Katrina hits Carmel

2006-01-27T08:12:00.000-08:00

We finally moved back into our House of Studies in New Orleans on January 5th, after four months of living in exile, one at Marylake and the other three at our Nuns in Covington. The first week was tough. We had electricity, but no gas. That meant cold showers, which didn’t seem to bother Brother Joseph Le. Our Fr. Provincial, however, drove over to his parents home in Harrah to take a shower. Recall that we had to ditch both refrigerator and freezer in our first visit to the house after the hurricane hit. Brother Joseph Le’s status as a Katrina refugee is questionable since he moved out just before Katrina to make a six month "second novitiate" in our monastery in Oklahoma City in preparation for his solemn profession which took place in San Antonio on the Feast of the Holy Family. Here are a couple of on-the-scene reports.

Greetings from New Orleans. Joseph Le and I moved back into our house here last Thursday [the 5th], and I've been pre-occupied with trying to get things up and running. We will not have the natural gas turned back on until Wednesday, so we are still without heat, hot water, a stove and a clothes dryer. Over the weekend, I resumed the work of switching room and office, combined with sorting through four months of accumulated papers/mail, etc. What a mess! On the cold days, I confined myself to one room, which I warmed with a portable heater. The rest of the house was really cold!

–Fr. Gregory 09-Jan-06

Things here are slowly getting back to normal. Our new refrigerator and freezer are being delivered today [Monday], so we will now have "all the conveniences of modern life" once again!

–Fr. Gregory 23-Jan-06

We have frig and deepfreezer now, along with all the utilities, phones and internet. Big seminary [photo] next door to us does not have phones. The city is coming back in some parts; in others it is like post war zones. What disaster. At the day of recollection last Saturday at a New Orleans parish, I had to give time to people to emote in public before getting to the subject of bring the Beatitudes to this post-Katrina/Rita period. They responsed well. Even men shed tears when speaking. They have really been through a lot of loss, big time loss. I feel we Carmelites are among the fortunate ones. I also felt I had little to bring in terms of experience to people who suffered so much.

–Fr. Sam 26-Jan-06

2005-12-19T09:52:00.000-08:00

Last Friday, Sr Joan and I went in with a friend to New Orleans. I had been to Metairie after Katrina, and except for debris and sheetrock piled up everywhere, it looked fairly normal, except for trailers parked in front yards while residents redid their homes. But New Orleans parish was quite a different story, we went to the Rampart Street Monastery [photo], and also our little Monastery home on Mirabeau Ave.

The French Quarter didn’t flood so the damage on Rampart Street was wind damage. But there was a lot, one of the thick exterior enclosure walls took a big hit when an oak fell on it, and the beautiful chapel was damaged the most. Father Capucci from Boston was getting ready to return to his diocese. Once Katrina came his bishop allowed him to stay another year as he is so needed there to run the Center of the Lord Jesus. He’s a wonderful priest. He said the doors to the chapel blew open and then the wind rushed in and blew out numerous stained glass windows: four of the big ones, and two in the back of the chapel higher [photo], and even the one of the transfiguration in the sanctuary high up in the wall. The rose window at the back suffered extensive damage too. Most of the cherubs, and our Lady were blown out in the Rose Window. It looked so strange to see it in that condition: headless cherubs and Our Lady gone. Father Capucci said it would cost about $25,000 per window to repair, and they don't have that money, as so many other repairs are needed. They aren't doing retreats or conferences yet but some money is coming in as a big hotel is renting rooms there for their workers and repair crews. Father Capucci is such a gracious host. We had dinner with him in his kitchen (our former sacristy). He has a picture on the wall of one of our Carmelite Nuns preparing for Mass when it was still the sacristy. He wants to do that in every office, showing a picture of what it was originally used for; we had given him a lot of negatives from our archives.

From Rampart we went to the Mirabeau Monastery. It was like entering another world: desolation, destruction everywhere, hardly a car in the streets. Block after block of ruined homes with the water mark clearly showing. And the water mark is where the water stood for three weeks, it actually rose higher. The mayor and the governor are saying ‘come back, come back’ to the people, now that the government is going to give $3.1 billion to improve the levees but what will they come back to? Not everyone can afford to rebuild, and what if you are the only one on the block to rebuild, and all around you is desolation. What kind of life would you be able to reconstruct? And what about your safety? At Mirabeau we got out and were even able to walk inside the little monastery. I am so glad Mother Mary did not live to see it; she would have been devastated. I thought it was the perfect little monastery. I loved everything about it. The only problem with it was it was too small to receive novices and not much grounds for our way of life. What if we had stayed? Where would we be now?

Here are pictures of the Mirabeau monastery. The water level line was just below the middle of the windows, then the familiar marks on the door which mean the place has been inspected, then the plank on the front porch saying, "Gutt It."

Lest we wondered what "Gutt it" meant, we then walked inside. Here’s what we found. The whole neighborhood, for blocks and blocks, is uninhabited and looks like this. Sad, sad." [Sr. Joan, photographer]

The first floor was an absolute mess; water still standing in some places, everything gutted; the front yard and back yard a sea of mud, and all around it the same stillness and desolation and destruction. The oak tree was still there but nothing else. I feel so sorry for the Teresians; they bought the convent from us in 1995 and had renovated it so nicely for their retired sisters.
We passed by St Joseph Convent. I hardly recognized it; it looked like a group of old, blighted buildings. Sr. Suellen, our Vicar for Religious, told us they are not coming back, the Holy Family sisters too are not coming back. What a tragedy!

The minute we passed from Orleans Parish into Metairie (over the 17th street canal) where it had not flooded, what a difference! Still debris around but so much more life, cars in the streets, stores open, homes occupied or being renovated. Please keep in your prayers all these people and that some day New Orleans will return to normal, hopefully in my lifetime.

