Episcopal ministries evolving 10 years after Katrina, website says

From New Orleans (with video)

The Right Rev. Morris Thompson Jr. didn't become bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Louisiana until 2010. But even five years after Hurricane Katrina, it was still clear that the storm had "deeply wounded" the faithful, he told Episcopal News Service in a video interview.

"I could be in a meeting and say 'Tell me your experience,' and it would just flow out," he said.
More here-

http://www.nola.com/religion/index.ssf/2015/08/episcopal_ministries_evolving.html

Retired bishops reflect in Episcopal news site's video on Katrina

From New Orleans-

The Episcopal bishops of Louisiana and Mississippi reflect on Hurricane Katrina and its lessons for the church in a video posted Friday (Aug. 28) by Episcopal News Service. The Right Revs. Charles Jenkins of Louisiana and Duncan Gray III of Mississippi retired in the years after the storm struck Aug. 29, 2005.

"A church that is focused inwardly, a church – as I have said before – that exists for those who are already in it, I think, is a church that is not living up to the calling of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ," Jenkins is quoted as saying. "I would want the rest of the church to know that, here in New Orleans, she was reaching out to people to whom no one else would reach."

More here-

http://www.nola.com/katrina/index.ssf/2015/08/retired_episcopal_bishops_refl.html

Out of Deep Waters: Gulf Coast, Episcopal Church remembers Katrina

From ENS-

It was Sunday; just six days after Hurricane Katrina had ripped a swath of death and destruction across the Gulf Coast of Louisiana and Mississippi. It was time for church.

Not matter that Katrina had wiped the building known as St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Gulfport from its Gulf-side lot. The Rev. James “Bo” Roberts had not missed a Sunday service since he became rector of the then-123-year-old church in April 1969 before Hurricane Camille knocked the building of its foundation about the same time in August of that year.

And so, on Sept. 3, the Sunday of Labor Day weekend, the particle board sign along debris-strewn Church Avenue just north of sand-covered East Beach Boulevard read “Here! Mass 9:30 Bring Chair.”

Roberts, a Gulf Coast native, rode out Camille in his home but nearly died. He stayed for Katrina, too.

More here-

http://episcopaldigitalnetwork.com/ens/2015/08/26/out-of-deep-waters-gulf-coast-episcopal-church-remembers-katrina/

Christ Episcopal plans grand opening

From Mississippi-

Christ Episcopal Church in Bay St. Louis will host a community grand opening at 4 p.m. Sunday for the new church and parish hall, rebuilt after Hurricane Katrina destroyed the previous structures. Christ Church is at 912 S. Beach Blvd.

Established in 1889, the church has been destroyed by fire and two hurricanes and is rebuilt back on the beach where it was.

This time, however, said the Rev. Patrick Skutch, rector, “it’s deliberately turned in a different direction so that as you drive along the beach, you see the profile of the church, and it was very important to the congregation that the church be inviting. It says very strongly, ‘We are here, and we are open and we would like to see you.’

“The old church was set back a little bit further on the landscape, and you did not see as much of it when you went by.”

The sanctuary and the parish hall next door to it were consecrated in May for parish use and worship.

“This opening is geared toward an intentional welcome and open house for the community itself,” Skutch said.

Read more:

http://www.sunherald.com/2010/10/08/2541398/christ-episcopal-plans-grand-opening.html#ixzz11rXIehuz

Katrina Volunteers Call Mississippi Home

From Fox-

Five years after Hurricane Katrina, many of the volunteers who responded to the Mississippi coast for temporary relief projects have become permanent residents.

"When I first came down, it was right after the storm," said Matt Walenciak, who originally came as part of a college volunteer project. "People have lost everything -- their houses, their cars, their jobs, even family members. And they would just welcome you with open arms. They'd scrap together whatever money they could to buy food to feed the volunteers that were down there."
The hospitality, gratitude and self-reliance exhibited by Mississippi residents in the wake of Katrina also inspired Andrew Thompson to stay on the coast, where he eventually met his wife Kathryn, a fellow volunteer.

"Seeing people who we've helped build their house turn around and want to help us with other people's houses, that was really a turning point," Mr. Thompson said. "Instead of everybody (needing) help, they're starting to help each other."

Thompson and Walenciak have been rebuilding and repairing storm-ravaged homes through Mission on the Bay, a joint program by the Episcopal and Lutheran churches to coordinate volunteers in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. It was one of the last remaining volunteer camps in the area. But over the weekend, Mission on the Bay will be closing its doors as well.


Read more:

http://liveshots.blogs.foxnews.com/2010/08/29/katrina-volunteers-call-mississippi-home/#ixzz0y5rrW0nt

Katrina memories mix with spill worries

From ELO-

If you live on the Gulf Coast, says the Very Rev. James "Bo" Roberts, it's not a question of whether a natural disaster will strike, but rather when the next one will come.

Roberts knows what he's taking about. He is the rector of St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Gulfport, Mississippi, one of six churches along the Gulf Coast portion of the Diocese of Mississippi that Hurricane Katrina destroyed on Aug. 29, 2005. He began his ministry at St. Mark's in April 1969, "right before [Hurricane] Camille came and tore it all up in August of that year, so I have rebuilt completely twice," along with making lots of repairs after other storms in between.

