Is Haiti's Church Hierarchy Failing in its Mission? Bishop Louis Kébreau’s Immoral Advice to Martelly

August 16, 2011

Is Haiti's Church Hierarchy Failing in its Mission? Bishop Louis Kébreau’s Immoral Advice to Martelly

Article and photo by Wadner Pierre

Did Bishop Louis Kébreau, President of the Haitian Episcopal Conference, call on Haitian President Martelly to be ruthless and dictatorial?

In an article published on August 11 by the Haitian daily Newspaper Le Nouvelliste, Bishop Kébreau, a close friend of President Martelly urged him to put his "Sweet Micky pants on” as to govern the country. Martelly’s administration has essentially not even begun after Parliament refused to accept two of his selections for Prime Minister.

The upper echelons of the Catholic Church in Haiti and the Vatican have a deplorable history of backing repression. The Vatican, virtually alone in the world, recognized the Cedras military dictatorship of 1991-1994. Recent Wikileaks have exposed the Vatican’s behind the scenes encouragement of US efforts to undermine democracy in Haiti prior to the 2004 coup. After the coup, the Vatican openly applauded it by saying there was “nothing to regret” about Aristide’s ouster.

To defend his remarks, Bishop Kébreau said, on Radio Magik 9, that he was misinterpreted and that there was “no question of repression, no question of dictatorship" but he added that "If we continue to undress the President we will go nowhere.”

It is extremely unlikely that Bishop Kébreau will be punished by his superiors for his openly partisan intervention in Haitian politics. However, it was Bishop Kébreau himself who supported a letter to suspend Late Father Gerard Jean-Juste in his sacerdotal function in 2006, while imprisoned by the Latortue dictatorship no less. Fr. Jean-Juste was a vocal supporter of Aristide and was suspending from celebrating mass as punishment for being political. Meanwhile human rights groups around the world, including Amnesty International, called for Jean–Juste’s release, the Catholic Church in Haiti decided that even more punishment was justified.
None of this is surprising for anyone who has followed the involvement of the Church in Haiti's political affairs even before the country’s Independence in 1804.

As a former altar-boy I am very disturbed by the declaration of high profile at the Church like Bishop Kébreau, but I am not surprised because powerful clerics like him have always fought against a democratic government in Haiti. They have always been on the side of the elite – about 5% of the population.

In December of 2007, while celebrating the 65th anniversary of the consecration of Haiti to Our Lady of Perpetual of Help, Bishop Kébreau made a vague statement urging Rene Preval (who president at the time) do deal with “social injustice”. Of course, Bishop Kébreau did not identify who the cause of this “injustice” was.

May the leaders of the Catholic Church become, one day, promoters of social justice, not social injustice and despotism. Amen.