Sr. Aletheia

2005-12-18T11:27:00.000-08:00

Sister Aletheia traveled into New Orleans to check on our nuns old convent in the French Quarter as well as their temporary quarters on Mirabeau. The winds damaged the old convent on Rampart; floods took the area around Mirabeau. More later.

2005-12-09T20:13:00.000-08:00

Our two students, Juan and Joseph Marie, are finishing up their fall semester in Covington and plan to move back into the house of studies before Christmas. Student Master, Fr. Sam, plans to move back into the New Orleans house tomorrow. We have electricity and drinkable water. I'm not sure about internet access, which has been spotty even in Covington across the lake. We were fortunate to have received little water damage to the house. The water flooded the parking lot outside, and we lost the two cars left there in the evacuation, but only one room of our house suffered bad water damage due to a window breaking during the storm. The water came up to the top step of our porch and spared the first floor.

Our sister in Carmel, Marion Stearns OCDS, was finally laid to rest on December 3. What a terrible ordeal this has been for her family. Marion drowned in her home in Chalmette on August 29, and her body was finally delivered to her family on the last of November. Seven members of her Carmelite community said the rosary and litany of Loretto at her wake and sang the Salve Regina at her funeral. God bless her husband and children for having to endure such a drawn out ordeal to bury their loved one.

2005-10-04T20:47:00.000-07:00

One more Carmelite from New Orleans is found safe: Shelly Thomas. So that’s 20 missing, 9 safe, and 1 dead in New Orleans as of today. Provincial Councillor Gerald Alford, recovering from a triple bypass operation, took refuge from hurricane Rita in Pensacola, Florida. "A bad night, in a bad inn." That is how Saint Teresa of Jesus is said to have defined this earthly life. On his way home to Lafayette, he and his wife Betty dropped by to visit our nuns in Covington who are doing fine. The reports of "starving Carmelite nuns" had been an erroneous rumor.

"Our younger son who stayed behind telephoned us about 1am on the 24th that a tree had been blown down and landed on the back corner of our house in Lafayette. Water had poured in and damaged a chair my wife bought, which I hated... Even she came to lose affection for it because it was really not comfortable to sit in. It was stressful - now knowing exactly what was going on back home. But our son did well in covering the best he could the floor and furnishings inside, and Betty has these wonderful relatives from New Orleans, some of whom we had provided shelter from Katrina, and three of the guys came to Lafayette and covered the damaged area with tarps. Their generous act was a great consolation to me and relieved my already physically aching heart." [Gerald Alford]

2005-10-03T20:48:00.000-07:00

The report from the President of our New Orleans community: "I have finally had a chance to think about our chapter and our start up. My employer, Folger Coffee Company was about the only thing running in New Orleans last week. The city was a lifeless stinking mess. My drive to work each day is emotional. I heard stories today from people in St. Bernard Parish who lost everything and are living in someone’s garage somewhere on the North Shore or their family is two states away. My house [in Slidell] flooded as well but I have three bedrooms upstairs we are staying in and getting the flood out of the bottom floor. St. Bernard Parish is uninhabitable. Getting around in a car is difficult with checkpoints and roads restricted.

"I think our members are scattered around the southern U.S. I cannot foresee when things will be normal enough to have a meeting. What I want to recommend to our council is that our members join up with a chapter near where they are staying, continue their daily routine of prayer and reading (or get back into it), and wait. When the time is right we will start up again. It could be six months or two years. Can you do me a favor and serve as a liason to them in some fashion and let them know my recommendation. Somehow we can make a joint communication to all members who we have contact with." Your brother, Bruce

So far, I have only been in contact, directly or indirectly, with nine members of our New Orleans community. That leaves 21 either missing or as Bruce puts it "scattered around the south."

2005-10-02T06:52:00.000-07:00

News from our nuns in Covington from Sister Alethea, [picture below]: “We had no internet access till Saturday a week ago. When I told Sr Edith about your blog, she told Ada Jordan [OCDS of New Orleans]... Thanks so much. I was happy to learn that at least some members of Marion Stearn's family survived; we had heard they all drowned.

“Now here is some news for you. Fr. Gregory Ross, Fr Sam Anthony and Brothers Joseph Marie and Juan, were allowed for the first time to return to the Student House in New Orleans yesterday, Sept 27, to see how it fared. Fr Sam Anthony was dreading it, especially from what we had heard of others who had returned to their homes, especially the condition of refrigerators and freezers. So, when they arrived at the Student House and Father Gregory said, "Let me be first", Fr. Sam Anthony was only too glad to say "Be my guest". However, it did not turn out to be as bad as they feared, with the exception of the freezer and refrigerator. The water line was to the second step and they have three steps so no water entered the house. They detected new mould only in the tv room where a window had blown out. All books, computers etc. safe. The brothers were heroic; they took the refrigerator and freezer out before emptying them; had to take an inner door off the hinges to get it out. They were wearing a big plastic bag with holes cut in it for arms and legs, long rubber gloves and masks. They double-bagged the contents; even so the smell, i.e. "stench" came through so they triple bagged the last one. The dumpster was near the bishop's house so they took it all there. They came back here late, tired and wanting a hot bath and bed. Their spirits were much revived this morning.