Nell Bolton, executive director of Episcopal Community Services of Louisiana, which grew out of the Diocese of Louisiana's early post-storm disaster-relief efforts, recites the events of the last five years almost like a litany: "Katrina, Rita, Gustav, Ike, and the economic downturn and now the oil spill."

More here-

http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79425_124244_ENG_HTM.htm

Episcopal priest who moved mountains after Katrina resigns

From Louisiana-

The Rev. Jerry Kramer, a hyper-energetic Episcopal priest who transformed a small neighborhood church into a powerhouse that helped drive the post-Katrina recovery of the entire Broadmoor neighborhood, stunned his parishioners last week with news that, sick and exhausted, he has resigned.

In an accompanying e-mail message, Kramer said that if he recovers after several months on a temporary medical disability, he hopes next year to return to missionary work in Tanzania with his wife and two children.

"But I have to get well to do that, " he said last week. "I need some rest. I absolutely need some rest.

"I haven't been able to put in a full day (of work) in over a year."

In the four years since Katrina, Kramer developed a reputation as a innovative priest who, from the moment he paddled up to his flooded church on South Claiborne Avenue, merged its recovery with the recovery of the surrounding neighborhood.

"I think before he arrived, we were trying to figure out what our mission was, " said Martha McKnight, the head of the vestry at Kramer's Free Church of the Annunciation.

More here-

http://www.nola.com/hurricane/index.ssf/2009/09/post_3.html

Biloxi service memorializes victims

From Biloxi-

Mayor A.J. Holloway reminded the crowd gathered at the Town Green for an 8 a.m. Katrina service, “At this exact time four years ago, we’d be standing in water over our heads.”
Under clear blue skies, four students from Biloxi schools recited the names of the 51 people who perished in the storm. The oldest was 96; the youngest 22.

“Today we pause to remember the victims,” Holloway said, and also to look forward to the day when visitors to the Coast will comment on Biloxi’s remarkable recovery rather than the devastation of Katrina.

Offering a prayer for the first responders was the Rev. Harold Roberts of the Episcopal Church of the Redeemer, who returned to the beach late on the day on Aug. 29, 2005, to find his church and his home gone.

“Today again I say thank you,” he said to the police, firefighters, National Guard, the Navy and all the others who he said made order out of chaos.

Also remembered were the volunteers. “To me it was the clearest evidence of God at work,” said Milt Grishman, lay leader of Congregation Beth Israel. “It was a miracle. They came from everywhere.”

Mike Womack, executive director of the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency, said everyone thought Camille was the worst hurricane until Katrina hit and he cautioned Katrina may not be the worst storm Biloxi will ever see.
He was at the Mississippi State Emergency Operations Center four years ago.

More here-

http://www.sunherald.com/local/story/1570476.html

LOUISIANA: Bishop Jenkins calls for better case management for Hurricane Katrina’s most vulnerable victims

From Episcopal Life Online-

During a May 22 hearing on Capitol Hill, Episcopal Bishop of Louisiana Charles E. Jenkins urged state and government agencies to employ better case management strategies to solve lingering post-Hurricane Katrina housing problems in Louisiana.

Jenkins was part of a four-person panel addressing the Economic Development, Public Buildings and Emergency Management subcommittee of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, which is chaired by Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.).

Other panel members were David Garratt, acting deputy administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA); Fred Tombar III, senior advisor to the Secretary for Disaster and Recovery Programs, Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD); and Paul Rainwater, executive director of the Louisiana Recovery Authority.

The purpose of the three-hour hearing, titled, “Still Post-Katrina: How FEMA Decides When Housing Responsibilities End,” was to receive testimony on the status of housing assistance provided after the August 29, 2005, hurricane hit the Gulf Coast.

Of particular concern were FEMA’s thrice-extended Katrina Housing Program, which formally ended on May 1, and HUD’s Disaster Housing Assistance Program (DHAP), also extended, which ended in March and will cease making rental payments to participants on August 31.

The rest is here-

http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81803_107952_ENG_HTM.htm

Good Stuff In TEC: Virginia and Louisiana

Break for Katrina Relief

While many of their friends were at the beach or relaxing at home, the Episcopal campus ministry of Virginia Commonwealth University spent their spring break rebuilding a house in New Orleans. The group of 13 students worked through a program with the Office of Disaster Response of the Episcopal Diocese of Louisiana.

The program serves homeowners who, for financial or health reasons, are unable to rebuild their houses. According to Pete Nunnally, mission and volunteer coordinator, the program has rebuilt 50 homes since the storm, 20 in the past year.

Rebuild Coordinator Amanda Davis said volunteers are instrumental in the program. The program hosts volunteer groups on a weekly basis. Groups receive basic training and guidance from their assigned crew chiefs. The VCU group spent the week putting sheet rock onto all the ceilings and walls.

http://www.richmond.com/community-focus/26170

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