the bells of Holy Trinity will play again

Bells from the destroyed Cathedrale Ste Trinite
Port-au-Prince, Haiti
Photo by Lauren Stanley

saying good-bye to the old

I hear Holy Trinity Cathedral has been taken down now.  I can't picture it gone... In my mind's eye, it still stands.  I have seen photos of the rubble.  I've even seen photos of what is left (pretty much nothing), but those just seem unreal.   I did find the following photo of the mural that was left standing following the earthquake, which I'm sharing here.  It is via the Episcopal News Service. 

Jeanne Pocius, a trumpeter who teaches at the music school, posted a photo of the demolition, which she gave permission to share.  Here it is.  I can't wrap my mind around it, though.  I can't even tell from what angle it is taken, as I can't remember the surrounding buildings clearly enough without the landmarks of the larger ones to which I actually paid attention.  It might be the school rather than the cathedral.  It just makes me so sad. 

What I still don't know is whether our convent has also been taken down now.  I've heard that the little side building, a couple of rooms, is still standing, so that a few things were saved and put in there, but whether or not they have finished demolishing the convent I don't know.  My very unofficial understanding is that it is likely that it will be rebuilt on the same spot.  I wonder what it will look like when I get there, probably over a year from now as things now stand.  I've heard that they are still doing laundry in tubs in the yard in the same spot - maybe the laundry "tree" is still standing on which to dry things?   Some things continue, the little things in life that provide those micro-moments of continuity.  I'm hoping to have some photos soon via someone who has gone down for a few week.  Waiting, waiting... and wondering. 

One thing I do know is that our God is one who brings life out of death.  That is a promise.  And it is happening in Haiti even now.  Our job is to participate in that work.