I live with them. I see what can be a circumstance that could breed despair and desperation. That's the word. When people are desperate, they'll do anything to find life. I've seen a picture of a little plant breaking through asphalt.

I thought, wow, life just is gonna find a way. And so people, I think, will go through whatever obstacle. So they will walk literally hundreds of miles thousands even in order to because they think they're gonna find better life and it's a testament as well I think to the beauty of our country here you know we've got so much crap in the US but also we've got so much opportunity and I think we need to balance that way to love the good things that we have the opportunities it's a beautiful country.

I'm proud to be in this country. I love this country that gave me all the formation that I received and everything else. I love Haiti, I love the Haitians, and I love it. And the dignity of the human person must always be at the forefront of our conversations on race, on immigration, and everything else, on poverty, on how we

treat people, period. Which is why I think a Catholic is in a difficult place, you know, because people want to box, they want to box people in into like, are you a conservative, are you a liberal, are you a Republican, are you a Democrat? I'm independent and I try to be a good Christian following the principles of Christ wherever that takes me Which is going to mean disagreeing with our parties exactly to some degree or another absolutely. Yeah, absolutely What do we what we do this? Let's take a quick break And when we come back, I'd love to get questions from people in the live stream

Let's see if they have questions about I've been in Haiti or being a Christian or apologetic It's a pleasure. Maybe they can ask one of your questions. Of course. Of course. All right, brother. Thanks. Thank you. All right, I want to say thank you to Ethos Logos Investments for supporting this show, elinvestments.net slash pints.

I guess when I was a bit younger, I thought that investing was something that only rich people did, or old people did, or rich old people did. I didn't realize it was something that I should be looking into as well. And when I began looking into it, I realized I don't wanna invest in companies

that are doing immoral things. And that's where Ethos Logos Investments comes in. They were founded to work with individuals and institutions within the United States that seek to infuse their morals into their investment portfolio, with portfolios that adhere to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Responsible Investing Guidelines. You can be sure that you aren't profiting from intrinsic evils like abortion, embryonic stem cell research, pornography, or human trafficking.

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ethos logos investments and securities america are separate entities advisory services offered through securities, America Advisors Incorporated. Yes! The second group I want to thank is Halo. Halo, H-A-L-L-O-W.com slash Matt Fradd. Halo.com slash Matt Fradd. Halo is a fantastic app that will help you to pray and meditate. It's not like new age mindfulness apps that lead into wrong ways of thinking.

This is 100% Catholic and it's super sophisticated. If you go to hello.com slash Matt Fradd and sign up there you'll get a few months for free before deciding if you want to pay a minimal amount every month to have access to their entire app. Now you can download the app right now and you'll get access to certain things for free So be sure to check that out if you just want to you know play around with it and see what they have to offer But if you want access to everything that they have like sleep stories and Bible studies and all sorts of beautiful things like that You you have to pay a certain amount every month to get access to that if you want access to everything for a few months Just go to hello.com slash Matt Fradd hello.com slash mattfrad and sign up there. Thanks. We're back. Maybe I can ask you a couple questions actually. Sure. Because I've ask you a couple of questions actually. Because I've known you in several different environments,

if you will, speaking at the Sturm und Vöhr conferences, we've spoken together, which was always a blast. Catholic Answers, you didn't know me then, but I know you. And I remember you were always promoting covenant eyes, or eye, is it eye? Covenant eyes, that's right. Yeah, and your ministry to help people break free from pornography, I think is so beautiful

and so awesome. And you were able to move into this pretty much full time. Yeah. And I think, and the channel is growing, and I love how you, don't hold back, you wanna make it beautiful for God like if it's if we're gonna if this is a ministry then let's make let's go all out cool I'm glad you think that oh yeah we just put a over $3,000 what is that again

audio box audio interface which I don't know how that sounds to you when you know people who can't pay $40 a year for kids in school but yeah, but you have people who can afford this though and So it's not an either-or situation. It's a both-and so people Can and should keep the poor in mind and always hope as much as they can and people should Be patients to and donate to awesome causes. It's remarkable how many emails we'll get of people saying they're coming into the church.

