antoine

Last May the AP wire service was succinct and bare bones. "A Catholic pastor whose congregation was forced into exile by Haitian dictator Francois (Papa Doc) Duvalier, died after complications from a stroke. He was 81. Antoine Adrien was the superior of the Holy Ghost Congregation in 1969, when Mr Duvalier forced him and his Congregation into exile . After three years in the Central African Republic, Rev. Adrien moved to New York. He returned to Haiti following the popular uprising that toppled the Duvalier dynasty."

Fellow Spiritans, former students of his at College Saint Martial, and the poor of Haiti remember a dedicated priest, a totally committed educator whose horizon was much wider than the classroom, and a powerful voice for the poor.

Educator par excellence
Born in Les Cayes on Haiti's south coast in 1922, Antoine completed his secondary school studies at College Saint Martial in Port au Prince and became a Spiritan in 1945 after a year's novitiate in Lac au Saumon, Quebec. After ordination m Chevilly, France he returned to Haiti where he taught at his alma mater, specializing m History. His love of history and his belief in its ongoing importance never left him as evidenced by his final bequest to Haiti - the Spiritan Haitian Library with its priceless original documents and early history of Haiti and the Caribbean.

For Antoine, education went beyond the confines of the classroom. Football, volleyball and athletics were his three principal extra curricular interests. He not only coached, he also bought and looked after the equipment, the food, the transportation, the uniforms, and the upkeep of the grounds. He pushed the players and athletes to their maximum efforts, but always within the bounds of fair play and respect for opponents. He wanted them to be proud of their school and its academic, cultural and sporting achievements. His winning teams always displayed dignity, discipline and respect for others.

Papa Doc Duvalier, dictator and despot, exiled Father Antoine in 1969 along with eight other Spiritans and diocesan priests and one layman. After his three years in Central Africa, Antoine came to Brooklyn and Queens where his dynamism and energy were put at the service of the Haitian exiles in New York. In 1986 he returned to Haiti, getting the Spiritans back on their feet. When College Saint Martial was restored to the Spiritans in 1994 he became its director for two years until several bypasses and a severe stroke paralysed him for the last six years of his truly remarkable life.

Fearless and high-minded
"All his life Antoine was a fearless servant of the poor," wrote one Spiritan who knew him well. "Everyone recognized how high-minded he was. He worked heart and soul for the people of Haiti." 	"When the situation was critical" says Fr. William Smarth, Antoine's longtime friend and co-worker, "many people came to Antoine because he had great moral standing in Haiti." Antoine himself disclaimed any such status. "Nobody is indispensable. I could die. Others could die. But ultimately I have absolutely no doubt that the people of Haiti will win."

To those who said that he and the other Spiritans were too deeply involved in political issues, he answered with deep conviction, "We are trying to be with the poor and for the poor. They need a voice. If you wish to be advocates for the poor, you must deal with the structures that cause their misery. All we ask is that the Haitian people be given a chance to live humanly and decently. In all of this we take the gospel as our guide."