Father Tony's faith grows after 'mission in reverse'
When Father Tony Wroblewski arrived in Brainerd about 1-1/2 years ago, he couldn't help but notice the unsightly 40-foot steel shipping container in the St. Andrew's Catholic Church parking lot.
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The shipping container, which was to be packed with supplies and sent to help impoverished Haitians, might have been a clue for Wroblewski that he, too, would be bound for Haiti in the near future.
Wroblewski was soon asked - no, told, he joked - by his parishioner, Tom Johnson, that he would be coming along on a Haiti mission trip the following year.
Father Tony Wroblewski handed out bouillon cubes and long pieces of lye soap to the poor in Haiti while on a mission trip in November.
Many members of the Brainerd Area Catholic Churches, including Johnson and his wife, Lois, have made it their personal mission to help the poor in Haiti. The Johnsons have developed a strong relationship, dating back several years, with Father Glenn Meaux and his mission, Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity in Kobanal, Haiti.
The Johnsons typically travel once a year on mission trips to Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity, along with other area volunteers, and help ensure a fully packed shipping container with supplies is sent to the mission each year from Brainerd Area Catholic Churches.
Wroblewski had never been to Haiti before and was uneasy about the trip. But the mission trip Nov. 12-19 not only opened his eyes to what true poverty is, but the priest also found that there is beauty in poverty, too. He also found an even deeper faith in God.
Brainerd area volunteers who went on a Haiti mission trip last November included Tom and Lois Johnson (left); Dr. Lyle MacIver; Hilary Johnson; Father Glenn Meaux, who runs the Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity, Kobanal, Haiti, mission; Goodie Schmitz; Matthew Schmitz; Father Tony Wroblewski; Monsignor Liam Barr from Lincoln, Neb.; and Steve Northway.
"In the seminary they call it a mission in reverse," said Wroblewski. "We're trying to be the face of Christ to them but they become the face of Christ to us."
Wroblewski recently wrote a series of articles in the Brainerd Area Catholic Churches weekly bulletins detailing the mission and the wide-ranging emotions he felt throughout the journey. He wrote about his overwhelming sadness in seeing so many sick people at the Missionaries of Charity house in Hinche, a nearby city.
"The sisters were wonderful. But the plight of the children broke my heart," Wroblewski wrote on Nov. 17. "The sisters take them in - they have no place to go. Their legs and arms are thin to the bone, and their stomachs are distended like balloons from malnutrition. More and more have HIV and other illnesses, but they can get no medicine that could help them. ... And yet, these children hold out their arms - only wanting a loving embrace - the smallest human touch which would validate their humanity - their dignity."
Wroblewski said the Haitians he encountered were so full of joy, despite their utter poverty. He wrote of sadness, of an infant boy named Jean who was to die of heart failure, brought on by anemia and malnutrition. In the United States, this child, who Wroblewski said couldn't have been more than a year old, would have never died.
"But today I am overwhelmed," Wroblewski continued to write on Nov. 17. "I wonder - where is the light at the end of the tunnel? How do they find hope in the midst of all this? And why was I, and not them, so blessed? These questions gnaw at my soul. I have no answers. Time to pray..."
One day Wroblewski, the Johnsons and other volunteers distributed food to about 400 families, or about 2,000 people, "the poorest of the poor." They were given small rations of corn, beans, oil, a small package of bouillon cubes and some lye soap, which was enough food to feed their families for a month.
Wroblewski saw firsthand how the used shoes, the five-gallon buckets and other supplies - most of which is considered garbage here - that is donated by his parishioners is like a life line to people in Haiti.
"My faith was absolutely strengthened by my time there," said Wroblewski. "I engaged even deeper in my faith there. ... that ugly container (the shipping container at St. Andrew's) has become the most beautiful container in the world."
"It truly is, when you know what it does," added Lois Johnson.
"Once you go there, you're never the same again," said her husband, Tom.
Wroblewski said now that he's been to Haiti, he can't wait to go back.
"When I left, despite the sadness and extreme poverty, I came back feeling something wonderful is happening there and happening to me in my visit there," said Wroblewski.
Father Glen Meaux was reached last week via an Internet teleconferencing system at American National Bank, where Tom Johnson serves as president/chief executive officer. Meaux has been living and helping the poor in Haiti since 1989 and founded the Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity mission. The mission helps more than 10,000 Haitians and more than 2,000 students are being educated there. Hundreds of families are involved in commerce projects that help them earn income for their families. The mission established a seven-mile underground water flow from a spring to the mission using only gravity. There are seven water stations along the way, which provide fresh, clean water for many people in the surrounding communities.
Meaux said his 20 years serving the poor in Haiti has changed his life.
"It's trying to live out the basic principles of Catholic teachings," said Meaux. "Everyone is valued, everyone has the right to education, food and lodging. We all have a responsibility to take care of our brothers and sisters."
Meaux will be visiting the Brainerd lakes area June 14 through July 12 and will be preaching at Catholic churches in Brainerd, Crosslake, Nisswa, Pequot Lakes, Pine River, Emily and Baxter.
To make a contribution to Meaux's mission in Haiti, donations may be mailed to the Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity (SOLT), Haiti Mission, P.O. Box 1400, Abbeville, LA 70511.
JODIE TWEED may be reached at jodie.tweed@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5858.