I'm in touch with a European Protestant pastor right now who might be even watching today and he's like covertly writing to me. That's beautiful. And I'm like sending him rosaries and things and it looks like he'll be coming to the church soon. It is remarkable how YouTube gets the word out. It's a platform. I shouldn't, I don't want to praise YouTube but it's a platform through which we can reach people. It's really beautiful. It's funny in Haiti they don't think it's

possible for a separate brother, a Protestant to become Catholic. Certainly not a pastor. Yeah. And so I've brought, you know, the Haiti Dr. Hahn, Dr. Burzema, Ken Hensley. Oh, they've come down. Oh yeah. Fantastic. How are they received? Oh, beautifully. People are just like, wait, what? Wow. And, you know, I do the translation, I do live translations for them. Yeah. And there are some people who will just be like, you must be fake translating or something. That is not, cannot be true. Wait, what? It's so beyond them because certain people

have done such a good job at bad mouthing or trash talking the Catholic Church. People, as Fulton Sheen said, there isn't a million, there isn't a hundred Haitians who hate the Catholic Church, but millions maybe who hate what they believe to be the Catholic Church which is always a false belief and I'm in touch with the pastor I give him a catechism that I bought for someone else and he we were talking about you know like statues and stuff is that yeah you know you know I respect you and you respect me brother and you

know I love that is it maybe I don't worship statues like you do stop you realize we don't and you realize that the church actually Jesus against us like where here that's like would you get this from it's like here good for you I just sent a few hundred books to my friends in Uganda of Trent Horn's book called Why We're Catholic. Have you ever seen that book? I've seen it, yes. I would recommend you get some or if you want me to send a couple of hundred down the Inns,

let's do it. I'll do it. Well, here's the thing. I would have to translate it first. Oh, of course. Yeah, and to Queel, which is one thing. Well, let's chat with Catholic Answers maybe because it's the best single book I would give to somebody who doesn't necessarily have you know university background

But he was intelligent enough to kind of grasp some concepts. He does a really good break it It's not like this book he wrote, you know The case for Catholicism is more of an academic book. This other one. Wow. Well, that's that's That's good to know. Have you gotten to translate anything? To translate? You know not just in person through your voice. Only through my voice. Well, I think I've translated a couple of articles maybe, but that's one thing I would love to be able to do.

Like, you know, I'm not calling my own shots or my own assignment, but you know, I would not mind at all if my bishop were like, hey, you know what, why don't you... Wouldn't that be great? Do you have anyone there who could do a good job translating? You? I mean, but anyone else? I, a couple of us maybe. You're probably busy.

I could probably get, yeah, I am pretty busy. Like parish work, in that context. How different is Creole to French? Very different. Very, very different. Yeah, yeah. I call Creole the rebellious daughter of French. I thought that was Quebec.

It's daughter because they're related, right? But it's rebellious because it's nothing like French. Really? Yeah, And I can speak to another Haitian Creole with a French person sitting right there. I can make it that they don't understand. I can also make it that they understand much. Forgive the ignorant question, but is Creole spoken anywhere else or is it just? Yes, actually. So we've got the Haitian Creole, but we have, there are similar Creoles in Martinique, in Dominica, in Guadeloupe, even in Louisiana actually. Interesting. Yeah. But in Haiti, I think we've gone as far as having l'académie Creole, the Haitian Creole Academy

with a group of linguists who are there to be the guardians of the language. We've got a whole creole literature, creole dictionary, rules, grammar, ways to spell things. Wouldn't that be great? It's awesome. Even like Catholic Answers has great little pamphlets as you know. Those things would take less time to translate one at a time. You're right. Yeah. And I think perhaps I can just find a way to do it, Like just discipline myself, even if it's an hour or 30 minutes a day.

Do you know people that could do it? I don't know many people that could do it. Well, I mean, if it's a matter of finances, we could find a way to make that happen. Oh, that'd be great. Actually, that could probably help. Let's talk about it. Yeah, because if I can, you know, like give somebody a stipend and, you know, they spend a few hours. Exactly.

I could look over it and make sure that it's safe. Each one make sure it's accurate, yeah. Yeah, gosh, that'd be good. That'd be great. That'd be great. So you have the catechism in Creole then? We have it in French. I've heard that it was translated into Creole.

The UCAT has been translated into Creole. And I've tried to use it actually for catechesis for my RCIA. And what I find is, I've tried to use it actually for catechesis for my RCIA. And what I find is in certain places, the education level is bad. You know, it's not like back in the day when my dad went to school or when I went to school. So there's been some issues with some poor schools, which is why we're trying to renew education with Catholic values, is that

even that creole seems a bit too high for them, the concepts, like I need to go back with them to the fundamentals. And so there's a group, there's a small lay group called Froid et Bible, Faith in Scripture. They basically taught themselves apologetics, which is beautiful. It's got its own weakness because there are certain things that they need to connect with. I'm always trying to root them into the scriptures. They're rooting the scriptures, trying to also root them into the catechism to be like, learn the language of the church and then bring that into the language of the kids and of the

youth in Haiti. They do a great job at they provided they wrote a couple booklets and that's all in creole and i've was instrumental in reviewing one of them for them so that we use that and that's been very good at providing some concepts, introducing some concepts and they're passionate. They're passionate group of laypeople. Oh my gosh the woman who is the president and founder, she's feisty. She will not stand for like, no she'll slap you. I was wondering if that was a slapping motion. She's like, what the heck are you doing? Why are you Catholic? You got you got objections like what? Man I'm convinced that God has given certain Catholic mothers superpowers like absolutely Stuff done what a bunch of men couldn't indeed indeed brother. Yeah, so what's on the ticket for when you get back?

