Archbishop Dolan Presides at Funeral Mass for fallen Haitian Prelate

Funeral Mass for Archbishop Joseph Serge Miot was held at the ruins of the cathedral where he perished.

WASHINGTON (Catholic Online) - New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan led hundreds of Haitians in a funeral Mass at the ruins of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Port-au-Prince, Haiti on Saturday. The Mass was for Archbishop Joseph Serge Miot who died on January 12 in the quake. The Mass also remembered the thousands of others killed during that same disaster.

Flying into the country's capital city on Friday aboard a plane filled with humanitarian aid, he arrived just as the government officially shifting more emphasis from search-and-rescue to clothing and housing survivors.

As he left the cathedral grounds after the service, he told reporters, "This is death and life. This is about life."

Dolan, who is also Chairman of the Board for Catholic Relief Services, was invited by the apostolic nuncio to that country, Archbishop Bernardito Auza.

Francis Cardinal George also requested that he represent the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops at the event. According to the USCCB, as a "sign of the solidarity and concern" of the bishops for the people of Haiti, the conference's general secretary, Monsignor David Malloy, will accompany the prelate.

He planned on staying and visiting relief workers afterward.

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Randy Sly is the Associate Editor of Catholic Online. He is a former Archbishop of the Charismatic Episcopal Church who laid aside that ministry to enter into the full communion of the Catholic Church in 2006.

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