The Root, News Report, Posted: Jul 18, 2012

The image of the Rev. Michel Louis, a Boston clergyman who asked the abductor in Egypt's Sinai to take him captive instead of a female fellow traveler, has been shown around the world since the international incident began unfolding over the weekend.

But long before the graying, 61-year-old pastor made a valiant stand on foreign soil, Boston-area leaders say Louis has stood out in his community.

Recently the pastor, who immigrated to the United States from Haiti as a young man, worked with the Haitian reunification program, Massachusetts state Rep. Linda Dorcena Forry told The Root. "He helps get the word out to his parishioners and to the community. He makes announcements at church. He makes sure that people get the paperwork they need," so that family members in Haiti can come to America to be with relatives.

When Forry first learned that Louis had been taken, along with Lissa Alphonse and a translator, Haytham Ragab, she said she was shocked. "This was the fourth time he had been over there," Forry said. She was not aware of any incidents on previous trips. "It's a blessing that he and the others have been released and that his health is fine."

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