“You probably know that Fr Sam Anthony and the students who will be attending St Joseph Seminary this semester are living with us. The two students have our new First Professed Wing, a stand alone wing with bedroom and study for each and a kitchen and a foyer where they say the Hours together presided over by the Blessed Virgin Mary statue. Fr. Sam has our guest house; we are more than happy to do this for them.
Sorry so long, best wishes.” [Sr Aletheia, OCD]

2005-09-27T19:53:00.000-07:00

We survived "Rita"!. We are back in Houston in one piece. Our home is full of branches, but that is all. Margaret Nunez is also back. Georgina Torres and Margaret Yong are OK and Lydia Allen saved us from sleeping on a parking lot in Austin. We did spend the first night at "La Quinta", my son in the truck and my mother and I in the lobby (2 hours) but after that we found Lydia's daughter's home in Spicewood and they put us up for 2 nights. What a blessing to encounter such charitable people! They treated us like family. Lydia's daughter and son in law are Baptist and their Church had a shelter for 84 people so not only did they open her home to us but they spent a lot of time going to the Church helping out serving, cooking, and welcoming the Houston-Galveston refugees or "fugitives" like I like to call us.

We are back home. We just heard the airlines are trying to bring back the people that left and they are having a hard time accommodating the flights already in schedule so God will let us know how and when we get to Missouri this weekend. He is always in charge. Thank you for your prayers and for your concern for the Carmelite Family! Love from Houston, [Margarita Dufilho ocds]

"The Big Easy". The people of New Orleans never called their city that. Nothing was particularly easy in New Orleans, with its tropical heat, poverty, endemic public corruption, appalling murder rate and racial divides. It was a city sustained more by spirit than corporeal commodities; by determination to enjoy life in spite of adversity. The real slogan for New Orleans was Laissez les bons temps rouler – let the good times roll. And the official nickname was "The Crescent City" for the way the Mississippi River curls around New Orleans like a scimitar. It was so disorienting to wake up in the morning and see the sun rising over the "west" side of the river that New Orleanians did not use normal directional guides. Instead, south, north, east and west were called respectively: uptown, downtown, riverside and lakeside. New Orleans drew its strength from the water. Its commerce, its food, its music were all directly related to the water.

From the beginning, New Orleans harbored a water culture and a free-wheeling environment foreign to the rest of the South. There was a hypnotic appeal to the place... Over the years, New Orleans became home for tens of thousands of Mississippians escaping the stern dictates of the fundamentalist Southern Baptist Church. With its ‘round the clock bars and jazz halls and striptease artists, it was an El Dorado for those of us who suffered under Prohibition and Sunday blue laws imposed by Baptist leaders. New Orleans existed, to use another old slogan, as "the city that care forgot." It was a hedonistic empire, built along the water, long before Las Vegas was built on the sand.

Water was conducive to good times. Strangely enough, so was Roman Catholicism. The denomination ruled the city with a tolerance for drinking and dancing and song. The church also discourged racial discrimination. As a result, New Orleans had less racial conflict than other cities in the region.

Walter Percy, the philosophical novelist, Catholic convert and son of the Mississippi Delta, moved to New Orleans early in his life... Many Mississippians of Percy’s generation came to New Orleans bearing the mythology of the great flood of 1927, when the Misssisippi River breached the levee system and swept over dozens of towns and thousands of acres of cottom land in the Delta... Percy wrote of the city in an essay:

"One comes upon it," he wrote, "in the unlikeliest of places, by penetrating the depths of the Bible Belt, running the gantlet of Klan territory, the pine barrens of south Mississippi, Bogalusa, and the Florida parishes of Louisiana. Out and over a watery waste and there it is, a proper enough American city, and yet within the next few hours the tourist is apt to see more nuns and naked women than he ever saw before." ["Three Watery giants & a seafaring city" by Curtis Wilkie of the San Jose Mercury News]

2005-09-25T18:08:00.000-07:00

The president and director of formation from our Mississippi gulf coast comunity report the loss of Nancy Murphy in Bay St Louis. Nancy served as councillor to our Gulf Coast community from 2002-05: "It looks like a bomb was dropped on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. The devastation is so enormous, it is unbelievable.

"One of our community members, Nancy Murphy, died in the hurricane. Her home was flooded and she drowned ( we will send more info for the Flos Carmeli later). Another member, [Councillor] Carlotta Bergeron, lost her home & her car. The shingles came off our house and we had a lot of rain damage.

"Our catholic churches & schools suffered heavy damage along the Coast... Please keep our community & all the victims of this horrondous hurricane in your prayers." [David & Beverly Courtenay]

2005-09-23T10:27:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, Mayor Nagin of New Orleans allowed residents in the neighborhood of our House of Studies to come home, not to move back in, but to at least survey the damage done to our property. A member of the seminary staff checked our house from the outside and reported no windows broken and the flood line just inches from from our front door. We are hopeful at this point the water did not penetrate into our first floor. A warning was issued not to open refrigerators or freezers; simply secure the doors shut and haul them out to have the toxic waste that was our food supply, hauled away by the military. On Tuesday, Mayor Nagin suspended his previously announced reentry plan for the city of New Orleans due to the expected arrival of new Hurricane Rita on Friday. Even without a direct hit, New Orleans could be re-flooded by a mere 3 foot surge from the storm due to the damaged condition of the main 17th Street levee which was breached by the backlash winds of Katrina.

On Wednesday the 21st, our four refugees went into Little Rock to get immunization shots in preparation for their return to New Orleans. As they were preparing to drive out of Marylake, Fr. Raphael passed them on his way out for his morning hike. Raphael yelled out to them, "Don’t cry when you’re shot!"

So the exodus journey back home began Thursday morning. Here is our Father Provincial leaving Marylake to go back home to New Orleans to check on his family. With his parents back home in Harahan and dad recuperating from pneumonia he now finds out, his mother Helen fell out of bed the other night and broke her hip. She was able to check into a neighborhood hospital that had reopened to get replacement surgery. Father Gregory will only have time to move into our Nuns guest quarters in Covington, check with his family, and then he is off to Carmelite superiors meetings in Venezuela and Chile, where he will ask our Father General for some friars to help relieve our personnel shortage.

