As hurricane hits Puerto Rico this week, Catholics still waiting for repairs from five years ago
Back-to-back Hurricanes Maria and Irma struck Puerto Rico five years ago, damaging more than 1,000 Catholic schools, churches, and facilities. Most Catholic properties had not yet been remediated as Hurricane Fiona tore through Puerto Rico this week, leaving even more destruction.
Deacon Asterio Velasco, Archdiocese of Newark’s Director of Hispanic Ministry, was one of 20 church leaders invited by Catholic Extension — a national charitable organization that supports and strengthens poor mission dioceses across the United States — to visit Puerto Rico this summer to help communities still struggling with their recovery from the hurricanes, in addition to earthquakes in 2020.
For Deacon Asterio, it was a homecoming of sorts. Although he was born in Valladolid, Spain, as a young man he moved to Puerto Rico where, along with studying, he worked in Salesian ministry “among the most humble in Cantera Santurce.”
Although Deacon Asterio had lived and served in one of the poorest neighborhoods in Puerto Rico during that time, he said he was shocked when he attended the mission immersion trip to the dioceses of Puerto Rico and saw firsthand the hurricane damage six years after Maria blew through. He was, however, mostly moved by the resiliency of people with “big hearts and joy,” who have waited patiently for their churches and missionary facilities to be rebuilt.
“We saw destroyed buildings, like the church of Immaculate Conception in Guayanilla with fallen walls and bells on the ground, with the altar covered with a tarp and plywood, and Christmas decorations still scattered as they were on Jan. 7, 2020,” Deacon Asterio said.
But next to the church in ruins is a makeshift church with the altar and the chairs under a tarp, the temporary place for a community that hopes to celebrate the Eucharist again in its centennial church.
“I was impressed that after five years, the faithful keep coming back to Mass under the tarp, waiting for their church to be rebuilt,” Deacon Asterio said.
Now he’s worried over the damage Fiona has brought to the people of Puerto Rico. Church officials there are reporting massive flooding and wind damage. Residents are without power or water.
“In recent days we have all been able to see on the television screens the images of the devastation that Hurricane Fiona caused in Puerto Rico. The great floods have done a lot of damage and have left much of the island without electricity and without water service. Unfortunately, these are images that have been repeated in recent years on the island,” Deacon Asterio said on Tuesday.
Catholic Extension’s mission trips are funded through the Lilly Endowment and aim to broaden church leaders’ horizons through enriching learning experiences of the Church’s missionary activities.
During his three-day visit, Deacon Asterio also served at a Mass held at the Protomartyrs Parish of the Immaculate Conception in Aguada, where five friars were martyred in the 1500s, and visited with children at the Santa Teresita del Niño Jesús Children’s Home built by Catholic Extension.
In August, the first construction bids went out for the first 30 of nearly 1,000 Catholic facilities to be rebuilt in Puerto Rico through Catholic Extension’s multi-diocesan recovery program, according to Joe Boland, Vice President of Missions at Catholic Extension. The program received $90 million to remediate the earthquake and hurricane damage and an additional $50 million to build more resilient church structures to withstand the next storm.
Boland said that the delay in funding and rebuilding was due to many factors, mainly “bureaucratic delays on the part of various government agencies involved” and the pandemic shutdown. Many church buildings are also historical, some as old as 500 years, requiring more oversight.
“But the patience and perseverance of so many of our pastors, bishops, and partners will hopefully begin to be rewarded as church buildings begin to be rebuilt and the government continues to obligate funding to more damaged churches,” Boland said before Fiona hit the island.
He said that as of Sept. 19, they were just beginning to assess the situation from Fiona.
If President Biden makes a major disaster declaration that authorizes funding, Catholic Extension’s recovery team will work with FEMA to identify damage to Catholic properties caused by Hurricane Fiona that may be eligible for repair funding under its Public Assistance program. If FEMA had previously awarded funding to repair damaged church facilities from Hurricane Maria or the earthquakes, but repairs are unfinished, then they will work within FEMA’s process to identify new damages and fund additional repairs, Boland said.
