Restoration And Resurrection

The Episcopal Church and Smithsonian are collaborating to save beloved 1950s-era murals in the ravaged Episcopal cathedral in Port-au-Prince. Coverage and photo in the New York Times. St. John's Church is also on the scene, or somewhere nearby, since our member John Schafer is one of a Diocese of Los Angeles delegation visiting Haiti's Episcopal schools.

The Short Distance From Normal To Crisis

Cory Trenda, who worships at St. John's with his wife, Janet, has been all over the world doing ministry and raising money for World Vision. It all came home to him on Jan. 11 as he read the final pages of the relief agency's donor update on the first anniversary of the earthquake in Haiti:

Infant feeding practices needed to be addressed as many mothers were suffering from stress and struggled to breast-feed. Training sessions helped to improve breast-feeding practices and nutrition for children and pregnant or lactating mothers. World Vision Mother’s Clubs offered supplementary feeding and nutrition counseling to women and children suffering from malnutrition, benefiting more than 5,000 women every month.

Janet and I spent much of the past weekend with our daughter, who is preparing to have her first child. (Our Christmas gift from Karey and her husband was a chance to join them for a 3-D ultrasound, which we did Saturday!) Karey is doing all the right reading, getting counsel from other moms, and Janet even bought her favorite book about breastfeeding for Karey. Karey wants the best for her son, as every mother should, and she's preparing for the usual apprehensions and challenges, including those related to breastfeeding.

But I don’t think she’s preparing for the possibility of a devastating earthquake impacting her ability to breastfeed.

Cory provides his moving refections by e-mail. If you're interested in getting them, please write to me at revjht@msn.com or leave a comment on this post.

On The Haiti Beat

Nicholas Kristof deserves high praise for covering stories most in the media ignore, such as the consequences of the world's failure to promote humane family planning in the developing world.