When do you so I have a parish mission? for when you get back? When do you go back? So I have a parish mission starting tomorrow actually up northeast. Yeah. And then I should be getting back about a few days after that back home. The day after I get back I go to a funeral, my brother priest from the rectory, he's a vicar, Procol Vicar. His mom passed, it was very suddenly, she had a stroke and passed, so very sad. mom passed, I was very suddenly, she had a stroke and passed, very sad. And then I'll continue, you know, forming my people, preaching the gospel, saying mass. COVID, I was saying earlier, was a blessing in disguise in that because we couldn't celebrate with a lot of people, and we could do with 10 people. And at first I was calling people like, hey, you want to come, we're gonna have a mass at this time,

why don't you come? And then I realized that could get really bad really quickly of people feeling that I have favorites. So I thought, you know what, how about this? I'll make an announcement. Anybody can come to mass as long as you group yourself up in the groups of seven and then you sign up together. And then I'll let you know which slot you're in and

I'll just put you one after the other. So we had 12 masses every Sunday in order to be able to- How many are you celebrating? Oh, I'd be three, at least three or three-ish. Yeah, at least 12, so sometimes four in order to try to comply with the norms. But what happened was at first we had like 30 small groups. And the idea was that you can't just come to Mass together, guys.

You gotta keep it up. You gotta prove with each other. You gotta spoil each other. If somebody's sick, you need to go. One of you needs to go visit that person. And I realized like people feel responsible now. Like, oh my gosh, I gotta come to Mass. And if somebody doesn't come, we ask,

well, where's the rest of your team? Where's your community? And I was so and so sick and they needed the anointing? Then we go get the anointing. Did you go visit them? And if we have gifts we give it through those communities. It's beautiful. So we now have over 150 and that's blown up the attendance. Amazing. It's like oh my gosh all because of COVID. Yeah. So unintended side effect. So that was a blessing. Unintended side effects.

Unintended side effects, yes, yes sir. Sweet, well reach out to me and let me know if we can help with this translation thing, because I love that idea. You got it, absolutely. I went to Uganda a couple of years ago and taught apologetics and it was a joy. It was a joy. Oh absolutely. I said something to them which may sound harsh to you, and I don't mean it to be harsh,

but I was just so moved by their joy and their simplicity and their lack of cynicism yes that I said to my friend who brought me and I said I hope you never become a developed country yeah no what I don't mean is I don't want people to not be in poverty I obviously want people not to be in poverty but there is a joy a beauty there absolutely lack absolutely I think what happens is once we get more comfortable, we get things, we easily confuse things with the essential things of life. And we forget God, family, and morals. But if we can find, which is why, I think the best development, if we can find, which is why I think the best development, the absolute best development, must be grounded in Christ, in the gospel. That's why the greatest service we can render society

is to give the society the gospel so that we can develop well and develop with Christian values, understanding the dignity of the human person and such. So let's become a developed country the dignity of the human person and such. So let's become a developed country in Christian values so that we still love each other and we do not fall into the pit, that temptation of I've got things now I'm set. You're not set actually. Actually, I hate to break it to you. Right, right. All right. Well thank you so much for coming on the show last minute. It was really nice to sit down and chat with you. It's a joy to see you again and to be on your show. I follow it. I think it's awesome.

I'm subscribed. I click on that little all notification thing and I encourage everyone to do so. I was saying earlier how I love how your relationship with others, with Cameron Batuzzi. What do you want to say to Cameron Batuzzi, father? You should become Catholic, pretty cool. What do you want to say to Cameron Batuzzi? Cameron, you should become Catholic, of course. But I just love his his composure, his disposition. So beautiful. So sincere. You know, and I love that. I love to have a conversation with him.

Yeah, well, he's invited to Haiti. I'll let you call him. Yeah. Hey, that's sweet. Yeah, absolutely. His wife's African-American. Oh, no way. Yeah, that's cool. Be cool. Maybe we can all come down and do a visit together. That'd be awesome, absolutely. His wife's African-American. Oh, no way. Yeah, that's cool. Be cool if they were. Maybe we could all come down and do a visit together. That'd be awesome, man. Wouldn't that be cool? Oh, because he would do a great job at like kind of theistic apologetics and things like that. I love that. I love that about him as well. Yeah. I follow his channel too. I'm subscribed. It's not as good as mine. But he's doing what he can and that's good for you. Yes, I mean you both have that silver thing with you. That little plaque. To hurry up and let's see who's going to get to a million first. Yeah, we'll see.

Alright, God bless you Father, thank you so much. Bless you brother and blessings for all those watching.