Bishop surveys Gulf coast devastation, releases poverty report and gives aid

In his role as chairman of the U.S. bishops' Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD), Bishop Howard J. Hubbard spoke out strongly at a New Orleans press conference last week against the "shocking" and "staggering" rate of poverty in the U.S. -- 37 million people living below the poverty line.

Meeting residents of the hurricane-ravaged Gulf Coast, the Bishop was "impressed by the resiliency of the people, their civility, their determination to rebuild their lives."

He hoped the "spotlight" placed on Gulf Region poverty in the wake of Hurricane Katrina would "reignite the national debate on eliminating poverty in our society."

Bringing aid

Bishop Hubbard was in New Orleans to announce the distribution of 20 new grants from the CCHD to Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas groups to address the needs of low-income hurricane survivors -- a total of $515,000 in aid.

He also presented findings from a CCHD "Poverty Pulse" survey on concern about poverty in America (see www.povertyusa.org).

The Bishop noted that $150,000 in CCHD aid had been allocated right after Hurricane Katrina hit. He also brought a check for an additional $100,000, which was donated by Catholics in the Albany Diocese, bringing total donations from the Diocese to Catholic Charities of Baton Rouge to $500,000.

All told, the Albany Diocese has raised $1.4 million in hurricane aid.

Voice for poor

Bishop Hubbard said the CCHD grants would "ensure the poor and low-income have a voice in how their communities are going to be rebuilt. That's a big tension in New Orleans right now."

He spoke from experience, having flown to Louisiana the day before the press conference in order to meet with Catholic Charities staff in Baton Rouge, where the Diocese has been sending teams of volunteers since September. (Three more volunteers from the Diocese were on the same flight.)

There, the Bishop learned that many Catholic Charities staff members are evacuees themselves. "They're trying to help others reclaim their lives at the same time they're trying to reclaim their own," he said. "They're working with that hurt and pain, day in, day out."

Bishop Hubbard also met with Archbishop Alfred Hughes of New Orleans, who is serving on the commission that's exploring rebuilding the city. Bishop Hubbard said his fellow bishop also had the unenviable task of deciding which of his parishes must be closed.

Seeing for himself

After the press conference, Bishop Hubbard toured New Orleans' Lower 9th Ward, one of the hardest-hit areas, and "Renaissance Village," a 573-trailer settlement in Baton Rouge currently housing 1,500 evacuees.

"Words cannot describe the devastation" in the 9th Ward, he told The Evangelist.

While TV cameras can show only a house or a block at a time that have been destroyed, he said, in reality "it is as if, from the Hudson River to the Pastoral Center [in Albany], you have nothing but houses off their foundations, cars turned upside down, debris all over -- and for every one of those houses, there's a family who lost everything they had."

Looking for hope

One woman he met at Renaissance Village told the Bishop she had been living in a family home for 10 years when the hurricane hit. But, since she didn't have a deed to the house, she couldn't make an insurance claim to recover her losses.

Other evacuees said they had only insurance coverage against wind damage, not the flooding that destroyed their homes.

"The relief workers said the main thing is giving people a sense of hope, because they're living day-to-day. They don't know what their lives are going to be," Bishop Hubbard stated.

Recovery

He compared the disaster to 9/11, when the Albany Diocese sent volunteers to New York City to provide aid.

The Bishop noted that, after the terrorist attacks on the U.S., there was a "clear path" regarding whether to rebuild the devastated areas. Residents of the Gulf Coast have no such assurances.

"Everybody in the city has a story of how they were affected," the Bishop continued. Even at the hotel where he stayed, employees told him they were living on the premises because they hadn't been able to get back into their homes yet. Many had been trying since September to get the power up and running again.

He hoped that the "silver lining" to the disaster will be "leading people to say, 'This is intolerable. We as a nation must do something about it.'"

Poverty in the U.S., he said, is "a persistent problem that can only be resolved by a national effort."

(The Catholic Campaign for Human Development supports projects that combat poverty across the U.S. Its funding comes from an annual collection taken up in parishes. In its 35-year history, CCHD has distributed more than $280 million in grants. The press conference led by Bishop Hubbard was held at "Cafe Reconcile," a CCHD-supported restaurant in New Orleans that trains poor people in food service work. New CCHD grants will fund community centers, credit and homeowner counseling for hurricane survivors, and outreach programs that provide food, shelter and other assistance.)

FINDINGS

Survey takes 'pulse' of poverty

At the CCHD press conference, Bishop Hubbard noted key findings from the "Poverty Pulse" national survey, including:

* 75 percent of respondents said the situation in New Orleans should be used to call greater attention to poverty throughout the U.S.;

* when asked where Congress should spend tax dollars, helping the poor ranked fourth as a priority, behind health care, education and national defense;

* 56 percent of respondents said they have helped the poor in the past year through donating to a group assisting the poor, while 46 percent gave to disaster relief, 42 percent prayed (as opposed to previous surveys, where only one or two percent said they prayed) and 12 percent said they did nothing;

* when asked how to break the cycle of poverty in the U.S., top responses included paying living wages to low-income workers and providing better education for children; and

* 31 percent of respondents felt the federal government has the primary responsibility to fix poverty in the U.S., though they said everyone needs to share in the solution. (KB)

(1/26/06) [[In-content Ad]]