Catholic Media Journal

Our second day of tour was very similar to the first with words like incredible, unbelievable and inconceivable dominating all of our talks.

My morning began by reading the Gulfport paper and this little snippet that I found there stuck with me all day.

“Poor child”
One little boy in D’Iberville School was asked what he would
like? He said a pillow to put his head on and a blanket to cover with. Think about it!

Later at a Mass offered by the bishop in a Baptist Church for All Saints Day, the bishop asked the children what they had gotten as a result of Katrina the answers included

• School supplies in a bag that were sent to us
• A new house
• A new dog
• Didn’t lose my house
• The Lord has taken care of me

Warm, fuzzy feelings that soon leave as we begin again going from church to church assessing the damages. The adjectives again seem to fail to describe the devastation the loss … or the faith, hope and love that has brought the people together in faith communities.

Later in the day we heard about Carl “the printer” who lost his home near St. Paul’s Church in Pass Christian. Carl asked the pastor of he could stay in the devastated school. The pastor said yes, even though Carl was not a regular at the church. The pastor asked Carl if he in return would gather any artifacts he might see. Later Carl called to say he was going to stay with someone else, but that he “had found Jesus.”

The pastor was most excited … but Carl cooled that excitement explaining he really had found a statue of Jesus.

Every day is a story and each person has their own story.

– Deacon Greg LaFreniere, Assistant Editor, The Long Island Catholic