Two women religious murdered in Haiti amid that nation's 'way of the Cross'

(OSV News) -- Two women religious were murdered March 31 by armed gangs in the city of Mirebalais, Haiti, as long-standing violence continues to further destabilize that nation.

Sister Evanette Onezaire and Sister Jeanne Voltaire of the Congregation of the Little Sisters of St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus were in Mirebalais -- located some 30 miles from the capital, Port-au-Prince -- when armed gangs launched an attack.

The sisters, who had been on a mission to the city, took refuge with other civilians but were discovered by gang members and slain.

The gangs also seized control of the city's prison, releasing at least 530 prisoners, according to Arnel Remy, an attorney and general coordinator for Haiti's Collective of Lawyers for the Defense of Human Rights.

Local media reported that gangs also launched a March 31 attack on the town of Saut-d'Eau, some five miles west of Mirebalais and a destination for a popular annual Vodou-Catholic pilgrimage attracting thousands.

The deaths of Sister Evanette and Sister Jeanne were reported by Aid to the Church in Need, which since 1947 has worked under papal guidance to serve persecuted Catholics.

ACN communicated directly with Archbishop Max Leroy Mésidor of Port-au-Prince, who told the organization in an April 2 message that Mirebalais is now "controlled by bandits."

Port-au-Prince has for the past few years been the locus of the nation's armed gang conflict.

However, the Mirebalais attack, along with the October 2024 gang-led massacre in the town of Pont-Sondé, shows that violence is increasingly extending into Haiti's heartland.

The Pont-Sondé attack ranks as the worst in Haiti's recent history, which has been plagued by multiple, sustained crises such as political instability, natural disasters, foreign intervention and international debt.

Some 5.4 million Haitians face "high levels of acute food insecurity" due to the armed gang violence, with 6,000 residents experiencing "catastrophic levels of hunger and a collapse of their livelihoods," according to a report released in August by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification.

In his exclusive statement to ACN, Archbishop Mésidor said the nation's entrenched violence is constraining the Church's ability to serve.

"Twenty-eight parishes in the Archdiocese of Port-au-Prince are closed, while around 40 are operating at minimum levels because the neighborhoods are controlled by gangs," the archbishop said. "The priests have been forced to flee, finding refuge with their families or with other clerics. They need help. The archdiocese is also in difficulty."

The archbishop also addressed the archdiocese's men and women religious in a March 30 letter, telling them, "We are going through one of the worst periods in our history as a people."

While noting that he did not wish to "add insult to injury by enumerating all that we are suffering because of the general insecurity that has affected our compatriots for several years," Archbishop Mésidor said he felt compelled to report recent threats to the church's activities.

He noted that "religious communities have been displaced, many schools are closed, elderly and sick religious sisters have had to be evacuated in the middle of the night, and entire congregations had to leave their nursing homes, with nowhere to place the sick sisters."

"The list of religious congregations in difficulty is very long. I have no words to describe what is currently happening in Port-au-Prince," he wrote in his letter. "It is an unbelievable situation. Our consecrated brothers and sisters are actively taking part in the suffering of our people."

ACN director of projects Marco Mencaglia, who had previously visited the congregation -- founded in Haiti in 1948 -- also lamented the sisters' deaths and the violence plaguing the Caribbean nation.

"We ask that God grant them eternal rest, and we pray for their families and the safety of the congregation," Mencaglia said in a statement released April 3 by ACN. "Aid to the Church in Need would like to stress its continued support for and solidarity with the Haitian Church and issue an urgent call for prayer in the face of the increased violence and its devastating impact on the community."

Mencaglia added that the sisters' killings marked "a sad confirmation of the terrible suffering that the congregations are going through."

The crisis in Haiti requires "concrete gestures of solidarity," said Mencaglia.

He stressed that "ACN also calls on the international community not to abandon the Haitian Church and people in this time of extreme suffering."

"The Church in Haiti is suffering, but has not lost the faith," Mencaglia said.

In his message to ACN, Archbishop Mésidor said, "Here in Haiti our Lent has become a true Way of the Cross, but we offer it up in communion with the suffering of Christ."

The archbishop added, "Haiti is burning and requires urgent help. Who will come to our aid?"