In Theory

The Jan. 12 earthquake in Haiti, which may have killed up to 200,000 people, has triggered an outpouring of worldwide sympathy from religious organizations. Some of their affiliates or chapters in Orange County have been working in the aftermath to send relief supplies to that long-troubled Caribbean nation and to help the Haitian people recover. How has your religious institution been helping out in the effort? And how would you encourage members of your congregation to help the Haitians, when some of your congregants might not have much money to give and when so many Americans still are suffering from these tough economic times?

Within hours of the quake, tons of medical and other supplies from Latter-day Saints storehouses in the Dominican Republic were being transported to Haiti. As of last Wednesday, more than 85,000 pounds of food, blankets, tents and tarps were dispatched along with a medical team of 14 doctors, nurses and family specialists. Seven Latter-day Saint chapels in Haiti, all left largely undamaged, are sheltering 4,000 people from the community. Members have been encouraged to make generous cash donations.

Since 1985, the church has supplied more than $1 billion in cash and commodities for emergency relief for millions of needy recipients for 193 disaster relief efforts in 167 countries, regardless of their religious affiliation. The church regularly partners with the Red Cross, Catholic Charities, Islamic Relief and other relief agencies. (More information may be found at www.providentliving.org.)

Locally, the Latter-day Saints Cypress Stake will be hosting the Cypress Pops Orchestra from 2 to 3 p.m. today at 5151 Orange Ave in Cypress. All donations will go to Haitian relief.

Tom Thorkelson

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Meditation awakens the practitioner to his or her natural compassion for all who suffer. Time spent in silence, stillness and deep listening is not self-centered, but rather a well-spring from which service to others inevitably emerges.

We encourage all who practice at the Zen Center to take responsibility for making personal decisions about regular volunteer work, donations and a variety of ways to help people locally and globally. We cannot do everything and anything, so the process of deciding what we can and should do is important.

At our center, we have recently begun an “Engaged Buddhism” program. Our goals are to become better educated on a current political issue, then to explore how the teachings of Zen Buddhism relate to the issue, and finally to consider “What can I do?” Buddhist Peace Fellowship has served since 1978 as a major resource for practitioners interested in socially engaged Buddhism. (More information may be found at www.bpf.org.)

For aid to Haiti, the Buddhist Peace Fellowship has partnered with Lutheran World Relief and has linked to www.LWR.org for donations and congregational resources.

The Rev. Deborah Barrett

Zen Center of Orange County

Costa Mesa

This tragedy is so well known that it doesn’t require a lot of encouragement for people to generously give. We had a second collection Sunday, and people’s generosity was incredible.

The collection is diocese-wide. Every penny collected is going to Catholic Relief Services, which has very low overhead expenses, and is designated for relief efforts in Haiti.

In addition to financial aid, we are praying daily for the victims and those who are and will be assisting in the aftermath.

Fr. Stephen Doktorczyk

St. Joachim Church, Costa Mesa

No Americans are suffering the way they are in Haiti. It is the American way to help, and that is because of the Judeo-Christian foundations of our nation.

We continue to be involved in three ways. The first way is prayer, since we believe that God can and has interceded in many ways in Haiti since the earthquake. He can change the course of the nation and turn this tragedy into triumph.

The second way is through giving. We have posted a few places on our website that people can give to directly.

In addition, we took a special offering on Sunday to support the efforts of Hope Force International, which has trained reservists locally since Hurricane Katrina and several of our people are ready now to deploy in Haiti because of that training.

That leads me to our last way to be involved: to go. We encourage our people to get trained and go get their hands dirty, and we are committed to supporting them as they go. I am hoping to go personally any day now.

We are looking now to several opportunities to get teams into Haiti. This is a long-term project, like Katrina, and the need will not end any time soon. We want to help over the long haul.

Ric Olsen

Lead Pastor,

The Beacon OC

Jesus said: “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” (Acts 20:35)

Citizens of the richest country in our Western Hemisphere helping those of the poorest witness that human souls are of God; that love is of God; and that beauty, justice, kindness and mercy are of God.

These endure. No earthquake, hurricane or genocide can erase them. In this earthly, body-bound life we have suffering, but God does not abandon us. God joins in, shares our pain and, at last, redeems us with infinite grace and love. God will dry every tear, mend every broken heart, and raise the least of us from the grave.

God calls us to help each other! We who are surely blessed can help those in desperate need through Episcopal Relief & Development (more information may be found at www.er-d.org), as this parish church is doing, or in many other good ways. Cannot we give glory to God by serving one another?

(The Very Rev’d Canon) Peter D. Haynes

Saint Michael & All Angeles Episcopal Church

Corona del Mar

Catholic Relief Services is the international outreach arm of the Catholic Church in the United States. When the earthquake hit, 313 Catholic Relief Services Staff were already on the ground serving in two locations since our commitment to Haiti goes back 20+ years.

They were able to respond quickly and the UN asked them to take the lead on the organization and implementation of services at the Petionville Golf Course which has been turned into a camp housing 50,000 people.

The long-term commitment of CRS will be to help with temporary resettlement of the people probably in camps a few miles out from the city. CRS will also be involved in rebuilding — better once the immediate health crisis is under control.

All Catholic parishes in the United States were asked to take up an emergency second collection this past weekend.

Shirl Giacomi

Chancellor of the Diocese of Orange County