A funeral for all of Haiti (Feature)

By Silvia Ayuso Jan 23, 2010, 18:50 GMT

Port-au-Prince, Haiti - The funeral of Haiti's archbishop Joseph Serge Miot on Saturday became a ceremony for all those Haitians unable to offer their loved ones a dignified burial.

'It's a symbol for all those who died,' said a parishioner standing under one of the tents that protected dignitaries in attendance from the strong sun outside the ruined cathedral. Those dignitaries included Haitian President Rene Preval and the archbishop of New York, Timothy Dolan.

The magnitude-7 earthquake catastrophe on January 12 killed more than 111,000 people and has shaken Haiti's richest, its poorest, its government, ministers who lost children, and the whole of the wider world.

'This is for everyone,' said sister Lina, a nun from Colombia who came to Haiti four years ago. 'Those that couldn't bury their loved ones, those that are still under the rubble, I say that this is a burial in the name of all those who are left anonymous and will never be found.'

The ceremony, which took place outside the ruins of the cathedral, included songs and prayers not just for the archbishop, but for a whole nation that has been devastated by perhaps its worst-ever disaster. And this is a country that has already suffered tremendous hardship throughout its history.

'We ask God that for all those that encountered death with this earthquake, that you console their families, who in many cases could not offer a dignified burial to their loved ones,' Louis Kebreau, head of Haiti's conference of bishops, offered in prayer during the funeral mass.

About 1,000 religious dignitaries and Haitians at the funeral made the sign of the cross, their minds still seared with images of bodies that lay decaying in the streets for days before being interred in mass graves, as well as those lost in the rubble of Port-au-Prince, which has been nearly completely destroyed.

'In a way, it is like the (archbishop) would deliver all of the dead into the hands of God,' said Simon Cabrera of the Dominican Conference of Religious, who came to help Haiti after the earthquake.

No one could forget the archbishop Joseph Serge Miot, who according to Haitian doctor Hans Thomas, 'was the only person in Haiti whose job was working for the poor.'

On this day, gathered at the cathedral, 'there is no individualism,' said Franciscan Luc Paul Desplain.

'This giving of thanks concerns all Haitians and should also console the entire world that came to help,' he said. 'The seat of the church was damaged, the seat of the government was damaged, the seat of Minustah (the UN) was damaged, everyone was affected by this tragedy.'