“Spend Money We Don’t Have”: Puerto Rico’s Churches Were Still Fixing Maria Damage When Fiona Hit

• More than 1,000 church buildings in Puerto Rico were damaged by Hurricane Maria in 2017
• Churches were eligible for about US$400 million in federal reimbursement
• FEMA had allocated US$88 million for Catholic property repairs
• Hurricane Fiona struck in September 2022 before recovery was complete

Five years after Hurricane Maria damaged more than 1,000 church buildings across Puerto Rico, the island’s Catholic parishes were still rebuilding when Hurricane Fiona arrived in September 2022. The National Catholic Reporter described the struggle.

Churches were eligible for about US$400 million in federal reimbursement for Maria damage, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency had allocated US$88 million for Catholic property repairs from Maria and the 2020 earthquakes. But reimbursement comes after the spending, which creates a cash-flow trap. “We have to go out and spend money we don’t have to have that money be reimbursed,” said Manuel Martinez, rebuilding director at Catholic Extension.

The damage list was long. A chapel in Toa Baja had been closed for five years because of water damage. At a Catholic school in Vega Baja, the preschool was destroyed, an entire wing was unusable and the basketball court was gone. Immaculate Conception Church in Guayanilla had been damaged by the January 2020 earthquake. “Of course Fiona then arrived and hit Puerto Rico,” said Joe Boland, Catholic Extension’s vice president.

Father Enrique Camacho, director of Caritas de Puerto Rico, was helping parishes organise disaster response and aid distribution as the new storm hit.

The Puerto Rican experience holds a warning for Jamaican churches seeking government or donor support after Hurricane Melissa: money promised is not money in hand. Reimbursement schemes often require churches to pay contractors first and claim later, which small congregations cannot do. Jamaican denominations may need bridging finance, a pooled repair fund or a bank arrangement to carry parishes through the gap, and careful paperwork so that claims are not delayed.

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