Leader of Brooklyn’s Roman Catholics condemns deportation crisis in Dominican Republic
Bishop DiMarzio Reminds Gathering of 700 That Both Hispaniola Nations Are Catholic, Existed Peacefully
More than 700 people attended a special Mass of Solidarity and Unity for the Haitian and Dominican communities Wednesday night at St. James Cathedral-Basilica. The mission was to unite these two growing communities in Brooklyn at a time when their native countries are experiencing strife.
The Most Rev. Nicholas DiMarzio, Bishop of the Diocese of Brooklyn, reading in Haitian, Spanish and English, pointed out that the purpose of the Mass was to bring together Brooklyn’s Haitian and Dominican communities in prayer. He added at the beginning of his sermon that the liturgy’s purpose was not to enter a political discussion but rather to pray for peace and justice for the two largely Catholic nations that share the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles region of the Caribbean Sea.
Commemorating the feast day of St. John the Baptist, which falls annually on June 24, Bishop DiMarzio said that this saint, six months older than Jesus, prophesized fearlessly for peace and justice and was executed by King Herod for calling his marriage evil.
The bishop then provided an overview of the deportation crisis involving Haitians who were born in and worked in the Dominican Republic.