Photo by Alan M. Dumoff
Under searing sun, and amidst drenching downpours, they work in the June and July months from 6 a.m.-7 p.m. every day, harvesting the blueberries in Hammonton’s fields.
On Friday, June 26, at 6 p.m., a Mass of welcome was celebrated for these Haitian migrant farm workers at Columbia Fruit Farm in Hammonton.
Every year, workers and their families are bussed up to South Jersey from Florida to earn a living. Mainly non-Catholic and speaking in their native Creole, they are ministered to, and receive God’s message from, priests such as Father Yvans Jazon, a leader in the Camden Diocese’s Haitian Catholic apostolate.
The Black Catholic Ministry Commission and the former church of St. Monica, which served many Haitian Catholics in Atlantic City, organized the welcome Mass.
Retired Auxiliary Bishop Guy A. Sansaricq of Brooklyn celebrated the Mass, sharing God’s word to them in Creole.
The outdoor Mass drew 150 people, while the dinner afterward, with native Haitian dishes prepared by volunteers, fed 700.
In addition to serving food, volunteers also brought workers and their families water, juice and soda to stay hydrated under the summer heat.
The welcome Mass is “a good way to show the outreach of the Catholic Church to these workers, who have a very tough job,” said James Andrews, director of Black Catholic Ministry for the diocese. “We support them,” he said.
at the bottom and then tap “Add to Home Screen”
