Catholic Priest Who Survived Haitian Gang Abduction Urges Prayers for 17 Kidnapped Missionaries

On April 11, Catholic priest Jean-Nicaisse Milien, along with nine other priests and nuns, were on their way to install a fellow church member as leader of a new parish in Haiti. 

When they reached the outskirts of Port-au-Prince, more than a dozen heavily armed gang members stopped their vehicle.

"I was kidnapped! I was kidnapped," Milien said.

Milien told CBN News that the 400 Mawozo gang, the same group behind the October kidnapping of 17 missionaries, also abducted him.

"What did they demand from you?" CBN News asked Milien. "They demanded money. $1 million," he replied.

One million dollars per person -- the same amount they demanded for the 16 Americans and one Canadian kidnapped last month after visiting a Haitian orphanage.

"My faith helped me a lot," Milien recalled.

Milien said the gang, made up mostly of young men and teenagers, would move them around to several locations.  Often blindfolded, they slept on floors and had little to eat.

Milien said he and the others drew strength from prayer times. They had one Bible which they would read when guards weren't around.

"We said a moment of prayer in the morning. A moment of prayer in the midday and a moment of prayer in the night," he explained. 

Milien's freedom came 20 days later after his parish paid an undisclosed ransom amount to the gang.

This week, Milien led mass at a church in Port-au-Prince and urged congregants to pray for the safe release of the 17 missionaries.

A leader of the Mawozo gang has reportedly threatened to kill the missionaries if their ransom demands aren't met.

"I'm asking every friend of mine to pray for the American people being held and the Canadian one," Milien told CBN News.

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