GUY SANSARICQ was born in Jeremie, Haiti, October 6, 1934,
into a devout Catholic family. He decided at age 13 that he
wanted to become a priest. He attended the seminary of the
Jeremie Diocese for five years, after which he received a
scholarship to St. Paul's Pontifical Seminary in Ottawa,
Canada, where he studied philosophy and theology for seven years.
In 1960 he was ordained a priest in the cathedral in
Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
After ordination he was assigned to the Cathedral of
Les Cayes, but after a year he was assigned by his bishop
to serve as chaplain for Haitian immigrants in the Bahamas,
ministering from the Benedictine Priory of St. Francis in Nassau.
During his seven years there, he became aware of the plight of
immigrants, and especially undocumented immigrants. When he
completed his work in the Bahamas, he was given a scholarship
to study social sciences at the Pontifical Gregorian University
in Rome, where he received a master's degree in 1971.
In that same year, he was accepted to serve in the
Diocese of Brooklyn and was assigned to Sacred Heart
parish in Cambria Heights, where he served for 22 years.
During that time, he was appointed diocesan coordinator of
the Haitian Apostolate. In 1987 he was selected by the US Bishops
to head the National Haitian Apostolate. In 1993, he was named
pastor of St. Jerome's Church in Flatbush, where he has continued
to minister. He was named Prelate of Honor by Pope John Paul II
in 1999. He was ordained auxiliary Bishop of Brooklyn in 2006.
Bishop Sansaricq´s involvements include publishing a
quarterly newsletter on Haitian matters concerning the church,
conducting a pastoral institute in Creole that attracts 90
students annually, organizing an annual convention of the
Haitian Apostolate, and coordinating an annual retreat for
priests and a yearly youth congress. He is also a co-founder
of Haitian-Americans for Progress, a service agency.
