Katrina Two Years Later: Gulf Shores

Gulf Shores was supposed to be where our hotel rooms were located. That was a three hour drive from our shelter where we worked, on a good day. Most days, due to gas shortages, road blocks, construction and just pain damage from Katrina were bad days. On bad days the drive was five hours one way. So, I stayed the first night, three nights later and on my last night in Alabama. The rest of the time I slept on a cot, in the kitchen of the church that hosted our shelter.

The hotel at Gulf Shores was beautiful. There were tropical birds in large bamboo cages in the entryway. The hotel faced the beach and the beach was beautiful. It went on forever, the water was aquamarine and warm as bath water. Gulls and palm trees were everywhere. Unfortunately, the palm trees had no branches.

The hotel however was barely functioning. It had just reopened. This was the third time the roof had been repaired in two years. Hurricanes, Charlie, Ivan and now Katrina had ripped off the roof and damaged the electrical system. After I returned home the hotel was again hit by Hurricane Rita.

Our rooms were packed, more people than beds. However, it would have been so wrong to complain, we had rooms and running water and we knew where our families were.

The entire area had been hit hard. Hotels and shops were destroyed. Boats were on the road. Amusement parks and museums were closed. The National Guard closed entire section of the area. And then there were the gators. The gator parks had been damaged and gators were lose. I hate that!

The area did have some nice restaurants that were beginning to open. My last night I was taken to dinner by some supervisors who liked our work. They took us to Lula’s Homeport owned by Lucy Buffett, sister of Jimmy Buffett. The restaurant was lit up with garden lights and it sat next to the Intercoastal Waterway. So as we ate giant barges slowly moved past us. It was a great setting to appreciate one another.

It was clear that during normal times the area was a tourist haven. Hotels and restaurants on the gulf, swamp forest on the other side of the road. Water parks and art colonies. And then there was the souvenir shop whose entrance way was a giant shark head. I did make sure I walked through that a number of times.

We were told by locals that all of the development over the past couple of decades was a mistake. One guy told me, “You don’t build anything on the beach you can afford to lose”. Good advice. There was a lot lost. If we drove north to Mobile the roads and bridges were damaged. If we drove east to Florida homes and towns were damaged. if we drove west to Mississippi the devastation was catastrophic.

All in all the area was a tease. It hinted at a beautiful time while only complicating our lives. I avoided it.

Katrina Relief: Loaves and Fishes

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZUdSdrmp0I

Katrina Two Years Later: Mobile

So, it is the two year anniversary since Hurricane Katrina revealed how unprepared we were, at all levels of government, to care for our citizens after a catastrophic disaster. I have responded to many national disasters. Each one is different and each has a different effect on me.

I have been to floods in Kentucky in which the folks were so angry there was fear of riots. That was the first time I noticed FEMA workers were being viewed as a problem instead of any answer. That was a change.

I responded to Sept. 11^th and served six blocks from Ground Zero during the Christmas break of 2001-02. That left me tired and sad, even anxious. I did not come home angry at “us”.

Katrina was different, way different. Cathi could tell it was getting to me when she talked to me on the phone. I had never been surrounded with non-stop sadness, loss, incompetence and an overwhelming sense of hopelessness. On the other hand, I also had never seen so many different people come together regularly in informal worship and support. Still, the over-riding feeling was one of being poisoned.

My boss and I had talked about developing criteria for when I could leave my classroom to respond to a disaster. We never made the criteria because neither one of us wanted to convert numbers of dead into days off of work. However when Katrina hit my boss simply said that whatever criteria we would have made would have acknowledged that the worst disaster in American history required a response. So, with the blessing of Dr. Daniel our department chair and with the University of Saint Francis I was off to provide disaster mental health services to folks dealing with Hurricane Katrina.

I flew into Montgomery Alabama only to be transferred to Mobile Alabama. The hotel we stayed at was in Gulf Shores, however, the shelter I would work at was in Citronelle Alabama. The hotel was an hour and a half south of Mobile, the shelter an hour north of Mobile. Because of all the problems with roads, traffic and gas shortages it was up to a three hour drive from the shelter to the hotel. I stayed at the hotel twice, it was not worth the drive.

I was aware of the massive destruction that occurred in New Orleans, in Louisiana, Gulf Port, Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, and the gulf coast of Alabama. I was not prepared for the wallop Mobile took.

I arrived in the middle of the night and then continued on to Gulf Shores. When I returned in the morning I saw a city that had most of its electrical power restored. Traffic lights mostly worked. However, the city was still under martial law, National Guard was everywhere. There were major gas shortages. I waited at three gas stations to get gas, the first two ran out before it was my turn to fill up.

