Catholic News Service is reporting that Monsignor Joseph Serge Miot, the archbishop of Port-au-Prince, was killed in the earthquake in Haiti.
"The lifeless body of Archbishop Joseph Miot of Port-au-Prince was found this morning under the rubble of the archbishops' residence," L'Osservatore Romano said in a Page 1 story Jan. 13.
Archbishop Bernardito Auza, the Vatican's apostolic nuncio in Haiti, said about 100 seminarians and priests also might have died in the quake. However, that information could not be confirmed, and Catholic leaders were hearing conflicting reports. "Port-au-Prince is completely devastated. The cathedral and the archbishop's residence, all the big churches, all the seminaries are reduced to rubble,' Auza told the Vatican missionary news agency Fides.
Meanwhile, faith-based organizations are gearing up relief efforts to help Haiti.
The survivors face "untold suffering", Dame Anne Owers, chair of Christian Aid, told Christian Today. "(Haiti) is one of the poorest places on earth. This latest disaster is going to cause untold suffering and hardship, particularly in communities with very little to fall back on," she said.
Owers said there was an urgent need for emergency supplies, including food, shelter and medicine, while in the longer-term, rebuilding would require "massive international assistance".
You can follow or connect to major relief efforts by the Red Cross, AmeriCares, Catholic Relief Services, Samaritan's Purse, Food for the Poor, the Salvation Army, and WorldVision.
(For the fully story see http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith)