At first I was feeling really discouraged because the whole evacuation mess seemed like every man for himself, and the ensuing chaos was the natural result. I felt disappointed that the parishes, especially in the inner city, had not been part of the process: imagine if the parishes or diocese had had a pastoral disaster plan, in which all the people in a parish knew that when a call came to evacuate, they would meet at the Church and go to the shelter together. They could have even made it a kind of retreat, with Mass and Scripture and praying together, looking out for each other, etc. And that community could have saved lives and also souls, given that some people descended into animality under the brutish circumstances. And it seemed that this kind of soul-saving community had just not existed.
But now the stories are coming out.
The first one I heard was from the Vietnamese community: they really did "gather as Church" and stick together as a community and look out for each other, to the point of the priest being the last one to accept rescue.
Then I read about the Franciscans at St. Mary of the Angels, who lived on their rooftop with some 75 or 80 of the poorest of the city's inhabitants. After they were finally rescued (days of rooftop living behind them), one of the friars had to be hospitalized for dehydration and disorientation. There are shepherds who were willing to give their life for their sheep.
And yesterday's Tribune mentioned a woman who heads the department of Black Catholic Studies at Xavier University. She, too, led a group of people (mostly from Church) to shelter.
I hope we hear more stories like these in days to come.
And I hope the Archdiocese of New Orleans does implement a pastoral plan for disasters.
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