BTE Grant AIDS Theological Education Program in Haiti
Diocesan Press Service. April 2, 1973 [73089]
ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- A grant of $18,000 has been awarded the Episcopal Diocese of Haiti to assist in its program of theological education by the Episcopal Church's Board for Theological Education (BTE).
The grant will assist the Diocese of Haiti to educate priests and to work in association with the University of Haiti for lay education and continuing education on an ecumenical basis.
It is expected that the Diocese of Haiti will work in cooperation with the Episcopal Church's Seminary of the Caribbean, Carolina, Puerto Rico, and the University of Haiti, Port-au-Prince, and possibly with the Catholic University of Louvain in Belgium or the Sorbonne in Paris through the Department of Ethnology of the University.
Two Haitian seminarians and a student from the Seminary of the Caribbean are already studying Haitian anthropology and folklore, including a depth study of voodoo, in the Department of Ethnology at the University.
The Rev. Yvan Francois, who directs the Diocese's theological education program, plans to invite one or two Americans as visiting professors for a term or year. Fr. Francois also sees the need for three Haitian teachers who would be paid in part from local sources.
The Diocese of Haiti's hostel and library are adjacent to the Centre d 'Art and the Department of Ethnology of the University. Land has been given the Episcopal Church in the midst of the present complex and it is hoped that a library which could be used by the three groups can be built.
The $18,000 grant by the BTE was designated for a faculty person for one semester, 1973-74, $5,000; a faculty person for one semester, 1974-75, $5,000; theological library fund, $5,000; librarian assistance, $1,200, and adjustment for dollar devaluation, $1,800.
The Rt. Rev. Luc Garnier is bishop of the Diocese of Haiti.