Brother Juan [left] and Br. Joseph Marie [right] prepare to leave Marylake Thursday morning. Br. Joseph Marie doesn’t appear to have much coke left in that big bottle to keep him going on this long trip from Arkansas to Covington where Notre Dame seminary has decided to relocate their New Orleans campus for this semester. Joseph Marie damaged his back while cutting a cable on our exercise machine. Now he has come down with a cold. Juan suffers from allergies, so neither of our two students expects a pleasant drive back home in the Chevrolet Suburban.

A last minute checkup of the Provincial’s Ford Taurus shows Juan and Fr. Sam Anthony checking under the hood while Fr. Gregory measures the tire pressure. He is surprised to find the pressure exactly where it should be since he had inflated the tires the day before when they were hot. Father Sam made sure they had every contingency covered withn a gallon of water in the truck in case the radiator heated up, or the windshield needed some spray. They fully expect to be driving into the rains of Hurricane Rita, which is today pouring flood waters back into New Orleans.

The final shot of Thursday morning shows Frs. Gregory and Sam Anthony leaving Marylake in the Taurus only minutes behind the Suburban with the students. They departed at 10:13 am, after a planned departure time of "nine-thirtyish." We wish them well, and certainly enjoyed these refugees unexpected three week visit to our Monastery.

2005-09-22T09:43:00.000-07:00

Did anyone read the comment added to the last post? Check it out. I had been praying that the report on Marion’s family all drowning was not true, and my prayers were answered. Apparently, only Marion drowned. We continue to pray for our sister in Carmel and her surviving family.

Hi, Father. So very sorry to hear of the death of Marion. What a tragedy! I finally heard from Lucille Brinz. [See picture.] She and Joseph had gotten out safely with one of her daughters and from what she said, their house was relatively untouched. What a relief to hear of the ones who did make it to safety. I will pray the Office of the Dead today for Marion and her husband and sons. [Caroline Mahon of Conyers]

Cindy Neisen reports: Mary Bordelon, director of formation from New Orleans [pictured] is okay but will not be able to join our Congress. She is displaced for the time being Linda Klotz from New Orleans is staying with her daughter.

Joan Bohac of St. Louis reports hearing from David and Beverley Courtenay in Gulfport. This is the first I’ve heard from anyone in lower Mississippi. They are safe.

And now comes Hurricane Rita. Rebecca McGinnis, president of our main Houston community, canceled Saturday’s meeting, as most of our Carmelites are evacuting Houston today including our nuns. Katrina put the fear of the Lord in everyone.

2005-09-17T20:50:00.000-07:00

I have just been told that our Sister in Carmel, Marion Stearns OCDS from Chalmette did not evacuate New Orleans and drowned. First reports were that she perished together with her husband and two sons. [Cf. comment below] Marion was professed 25-Jan-92, and made her defivitive Promise on 19-Sep-99. Please pray for her and for all those not yet heard from in our New Orleans and Gulf Coast communities.

Father Bob Higginbotham retired last year from a career as an air force chaplain, and returned to his native diocese of Biloxi Mississippi. In response to my inquiry, Did you survive Katrina?: "Yes things got pretty bad and I had to flee the rectory. Lost everything in the rectory but I am fine and staying with my sister."

Gilbert & Lisa, their two sons Jeremy and Cory, the parrot, the blind dog and the three legged cat, left Marylake at 7:00am this morning to return home to New Orleans. In their neighborhood drinking water has been restored and a Pizza Hut is open, so they will survive at home. Our Father Provincial’s father remains in the hospital in Little Rock with a blood clot in his heart. Fr. Gregory’s mother and brother Michael are staying at Marylake to be near him. He just wants to go home to New Orleans.

2005-09-15T09:17:00.000-07:00

So far we have heard no word from any of our Carmelites on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Diana Nesbitt from Birmingham continues reporting on her daughter Wanda and the situation in Gulfport: "Wanda and family left our house today for their ‘home’ in Gulfport, MS. Here in B’ham, they got assistance from Red Cross last Friday night. The amount was determined by needs, such as; shelter, food, gas, clothing, number in family, etc. With that, they were able to buy water/food/gas/supplies to get back to MS and get a plan in motion."

"We continue to give thanks for the safety our family members. I see and hear the God given Spirit to ‘push forward’ rising up. [Photograph of grandson checking out fallen tree.] Everyone is getting antsy to use their energy to get things back in order, as best they can. Our daughter has been told that there are no apartment, motel, or house rentals and no storage spaces available around Gulfport, MS. Our son-in-law, Keith, has a business to reopen?? His office is close to I-10 and it has only minor water damage. P raise the Lord! Their home is very questionable. They are waiting for a determination as to whether it is livable or not. Their plan(s) depend a lot on that decision. There are thousands in that same position! Those trying to stay in what is left of their homes are having a hard time getting food, water, & gas. Stores are not restocking as yet; hopefully soon."

