Looking back at the weekly messages of Father Paul Counce, first published in The Carpenter, our weekly Parish Bulletin
Published: August 30, 2015
A Special Reminiscence from Bishop Robert Muench
The Setting. On a Saturday morning after the flood waters in New Orleans had receded, I drove to the residence where my parents had lived prior to Hurricane Katrina (from which they had evacuated with my sister, Mary, and her husband Frank, to Memphis beforehand) in the Gentilly neighborhood of the city. I was not prepared for what I saw when I took the Elysian Fields exit from the I-610 elevated expressway. I felt as if I had entered The Twilight Zone (science-fiction TV series). There was no sign of either life or activity. No movement anywhere. No people. No electricity. No operating street lights. No sound. No birds. No animals. Deserted homes and cars. Everything looked ashen. I drove down Elysian Fields Avenue towards Lake Ponchartrain and got to the corner at Rapides. I slowly took a left turn and proceeded another two blocks before turning right onto Pasteur Boulevard where my parents’ home was located. External water marks revealed it had been engulfed by eight feet of water. I didn’t enter the house, deferring to a later time when two of my sisters and their husbands could join me. When we did, we discovered everything inside the first floor of the house was ruined.
The Power of Nature. Nothing previous in my life had prepared me for the destruction caused by Hurricane Katrina. And while it was the breakdown of the levee system that caused the most significant damage, what decisively came through was the powerful impact of nature and the devastation and disruption it could cause if unabated.
The Power of Love. In preparation for and in the aftermath of the hurricane, our area became a haven for evacuees from the more coastal areas of the state. People here welcomed their new residents, family members, friends and strangers as well. Archbishop Alfred Hughes was warmly received back to our diocese and provided lodging and office space. Pope John Paul II sent Cardinal Paul Josef Cordes, then Vatican President of the Pontifical Council, “Cor Unum,” as an emissary who represented and expressed the personal concern, prayers and blessings of the Holy Father to our people, those in the Biloxi, MS, area, and to the Gulf Coast residents so deeply affected in the storm’s wake. St. Joseph Cathedral hosted a special Mass for the evacuees. Archbishop Hughes conducted a weekday morning television broadcast on Catholic Life TV (which he had previously established in Baton Rouge), communicating news and plans.
Our local people – within our Church and other faith groups, as well as non-profit organizations, governmental and civic leaders, citizens at large—joined hands and arms, minds and hearts, voices and prayer—to assist everyone in need. I have always been proud of our faithful in the Church and the residents of our area, but never more than through the care, generosity, sacrifice and service they epitomized during that crisis.
I especially cite the immense contributions of clergy, religious and lay leaders, the work of Catholic Charities at the national and diocesan level, the St. Vincent de Paul Society, the efforts of diocesan and parochial leaders and members, educators, students, seminarians, for the extraordinary and selfless contributions which they made at that time. Never before in my life had I witnessed people who joined hands and arms, minds and hearts, spirits and voices to make manifest the defining service taught by Jesus: “I was hungry and you gave me food; thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me… For whatever you did for one of the least of my brothers, you did for me” (Matthew 25:35-36, 40). Through it all, the God of Providence was with us, faithfully helping us cope with most challenging circumstances. Praised be God!
