Praying for Gulf Coast Families
Posted by Lisa Hendey in News on Sunday, August 31, 2008 9:54 PM
It feels eerily like deja vu. A little over three years ago, my Mom sat in my home watching CNN for hours on end as Hurricane Katrina ravaged her hometown of Gulfport, Mississippi.
My parents moved to Gulfport a few years before the storm and had already fallen in love with their new home and especially their parish.
They joined my sister Brady, her husband Matt and their son Patrick every Sunday for Mass at St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic Church in Long Beach. Patrick’s school sat perched near the top of the parish property, which had a stunning view of the beautiful Gulf across a small stretch of highway. All of it was quickly decimated by Katrina, but the St. Thomas community seems to have rebuilt themselves as a parish stronger than ever, despite the fact that they now worship in a refurbished roller skating rink.
With Hurricane Gustav having wreaked havoc in Haiti and Cuba and now bearing down on the Gulf Coast, I hope that you will join me in praying for the families whose lives have already been devastated by this storm and those who lie in its uncertain path. Catholic Relief Services is already reporting their early efforts to aid Gustav victims and will certainly need our ongoing financial and spiritual support.
For all of those families who have had to evacuate your homes and who face uncertainty and fear in the next several hours, please know that we are praying for you!
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