"This past weekend, a lot of phone & electrical service in MS has been restored. Wanda & Keith began to get calls from friends and neighbors, asking them to bring supplies. That is one of the reasons for returning today. There is so much to be done. Still, I can see - God will bring good out of the mess and it will come quicker if everyone helps. THANKS again for your prayers." [God Bless, Diana]

2005-09-11T20:49:00.000-07:00

News from Mobile

A report from the President in Mobile: We are "starting to get back towards normal. Most of the people in Mobile have electricity back now. Also, the gas lines which were two to three hours long, have gone down to under thirty minutes long." [Paul Schubert]

"My roof has a tarp on part of it, due to a few shingles blown off. My curb has a "small mountain range of debris" parallel to it. My phone was restored on Friday, and power on Labor Day. The appraiser came Friday. The two trees that fell fell away from the house; and all but two limbs fell parallel to it. Someone set them down nicely beside and not on or through my house. I need a new roof. I have been knowing that --I guess God decided to give me a little nudge toward seeing that I would get one." [Maureen Caine, Mobile sec’ty]

At Marylake, our Fr. Provincial’s family remains in our guest quarters. Fr. Gregory’s father Gilbert Ross Sr. remains in the hospital with pneumonia. The Sisters of Charity of Nazareth, who run St Vincent Infirmary, are taking good care of him, even giving him a private room when he is not in the Cardiac Care Unit. Gregory’s brother Gilbert Jr. works for State Farm Insurance in New Orleans. His job is most important now in the recovery period of hurricane Katrina, and he keeps in touch through a bag full of cell phones he keeps tied around his neck. State Farm is working to get him and his family set up in a house in N. Little Rock. So he and his wife Lisa, and two sons Jeremy and Cory, await the chance to get settled at least temporarily. Gilbert’s job is at least secure, due to the nature of its need at this time. Gregory’s other brother Michael is a graphic artist who worked for a web page designer in Chalmette. His boss’s home was completely flooded up to the roof, so now Michael is looking for work. In the meanwhile he has been helping our nuns in Little Rock with their computer’s web page.

2005-09-10T09:18:00.000-07:00

On Thursday we returned our brother Augustine to the earth from which he came. Father Augustine Healy died in a hospital in Ft. Worth Texas. He had lived in a Franciscan retirement village in Crowley Texas for the last years of his life. The last weeks of his life were spent in the hospital with IVs, feeding tubes, and on and off a respirator. Life ultimately became more of a hastle than it was worth keeping up with, and our brother Carmelite died last weekend. After three funeral Masses in Crowley, Ft. Worth and in Dallas, Gus arrived at Marylake Wednesday evening, where we laid him out in our chapel. He might not have died with his boots on, but we made sure he went back to the earth with them on. I will write his obituary in a separate posting and publish the pictures of his burial Mass here at Marylake then.

Meanwhile on the Katrina front, our six refugees pose in our kitchen for a group photo before going their separate ways. From left to right: Sam, Vicente, Augustine Kizhakkedam, Gregory our Provincial, Juan and Joseph Marie. Vicente Lopez, the diocesan seminarian from our parish in Oklahoma City joined our own Brother Joseph Marie whose family live there. They drove to Oklahoma with our Brother Joseph Le who had come for Augustine Healy’s burial. Sam and Juan remain behind waiting for word as to when they will be allowed to return to our House of Studies in New Orleans. Then Joseph Marie will re-join them to make the trip back home and see what’s left. Latest word from the seminary was that the National Guard let the academic dean in. He was relieved to find the seminary had not been looted. We continue to pray we find the same situation when we are allowed back in.

Finally a word from our nuns in Covington. The report that had gone out over some wire service that riotous bands were attacking supplies into the area was greatly exaggerated. The prioress is able to call out now sporadically on her cell phone as services are slowly being restored north of the lake. She told our Father Provincial they are all well, and invited our friars back. New Orleans’ Notre Dame seminary is planning to set up headquarters for this semester at St. Joseph’s abbey Retreat House in Covington.

2005-09-08T21:32:00.000-07:00

The president of our Covington group, Rosalie Quigley, [pictured here in New Orleans last June] has been heard from and is OK in her home in Covington. "I have heard from Lucille Brinz, New Orleans and she is safe in Baton Rouge. I know Rosalie Quigley, Betty Ketchum, Lynda Schwartz and Sandy Wall (all Covington ocds) are safe in their homes in Covington with no electricity. I evacuated to Memphis, TN with my family and are waiting to go home when we have power. I know my home has little to no damage (thank you, St. Joseph) ...my daughter's home has lots of tree damage. But we are safe and are truly the lucky ones. I pray everyone is safe. Thank you for your prayers." [Suzette McGoey, ocds of Covington]

Word from Vidalia: "Thanks for the great blog site! With permission from our various pastors, we've put a notice in the local church bulletins on how to contact our group. There are so many Catholics among our "displaced" that there are bound to be some OCDS's and maybe some TOC's. I will let you know if anyone turns up here." [Beth Boggess, dir. form.]

2005-09-07T20:31:00.000-07:00

News from Slidell concerns the son of Dolores Grogan OCDS: "My son was found today in Slidell. He was lifted from his house roof and taken somewhere to safety. I don't know how long he has been on the roof or what condition he is in but thank God he has been located in time. He has a two story house so it must have been flooded. Keep praying for his daughter, her husband and two small infants, they are still missing. We located my Nephew also today, he is in Mississippi in a hotel with his wife --he is safe."

Our Fr. Joseph Neilson’s brother George and his wife from Slidell finally got in contact with Father Joseph. He is now in Macon GA.

So many refugees have flooded into Arkansas, state officials say the number "cannot be determined." A Red Cross spokesperson "estimated 50,000, not including about 9,000 airlifted to Fort Chaffee." Our Fr. Provincial’s father, Gilbert Ross Sr., who has been staying in our guest house at Marylake was taken to the hospital yesterday evening with a temperature of 102. He has pneumonia. It has been a strain on everyone who had to abandon their home. The public services in Arkansas have been most helpful. As soon as St Vincent’s Infirmary learned that Mr Ross was one of the refugees from New Orleans, they took him in immediately. Br. Marie Joseph [in photo] had to go to the doctor with a strained back. I gave him my VISA card to pay the normal $100 doctor visit. Not only did the doctor see him within 2 hours of when I first called, once he learned that Brother was a refugee, he did not charge him anything.

