The life journey of Toronto couple Mike Lattanzi and Susan Silveus has been largely defined by 22 years of cross-cultural service experiences in locales such as Cambodia and Jerusalem.

As Canada prepares to take the lead among the Core Group trying to solve Haiti’s anarchic and violent crisis, Canada’s top Jesuit is offering Prime Minister Justin Trudeau a precious resource — 55 Haitian Jesuits, including 35 currently in the troubled Caribbean nation. 

The Jesuits in Haiti are begging for help on behalf of a nation in chaos — but not just any help.

As 20 religious orders resident in Haiti have banded together to beg for international intervention to end chaos and violence rampant in the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere, Haiti’s Jesuits are standing aside.

Since the Aug. 14 earthquake in Haiti killed 2,200, injured 12,250, destroyed or damaged 130,000 houses and left 650,000 hungry, homeless and needing aid, so much has happened in the world it’s safe to say the world’s attention has been anywhere but Haiti.

Two weeks after Haiti's Aug. 14 earthquake, the country's southwest peninsula is still marked by funerals, aftershocks and a daily search for clean water, food and shelter.

When the 2010 earthquake hit Haiti, Jesuit Fr. Jean Francky went with his brother novices out onto the streets of Dumay, on the outskirts of Port au Prince. That night, the young religious men began digging through rubble with their bare hands.

LES CAYES, Haiti -- The magnitude 7.2 earthquake that struck Haiti collapsed the bishop's residence in Les Cayes, killing one priest, leaving one missing and injuring Cardinal Chibly Langlois.

VATICAN CITY -- Condemning the "heinous assassination" of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse, Pope Francis urged the people of Haiti to shun violence and make a commitment to dialogue and solidarity as the path to a better future.

MIAMI -- A "Mass for the freedom of Haiti," led by Haitian bishops, turned violent at the end when police fired tear gas into the church.

VATICAN CITY -- The latest victims of rampant kidnappings in Haiti are five priests, two nuns and three laypeople who were abducted together on their way to a parish near the capital of Port-au-Prince early April 11.

CLEVELAND -- Officials reported that at least 12 people had died as Tropical Storm Laura lashed Haiti and the Dominican Republic with strong winds and torrential rains, causing widespread flooding in low-lying communities.

Catholic organizations and their allies in Haitian civil society are condemning their own government and the international community on the 10th anniversary of the 2010 earthquake that left the country in ruins. 

A vicious circle of disasters and unresolved injustices are feeding one another and starving the citizens of Haiti. But the crisis is widely unknown.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti -- As Port-au-Prince began its fourth week of paralysis due to serious social unrest, the Haitian bishops' justice and peace commission called on President Jovenel Moise to step down.