Guy Sansaricq

Guy A. Sansaricq (October 6, 1934 – August 21, 2021), also known as Pierre Marie Guy Sansaricq, was a Haitian-American Catholic prelate who served as auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of Brooklyn from 2006 to 2010. He was an emblematic figure in advocating the rights of Haitian immigrants and the undocumented, as well as an ardent opponent of the Duvalier dictatorship.

Sansaricq was first assigned to the staff of the cathedral in Les Cayes. After training there, he worked for seven years as a chaplain for Haitian immigrants in the Bahamas. Many of his relatives died in a massacre, the Vêpres de Jérémie or Jérémie Vespers, under the Duvalier regime in August 1964. a position he held until his death.

In March 2000, he joined ten other religious leaders in confronting New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and Police Commissioner Howard Safir following the accidental shooting of an unarmed Haitian-American man, Patrick M. Dorismond, in a scuffle with undercover police officers. Sansaricq had officiated at Dorismond's funeral that concluded with a violent altercation with the police.

Brooklyn auxiliary bishop On June 6, 2006, Pope Benedict XVI appointed him auxiliary bishop of Brooklyn and titular bishop of Glenndálocha. He received his episcopal consecration on 22 August from Bishop Nicholas Anthony DiMarzio alongside two other new auxiliaries for the diocese.

As a bishop Sansaricq published a quarterly newsletter on Haitian matters and the Church, conducted a pastoral institute in Creole that attracted 90 students annually, organized an annual convention of the Haitian Apostolate, and coordinated an annual retreat for priests and a yearly youth congress. He was also a co-founder of Haitian-Americans for Progress, a service agency, He remained very active in retirement.

Sexual abuse allegation Upon his death, Sansaricq was revealed to have been accused in a 2019 lawsuit alleging child sexual abuse dating to the 1990s at St. Jerome Catholic School in Brooklyn. The case was filed by Victor Petit-Phare and was pending in civil and ecclesiastical court.