A councillor of our Covington group has surfaced in Olive Branch MS, just outside of Memphis. She wrote to our provincial council: "my family and I are in a hotel for a week now in Olive Branch, MS...just outside of Memphis. I have not heard from one other member of our Covington OCDS Study Group... our cell phones do not work... I have forwarded your e-mails to everyone but have not received any word back. Thank you for your prayers for us. The Covington area was heavily hit by wind... it has no electricity, no gas, etc. and we don't know when we can go home." [photo of Councillor Suzette]

Fr. Sam Anthony files this report: "We are among the lucky ones. We weathered the storm in Covington, LA with the cloistered nuns. [photo taken "the morning after the storm"] There was some elevation there and they had a generator that kept pumping out even after the big pine tree fell on it. But we had to move two days after the storm because the nuns were asked to house 15 sick religious sisters on oxygen (needing electicity) and ours were better facilities for that than the abbey had… So we moved out that very day, after clearing the drive ways to the roads that had already been cleared for at least one exit out of town. Hard as it was to find gas, we managed to get 30 gallons of rationed gas and make it to Marylake.

"We have since rested a bit and bought some underwear, etc to keep presentable. Now we feel like the lucky ones! We are grateful to God and all our friends who have prayed for us and cared for us. We do not have adequae reports on the property we left behind. They say not to reappear on the propery even to check out our goods until we have been officially advised by the seminary rector. Today I was able to renew all my prescriptions in Little Rock for one month by decree of the governor favoring the LA refugees. Thank God for simplifying that process... These times are hard for so many. It makes us appreciate what we have."

2005-09-06T16:24:00.000-07:00

Have you heard from any of our Carmelites in the Katrina hit areas? If so please tell us where they are by e-mailing me. I am particularly interested in getting in contact with all officers: presidents, directors of formation, and other councillors of our communities on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, New Orleans, and Covington. If you have heard from them and know how they can be reached, please send a message to either Fr. John Michael or contact a provincial councillor. Refrain from any specifics as to how they may be reached in the comments at the end of this blog. From what I have heard, most of our Carmelites in Covington survived the storm and are still in their homes, but have difficulty contacting the outside world due to downed cell phone relay stations and lack of phone service. It would be good to have this hear-say confirmed. New Orleans, as you know, had to be completely evacuated, but word is that local officials in some higher neighborhoods have allowed a few residents to return to their homes as deputies to guard the empty homes of their neighbors.

I have heard nothing from the hard hit Mississippi Gulf Coast except the reports posted here from Diana Nesbitt in Birmingham. I have not listed our Jackson Carmelites here, because I hear the situation there is less severe than at once thought. They appear to have drinking water and power restored, and I presume all are well there aside from storm damaged grounds, roofs and windows.

Comments: Linda said: Fr. John Michael, "I had an idea about a way that we might be able to find some of our OCDS... I know the Red Cross has a website set up to help the families and relatives of the evacuees to find their loved ones. Perhaps it would be possible to get in touch with the Red Cross and give them the names of those OCDS members that we are all so concerned about. The Red Cross website makes it clear that the list they have is not secure and that anyone on the Internet has access to the names on the list. This means that by putting people's names on the list we might be violating their privacy." [Linda]

Dear Linda, thank you for pointing out a serious security issue in publishing over the internet a list of our missing Carmelites. I have take your advice and have removed the list from this posting. I will be happy to e-mail any of our Carmelites that updated list, complete with those we have heard from as they contact either me or our provincial council, but the list will be limited to Carmelites only due to security issues. I had thought that this website would be limited basically to an in-family reading group, since it was only to you Carmelites I have given the address that enabled you to get here. But once it is on the worldwide web (which is what that www strands for, by the way) in link addresses, it is accessible to anyone, and a few outsiders have indeed logged onto our blog by simply searching the web for Katrina related material. I sincerely apologize to anyone whose privacy I have offended by publishing this list, and want you to know I have taken action to correct my misjudgement as soon as it was brought to my attention. [Fr John Michael]

2005-09-05T22:40:00.000-07:00

From Diana Nesbitt: "This is a follow up on my previous prayer request for our daughter, Wanda, hubby, Keith, and their 4 children who live in Gulfport, MS. The children are in Birmingham for now. Gulfport has no power, water, or phone service. Gasoline is a big problem. Gas stations cannot pump without power. The nearest working gas stations are rationing; with high prices. Wanda, Keith, and my hubby made it to Gulfport last night; with a small truck of supplies to work with. They managed one cell phone call to me. Their goal today is: brace the remaining house structure, remove valuables, protect contents from weather, rip up the wet carpet, empty refrigerator/freezers, collect information from local officials, AND get back to Birmingham. All of the above is a tiny ‘drop’ in the ocean of this disaster. Please encourage your extended family, friends, and contacts to reach out as they can in the coming weeks and months."

From Jane Montoya in Minneapolis: "I am from a small town in Missouri. There is a convent not too far from my home town that is quite large. There used to be, I believe, a couple hundred sisters there, and now there are something like 50. They are Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration. They are semi-cloistered. I have stayed at the convent myself as a retreatant. I don't know if they would be open to it, but it seems to me that it would be an ideal place to house some displaced sisters. The convent is in Clyde, MO. Let me know if I can help. We are Praying. God Bless."

News from Notre Dame Seminary of New Orleans now setting up quarters in Baton Rouge: The rector, Fr. Pat Williams, is in the process of setting up a new website for NDS at notredameseminary.com It should be activated by next Monday. Fr. Pat intends to "relocate our entire seminary community... to a facility that will allow us to continue our complete schedule... and our full program of priestly formation, by October 1st... The fall semester can be successfully realized." Each diocese and religious community is to appoint a seminarian to serve as contact person for the details involved in the relocation. "Finally we realize that each seminarian will want to check on his belongings ASAP, however, we have been asked by area officials to stay away from NDS until you get an all clear notice from the rector that it is safe to return." We must wait until "the water has been drained and the power has been restored." The water in the area was reported to be high enough for boats to float down Carrollton Ave.