Mobile is an impressive city. The Mobile Bay Visitor/Convention Center is this massive, modern glass building facing the gulf harbor. The Mobile Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception is beautiful and is surrounded by an antebellum section of town. I meet with staff members of the Mobile Archdiocese to see if I could conect them with our Education department. The goal was to guide our students in their desire to contribute to folks effected by Katrina. The highway from the city to the gulf shore spans the harbor. Then there is the USS Alabama. This is a massive battleship that served in the Atlantic and Pacific during World War II. It is now a museum and it was closed because that steel fortress was damaged by Katrina. It had an 8 degree list to port, weapons and planes were destroyed. It would require at least $4 million to repair it.

The city was full of folks from all over the Gulf coast looking for assistance, for a place to stay, for medical care and for lost friends and family.

The harbor was the site of cruise ships that were being converted into floating housing for the displaced. People looked tired, dazed. We were hundreds of miles from the center of the disaster and yet the impact permeated all aspects of life in Mobile.

Alleluia

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5LKLYF-wZc

Alleluia: Fr. Richard Ho Lung and Friends

Sister Julie Marie Oxley, O.S.F.

On August 04 friends, family, colleagues and fellow Religious came together at the USF chapel to celebrate Sister Julie Marie Oxley’s Silver Jubilee.

Twenty five years as a Sister of Saint Francis of Perpetual Adoration is no small accomplishment. Sister Julie Marie has worked at serving the aged Sisters at the motherhouse. She has served our students at the University of Saint Francis. She is currently a student in the Pastoral Counseling graduate program. When she is done she will be a servant to an even larger group of people.

Sister Julie Marie is a good servant. People leave her knowing they had been heard and that they had been cared about. She is funny, creative and clever and she is mischievous! So there was no surprise that many, many people came to mark this important milestone in her life.

The ceremony was beautiful. Father John presided. The Renewal of Vows was touching and the music was in harmony with the occasion.

Sister Julie Marie has the artist eye and this was reflected in the chapel. There were roses next to the statue of St. Francis, each with meaning.

The Red Rose stood for all the Sisters in her Community serving around the world.

The White Rose stood for all of the deceased Sisters

The Orange Rose stood for Sister Julie Marie’s family and friends.

There was also a bouquet at the alter and again there was nothing haphazard about its arrangement. The Lily was in memory of her father. The Daisy was in memory of her brother Dan and the Yellow Rose was in memory of her brother Jeff.

The attention to detail only reflected how she cared about so many people that have crossed her path.

After the ceremony there was a reception in the USF dinning room. People spoke of their experiences with Julie Marie. I sat with her high school employer who spoke of her as if she had only left the job to go to college last year!

Sister Julie Marie is humble, she embraces Lady Poverty. She embraces life, she jokes, laughs, cries and does not take the world for granted. In short she is a wonderful ambassador for Brother Francis and Sister Clare.

Congratulations on reaching this important milestone.

Profession Ceremony

On August 26 the Secular Franciscans of Holy Family Fraternity of Fort Wayne Indiana met at the chapel of Trinity Hall at the University of St. Francis. The day was special. The purpose was to celebrate Mass and witness the final vows of profession of Kathy Harpel and Shirley Bertels in the Secular Franciscan Order. Father Daryl Rybicki presided. The chapel was full of family and friends.

The music fit the auspicious occasion. The responsorial psalm was Go Out to All The World. The Communion Hymn was Let Us Be Bread. The Recessional Hymn was All Creatures of Our God and King.

The Rite of Profession or Permanent Commitment in the Gospel Life Within a Mass began with a clear introduction for the Ritual of the Secular Franciscan Order.

“We are assembled as a community to take part in the Eucharistic Sacrifice. In the celebration of the Eucharist Kathy Harpel and Shirley Bertels are going to make their profession of the gospel life in the Secular Franciscan Order."

The entire assemblage took part in the day. Most of us served as witnesses, some sang, others, including Father Rybicki, the Minster of Formation and Fraternity Minster took active parts in the Rite.

There was the Questioning:

“Before this fraternity and the other members of the People of God gathered here, I ask you to express your will. Do you wish to embrace the gospel way of life by following the example and words of St. Francis of Assisi, which are at the heart of the Rule of the Secular Franciscan Order?”

The minister of the fraternity later stated, “The local fraternity is a visible sign of the Church, a community of faith and love. Together with all the members, you have pledged yourselves to spend your efforts to make the fraternity a genuine ecclesial assembly and a living Franciscan community.”

Then the vows were made and accepted. After Mass the fraternity gathered at Casa Restaurant for food, camaraderie and of course cake.

Today was the end of two years of formation and training. The end of an even longer time of questioning, exploring and saying “yes”. More importantly, it was a new beginning, for Kathy and Shirley, for the Holy Family Fraternity, and for the entire Franciscan Family.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hD2i6Ymrxwg

All Creatures of Our God and King