As of Feb. 1, parish collections pulled in $67,940.42 for disaster relief in Haiti, according to the diocesan Finance Office (formerly Business Office). More is expected.

The last time the diocese collected close to this amount was the $65,785 it raised for Philippines relief in 2007.

The money will go to Catholic Relief Services (CRS), the U.S. bishops’ international relief organization, which has a permanent operation in the impoverished Caribbean island nation.

After a magnitude 7 earthquake caused unprecedented death and destruction in Haiti on Jan 12, Bishop Larry Silva authorized a second collection in parishes for the weekend of Jan. 16-17. Parishes were still collecting money over the weekends that followed.

Parishioners may write checks to their parishes with a notation for Haitian relief. The parishes will send the money to the Finance Office for transferal to CRS.

The CRS representative in Hawaii is Iwie Tamashiro of the Office for Social Ministry. For more information, call her at 203-6702 or toll-free 877-263-8855, ext. 702., or e-mail her at itamashiro@rcchawaii.org.