Meanwhile at the Monastery of Marylake, our 13 refugees are coping with their temporary quarters with much gratitude. I met our Father Provincial’s sister-in-law Lisa and her two sons down in the laundry room this evening. They only brought 3 days clothing with them in their hasty retreat from New Orleans. Lisa is a teacher in a Catholic school down there, and brought two school uniforms for the kids in that three day supply. One never knows the mind of a mother ! Friends brought some clothing over for Mass this morning. I saw Brother Juan grabbing a pair of pants. In our first meal together in the refectory, someone remarked that Juan’s outfit was very nice. Brother Joseph Marie replied, "Yes that’s nice, but get used to it –you’ll be seeing it a lot this week."

Lisa and her husband Gilbert (Fr Gregory’s brother) are on the move again, this time from "Elmo’s hermitage" to the Marion House to make way for visitors for Fr. Augustine Healy’s funeral Thursday (not Tuesday, as I previous reported). Fr. Augustine from Malabar is safe and well, adjusting quite rapidly to American ways. Fr. Sam Anthony introduced him to "the hamburger", and this evening he tasted his first Mexican meal, going straight for the hot sauce. Finally more details on Gilbert and Lisa’s entourage: it’s a parrot, one blind dog (who is totally confused with this third new place), and two cats, one with only three legs.

2005-09-04T23:16:00.000-07:00

Paul Yi, a seminarian from Baton Rouge, reports on Sunday that Bishop Moran, Fr. Pat, the rector of Notre Dame seminary, Fr. Hampton, Sr. Liz, and ten seminarians were the last to leave the seminary on Wednesday. Water flooded about 1-2 feet in the ground level. Ther seminarians moved all the books from the first two bottom shelves off the basement and moved them higher. However the mold will get them. There are giant holes in the roof of Shaw (one of the seminary buildings). The seminarians tried to plug them, but it will leak much water. Much of the windows facing Carrollton are blown out. There weren’t any looters in the seminary, but it looked like they were waiting for us to leave.

Archbishop Hughes is in Baton Rouge. They are setting up the archdiocese there. The Baton Rouge seminarians met with their vocation director. Fr. Pat expects Jan 1st as the restarting date for classes. We all agreed that it’s impossible, so we are trying to come up with other plans. Alexandria and Biloxi have sent there seminarians to St Meinrad and Josephinum already. Baton Rouge is now New Orleans. Because of such massive influx, many of our resources are taxed. Gas is sparse. Walmart shelves are sparse, consistently.

According to the reports from the seminary, if they got 2 to 3 feet of water at ground level, that means our House of Studies on the seminary campus was flooded on the ground floor. An aerial photograph showed our two cars left behind, the Crown Vic and a station wagon parked where we left them. The Ford Taurus, pictured here, rode out the storm under our nuns bushes and survived without a scratch.

Here’s Sister Joan, recently arrived in Covington from Little Rock, removing branches from the nun’s Camellias while Fr. Gregory picks up debris from the driveway in the background into his yellow wagon. These pictures were taken the day after Katrina left Covington on its way north to Jackson.

What saved the days after the hurricane passed through was this electric generator. You can see a large tree fell on top of it but miraculously stopped just as it hit the top of the generator without affecting its operation. This generator was also the reason our nuns were able to take in the elderly Sisters who had taken refuge at the Benedictine abbey down the road, for the Benedictines lost their generators.

The Covington cleanup crew paused for a Kodak moment here next to the walkway leading from the nuns monastery to their chapel. From left to right are Fr. Augustine from Malabar in India. This Carmelite priest came to the United States to help aleviate our province in its personnel shortage. Having escaped the Tsunami in his country, he found himself in the middle of our hurricane. Next to Fr. Augustine is Sr. Gabrielle, a novice who just received the habit in April, then Sr. Mary Magdalen, Br. Juan Cabrera, seminarian Vicente Lopez from Oklahoma & Fr. Sam Anthony waving his trench digging hand.

At Marylake we have been joined by Fr. Provicial’s family from New Orleans: his Mom and Dad, two brothers with a wife, a parrot and two dogs. I’ll try and take pictures of our refugees, but weare busy now at Marylake planning to bury our Fr. Augustine Healy (not to be confused with the Indian Augustine pictured above) who died Friday near Crowlet Texas. He will be buried at Marylake on Tuesday. Fr. Provicnial left Sunday to help Fr. Ralph prepare for his funeral in Dallas.

Beth Boggess, newly appointed diector of formation in Vidalia LA which is across the river from Natchez sends this: "Just a quick note to let you know that the Vidalia Community members are all o.k. -- we had brief power outages and minor wind damge. Our towns of Natchez and Vidalia are packed full of refugees, so we ask your prayers to strengthen us to serve their various needs! We are very concerned about our brothers and sisters of the New Orleans Community and the various coastal communities."

Bruce Weaver, president of our New Orleans community who lives in Slidell, has just surfaced in Tennessee. Bruce, let us know of the rest of your community.

Mobile OCDS community has survived, although a few calls by president Paul Schubert to all the members, only resulted in answering machines, so we're still not sure.

2005-09-03T13:38:00.000-07:00

Offers of assistance pour in.

If you need assistance please send me your name, your ocds community, and date of profession as a Carmelite. Also anyone having word on any of our missing Carmelites on the Gulf Coast, Covington, and New Orleans, please let us know if they are well.

Jeanette Curran, past president of our OCDS in Diego "would like to be of assistance to other Carmelite victims... Can you inform me of needs to be passed on to the council???"

