As we mark five years since Hurricane Maria struck Puerto Rico, Catholic Extension Society continues to be the leading Catholic organization in the island’s recovery efforts.
Puerto Rico is once again enduring fallout from another severe storm, Hurricane Fiona. The turmoil suffered by the people of this island highlights the urgency and necessity of Catholic Extension Society’s recovery efforts to build a more resilient Puerto Rican Church that can help shelter, serve, and comfort the poor and vulnerable during future natural disasters.
In 2017, Hurricane Maria led to the deaths of 3,000 people in Puerto Rico, shut down the power grid for six months, and caused at least $100 billion in damages, including 300,000 homes and hundreds of Catholic church properties, some of which are centuries old.
The federal government was slow in its response to a suffering community, but the Catholic dioceses on the island were not. Neither was Catholic Extension Society.
The minute the Puerto Rican bishops got back communication capabilities, their first call was to Catholic Extension Society. “Help us,” they pleaded.
As a result, Catholic Extension Society was the first organization to wire money to Puerto Rico, allowing the Church on the island to immediately respond to the pastoral and humanitarian needs unfolding in its midst.
Acting fast to secure hurricane recovery funding
Three months went by, and an unexpected policy change prompted by a U.S. Supreme Court decision led to a new opportunity for houses of worship to receive rebuilding money from the federal government. The only catch was that churches had to act fast to stake their claim, and they needed seed money to get their recovery organized.
Knowing that time was of the essence and that dioceses were still, literally, operating “in the dark,” Catholic Extension Society stepped up to organize an island-wide initiative within six weeks to help the Church meet an application deadline and get access to hundreds of millions in federal aid to rebuild their churches and schools. Over 1,000 applications were submitted, which led Catholic Extension Society to assemble a full-scale recovery team utilizing the support of industry-leading experts to guide all dioceses during the long and complex road to recovery.
Later in January 2020, Puerto Rico was struck by a series of catastrophic earthquakes.
Thankfully, these communities were able to immediately benefit from the capable support of our on-island recovery team to access federal funding to rebuild their felled schools and churches.
The six dioceses of Puerto Rico, which are on the front lines serving more than 1.5 million people living in poverty, could not have afforded this damage assessment and grants management effort without Catholic Extension Society’s coordination and initial financial backing.
Building more resilient Catholic churches and schools
Thanks to Catholic Extension Society’s efforts, the Catholic Church in Puerto Rico is positioned to receive approximately $300 million in funding to rebuild 1,000 damaged parishes and schools—which provide so much hope, care and charity to the poor.
This past year alone, $95 million was finally “obligated” (that is, approved) by the federal government, putting the Church in Puerto Rico in the long-awaited position to begin repairing facilities so that it could rebuild and continue its vital mission in a place where the majority of the population is Catholic.
Catholic Extension Society’s recovery team also secured an additional $47.7 million in a competitive grant program, which will enable Catholic schools to receive “hazard mitigation funding,” allowing these structures to build in a more resilient, eco-friendly way and potentially serve as safe shelters in future hurricanes.
This progress in Puerto Rico gives us hope, but there is still so much to be done. However, thanks to Catholic Extension Society’s strategic investments, the expertise of our recovery partners, and the perseverance of our diocesan partners, we know that the Puerto Rican Church will one day rise again.
Support our work at Catholic Extension Society to help us restore Puerto Rico by donating here.
