Latham pastor assesses damage at Gulf parish

Seated in his comfortable office at St. Ambrose parish in Latham, Rev. Francis DuBois thumbed through photos of a very different parish.

"They're still paying on that," he remarked, pointing to a picture of what remains of a parish center: a skeletal A-frame roof that appeared to be standing on stilts, because there was no building left below it.

The center was completed just a few years ago, but it was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina before the mortgage was paid off.

Visit to Gulf

The photos showed St. Thomas the Apostle parish in Long Beach, Mississippi, in the Biloxi Diocese, where Father DuBois spent a few days last month surveying damage done by Katrina.

Since St. Thomas was located a stone's throw from the Gulf of Mexico, its church, school and rectory were leveled when 25-foot waves tore through the town and then receded with equal force.

The pastor had learned about St. Thomas Church through a visitor from Mississippi who heard a homily he gave on helping hurricane survivors. Father DuBois hoped St. Ambrose could partner with the ocean-front parish.

Swept out to sea

Around Thanksgiving, Father DuBois was invited to Long Beach by the pastor of St. Thomas, Rev. Louie Lohan. Father Lohan made room for his visitor at a tiny house the parish has been using as a combination rectory and office, and showed him the former roller rink bought by the Knights of Columbus (who also lost their headquarters) that has become a temporary church and school.

"Everything is gone," Father DuBois reported. "It's all in the ocean or debris."

Father DuBois noted that all parish records of baptisms, marriages and other information, which "are so vital to a parish," were swept out to sea.

State of shock

Father DuBois said the parishioners he met during his visit were "just numb, in shock."

One 81-year-old woman he heard about had come out of her home after the storm to invite rescuers in for dinner. She had no idea the bottom floor of her house had been washed away and the rooms she was using had no foundation beneath them.

Father Lohan himself, while showing Father DuBois the devastation at his parish, couldn't help trying to sweep up some debris. Father DuBois compared the futile effort to "arranging chairs on the Titanic."

Widespread damage

St. Thomas isn't the only parish damaged by Hurricane Katrina; in the Diocese of Biloxi, ten parishes were totally destroyed, and the remainder had at least some damage.

Father DuBois said that the diocese was insured for $35 million, but the total cost of repairs is estimated to be around $100 million.

One solution would be to merge some parishes and schools, said Father DuBois, but many Catholics who have lost so much are resisting the idea of losing their parishes, too.

Helping out

Through his visit, Father DuBois came to realize that the partnership he had hoped for -- in which each parish would give something to the other -- would not be possible yet.

Instead, the parishioners of St. Ambrose have decided to simply help their suffering fellow Catholics; the pastor said they feel a bond because the parishes were similar in economic makeup and in hosting programs like Life Teen for youth.

Several parishioners from St. Ambrose plan to visit St. Thomas in January to determine how they can help. Teens from St. Ambrose who usually take an annual trip to Mexico to do service work may go to Long Beach instead.

Connected

Father DuBois believes the connection with St. Thomas parish may be the work of the Holy Spirit. Of late, he said, St. Ambrose's parishioners have been promoting ideas on love and service in order to further the faith of the whole parish, particularly through performing the Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy.

"Right now, we're taking care of ten families [in Long Beach] for Christmas," he added.

As St. Ambrose draws closer to St. Thomas, the parishioners of the latter parish are drawing closer to one another. In fact, Father DuBois said, when he saw the devastation in Mississippi and told Father Lohan that his parishioners should move to the Albany Diocese, St. Thomas parish turned him down flat because of New York's winter weather. They said they would rather deal, together, with the aftermath of the hurricane.

(A few Long Beach residents didn't experience much damage from Hurricane Katrina. One couple had a dead body wash onto their property, but their home weathered the storm. They told Father DuBois they feel guilty for not having lost as much as their neighbors did.)

(12/15/05) [[In-content Ad]]