Published on Sunday, May 31, 2009 by CommonDreams.org
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/05/31
Revolutionary Haitian Priest, Gerard Jean-Juste, Presente!
by Bill Quigley
Though Haitian priest Father Gerard Jean-Juste died May 27, 2009, at
age 62, in
present to millions. Justice-loving people world-wide mourn his death
and celebrate his life. Pere Jean-Juste worked uncompromisingly for
justice for Haitians and the poor, both in
Pere Jean-Juste was a Jesus-like revolutionary. In jail and out, he
preached liberation of the poor, release of prisoners, human rights
for all, and a fair distribution of wealth. A big muscular man with a
booming voice and a frequent deep laugh, he wore a brightly colored
plastic rosary around his neck and carried another in his pocket.
Jailed for nearly a year in
government which was trying to silence him, Amnesty International
called him a Prisoner of Conscience.
Jean-Juste was a scourge to the unelected coup governments of Haiti,
who served at the pleasure, and usually the direction, of the
government. He constantly challenged both the powers of
Haitians while welcoming Cubans and Nicaraguans and others. In
he called for democracy and respect and human rights for the poor.
Pere Jean-Juste was sometimes called the most dangerous man in
That was because he was not afraid to die. His computer screen saver
was a big blue picture of Mary, the mother of Jesus. "Every day I am
ready to meet her." He once told me, when death threats came again. "I
will not stop working for justice because of their threats. I am
looking forward to heaven."
Jean-Juste was a literally a holy terror to the unelected powers of
single day, in jail or out, he said Mass, read the psalms and
jubilantly prayed the rosary. In Port au Prince he slept on the floor
of his church, St. Claire, which provided meals to thousands of
starving children and adults every week. In prison, he organized local
nuns to bring him hundreds of plastic rosaries which he gave to fellow
prisoners and then lead them in daily prayer.
When Pere Jean-Juste began to speak, to preach really, about justice
for the poor and the wrongfully imprisoned, restless crowds drew
silent. Listening to him preach was like feeling the air change before
a thunderstorm sweeps in. He slowly raised his arms. He spread his
powerful hands to punctuate his intensifying words. Minutes passed as
the Bible and the Declaration of Human Rights and today's news were
interspersed. Justice for the poor. Freedom for those in prison.
Comfort for those who mourn. The thunder was rolling now. Crowds were
cheering now. Human rights for everyone. Justice for
for
To the rich, Jean-Juste preached that the man with two coats should
give one to the woman with none. But, unlike most preachers, he did
not stop there. Because there were many people with no coats, Pere
Jean-Juste said, no one could justly claim ownership of a second coat.
In fact, those who held onto second coats were actually thieves who
stole from those who had no coats. In
is such a huge gap between the haves and the have-nots, there was much
stealing by the rich from the poor. This was revolutionary preaching.
During the day, people streamed to his church to ask for help. Mothers
walked miles from Cite de Soleil to his parish to beg him to help them
bury their children. Widows sought help. Families with sons in prison
asked for a private word. Small packets of money and food were quietly
given away. Visitors from rural
looking for food, police officers who warned of new threats, political
organizers with ideas how to challenge the unelected government,
reporters and people seeking special prayers - all came all the time.
Every single night when he was home at his church in Port au Prince
Pere Jean-Juste led a half hour public rosary for anyone who showed
up. Most of the crowd was children and older women who came in part
because the church was the only place in the neighborhood which had
electricity. He walked the length of the church booming out the first
part of the Hail Mary while children held his hand or trailed him
calling out their part of the rosary. The children and the women came
night after night to pray in Kreyol with Mon Pere.
Pere Jean-Juste lived the preferential option for the poor of
liberation theology. Because he was always in trouble with the
management of the church, who he also freely criticized, he was
usually not allowed regular church parish work. In
down in his clerical blacks on the road in front of busses stopping
them from taking Haitians to be deported from the
lived on the run in
arrested on trumped up charges, he refused to allow people with money
to bribe his way out of jail, he would stay with the poor and share
their treatment.
He dedicated his entire adult life to the revolutionary proposition
that every single person is entitled to a life of human dignity. No
matter the color of skin. No matter what country they were from. No
matter how poor or rich. No matter woman or man.
His last time in court in
bogus weapons charge against him, Pere Jean-Juste dug into his pocket,
pulled out his plastic prayer beads, thrust them high in the air and
bellowed, to the delight of the hundreds in attendance, "My rosary is
my only weapon!" The crowd roared and all charges were dropped.
Gerard Jean-Juste lived with and fought for and with widows and
orphans and those in jail and those being deported and the hungry and
the mourning and the sick and the persecuted. Our world is better for
his time among us.
Mon Pere, our brother, your spirit, like those of all who struggle for
justice for others, lives on. Presente!
---------------------------------
By Bill Quigley. Bill represented Pere Jean-Juste many times in
along with the Bureau des Avocats Internationaux in Port au Prince and
the Institute for Justice and Democracy in
from Loyola University College of Law in
Director of the Center for Constitutional Rights. He can be
contacted at quigley77 at gmail.com.
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