“This latest storm only highlights the urgency and necessity of Catholic Extension’s recovery efforts to build a more resilient Puerto Rican Church that can help shelter, serve, and comfort the poor and vulnerable during future natural disasters,” Boland said.
Deacon Asterio said the Archdiocese of Newark has 85 parishes that minister in Spanish. He views his role as one of improving communication and helping with formation. Jersey Catholic sat down with Deacon Asterio to ask him more about his trip.
JC: What led you to Catholic Extension’s trip to Puerto Rico? Were you familiar with their work?
Deacon Asterio: I received the invitation from Catholic Extension to participate along with 20 other people from different dioceses in the United States. I had only heard that Catholic Extension was a society that helped dioceses in need but had no idea what it was. The invitation was for a three-day trip to Puerto Rico, an island to which I have been attached since I was young because I spent a few years working with the Salesians of Saint John Bosco in the barrio of Cantera, a very humble neighborhood full of challenges in the metropolitan area of San Juan. But I had no idea of what Catholic Extension does in Puerto Rico.
JC: What was the relevance of your trip?
Deacon Asterio: This trip opened my eyes to a reality unknown to me. It was definitely beautiful, especially when seeing how there are Catholics who are willing to help their brothers and sisters in times of difficulty so that their communities are maintained and can flourish. The purpose of the trip was to make us aware of the reality faced by many Puerto Rican Catholic communities and the way Catholic Extension helps them. And to show us that, in the midst of the material challenges they face, the Puerto Rican people are a people who maintain hope and joy because it is a people of great faith who manifest great love for our Mother, Our Lady of the Divine Providence.
JC: Besides visiting destroyed parts of Puerto Rico and churches that need rebuilding, what did you do while in Puerto Rico?
Deacon Asterio: The trip was full of rich experiences, considering the short time. The celebration of the Eucharist at the Protomartyrs Parish of the Immaculate Conception in Aguada was an incredible experience. We arrived in the middle of a real storm that drenched us all. A church founded by the Franciscans in the early 1500s. Those founding friars were martyred, the first to give their lives for the Catholic faith in North America. Inside the modern church are the ruins of the original church. It was an incredible experience to participate in the Eucharist, placing my arm on centuries-old stones, witnesses of so much faith.
The visit to the churches in ruins and in need of help was complemented by visits to Catholic ministries that, in the midst of material needs, perform authentic miracles in the daily lives of their people. Like the Kid’s Camp that the Dominican Sisters of Fatima -a Puerto Rican congregation- have in Guánica, where the gospel reaches the little ones in an atmosphere of joy and good humor, or the Santa Teresita del Niño Jesús Children’s Home. Catholic Extension has provided the funds to construct the building of this Home in Arecibo. We met with the children who are there right now. All the children have been abused. Their suffering has been the worst of the worst. They introduced themselves one by one. One had the same name as one of my grandchildren and was the same age. I got excited. We played with them for a while.
JC: How was your work there connected to your work in the Archdiocese? What gifts from your work here were you able to share in Puerto Rico?
Deacon Asterio: This trip opened a new perspective to the work that Catholic Extension –a Catholic organization– carries out both in Puerto Rico and in many dioceses with great economic needs in the States.
I shared my experiences in the conversations we had, but it was more the moment to learn. To see and to listen. And to be open to the Spirit. The entire trip was like a spiritual retreat for me.
JC: What did you learn in Puerto Rico?
Deacon Asterio: Each community has its own characteristics, with its gifts and challenges. On this trip to Puerto Rico, I confirmed the resilience of a people who have been hit by different circumstances but remain faithful to their faith. A people with an incredible devotion to the Virgin. And a people full of joy.
Featured photo: Participants in Catholic Extension’s Mission Immersion trip to the Dioceses of Puerto Rico are shown visiting Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Guayanilla on June 15, still damaged from an earthquake in 2020. (Courtesy Catholic Extension/Juan Guajardo)