Our nuns in Piedmont outside Oklahoma City have offered to put up stranded Carmelites, esp. Vietnamese. We heard on the news today that there were about 50 Vietnamese holed up at St Peter parish in New Orleans waiting to be evacuated. This is the parish of our Provincial Councillor, Pascal Alfano who finally surfaced in Ft Worth Texas of all places. Here's a picture of Pascal at the New Orleans worskhop in June.

Our Nuns in Sioux City and in Little Rock have also offered to help our Carmelites who need to evacuate.

Dolores Grogan, who ran Madonna Interprises for years, has a son living in Slidell, as did our Father Joseph’s 90 year old brother George. George finally was able to contact Fr. Joseph from Macon GA on Thursday. Last I heard Dolores had still not heard from her son. Bruce Weaver, president of our New Orleans OCDS community lives in Slidell. Anyone heard from him?

Lonnie Sorensen from Minneapolis writes, "We are far away, but we have a big place and could fit a family."

Aggie Cassady OCDS from Lansing Michigan writes: "I am deeply saddened and distressed at the situation in your area. I would like to help in any way I can. I understand that there are some ocds in your area that are in need of shelter for a few months. I could offer shelter to one or maybe two adults."

The Oklahoma Provincial Council issued the following statement on Friday: "In response to the request about sending donations for helping Carmelites affected, the Provincial Council asks that you direct all donations to the Red Cross and/or Catholic Charities USA." [Elizabeth Korves, pres. at retreat in Belton Texas]

Our Lafayette nuns report: "We are all right. Our Sisters who had relatives in New Orleans are in touch with them. All are safe and relocated. Lafayette is full, and people are sharing. One lady we know goes to the Cajun dome to pick up 5 or 6 people with their dogs, etc to take them to her house to get a bath, etc, and to let the dogs run around in the yard."

Sr. Petra reports from our Little Rock Carmel: "Right now we have the sister of one of the Nuns in the extern area. One of Sister Lucia's sister and her family may have lost their home Kenner."

Marylake was preparing it’s guest house and hermitage for the family of our Father Provincial who live in a New Orleans suburb. Their arrival was expected as I flew out to Kansas City this weekend.

Diana Nesbitt, former co-formation director in Birmingham reports: "Our daughter, Wanda, and 4 grandchildren got to us yesterday (Thursday) from Hattiesburg, MS; which is as far as they could get away from the Gulfport area (where they are from) this past Saturday due to traffic and lack of gas. They do not know the condition of their business, home, or property... [They are] not allowed to enter the Gulfport area as yet.. Our son-in-law remains with his parents in Hattiesburg;. He has enough gasoline to make one round trip to assess their damage; as soon as he is allowed to enter."

2005-09-02T21:29:00.000-07:00

Katrina hits Jackson nuns

Sr. Margaret Mary just sent this in from our nuns in Jackson, Mississippi. These old oaks were simply not up to Katrina's winds. "Here are some from 'Katrina's' calling card at Jakson Carmel. We do have some phone service restored, boil water orders; months of cleanup and repair services lie ahead. You are welcome to use the photos as you wish. We appreciate everyone's prayers and concern. May the Lord bless us all."

2005-09-01T20:39:00.000-07:00

Katrina hits Covington

Hurricane Katrina roared through Covington Louisiana on Monday morning, August 29. The strong winds began at dawn and lasted throughout the morning. Our Father Provincial flew into New Orleans from Sioux City where he was visiting our nuns for their triennial elections. I asked Father Gregory, “How many people were flying into New Orleans as the hurrricane was headed straight for the city?” About 25 he said. “And all were flying home in order to evacuate.” We are unable to determine what shape our house of studies is in New Orleans at this point, but fear the first floor is flooded. Seminarian Paul Phan reported that Carrollton Avenue “was like a river.” Our two students, Vicente Lopez, a seminarian from our parish in Oklahoma City, and Fr. Augustine from Malabar evacuated the city Saturday in our Chevrolet Suburban. Frs. Anthony and Gregory, our Provincial, left Sunday morning in the Ford Taurus. These six took refuge at our Nuns in Covington across Lake Pontchatrain from the city, where they rode out the storm.

This photograph shows the nuns chapel to the left. In the right background is the nuns’ new guest quarters where Frs. Sam and Gregory were staying. The tall structure next to it is called Janua Caeli, “the gate of heaven.” This is where our Secular order meets each month since it was built a few months ago. On the far right with the large window is the newly constructed gift shop. Fr. Sam was digging a trench, during the storm, around the guest house, while Fr. Gregory was holding an umbrella to shield him from the wind. The trench was dug to divert water from the house. As these two were busy with the digging, the tree whose base is in the middle of the photo, snapped with a loud crack, and fell on the sacristy of the chapel. Sam, whose hearing was impaired by not only the roar of hurricane winds but also by his old age, failed to hear that crack. The tree was only six to nine feet away. Thank God it fell away from the ditch diggers.

Here’s another view of that guest house where Sam and Greg were holed up. Luckily they were inside the main monastery building having breakfast when that tree came down on their roof. Thanks to Sr. Aletheia’s insistence, during construction, that all studs be doubled, the roof did not give in under this tremendous crash.

This is the first picture Sister Fides took. It was taken Monday afternoon at 1:41 pm. While the back end of the hurricane was still raging through, there were lulls between the waves of wind and rain. Fides ventured out to the walkway between the monastery and chapel to see what damage had been done. Their covered walkway was still standing except for the sheet metal roof at the end which had blown off near the chapel.
The next morning at 7:08 am, the damage to the walkway roofing could be seen more clearly. This walkway leads into the nuns choir which was undamaged. The sanctuary, in the middle of the photo however had been hit by that tree. Inside it was like a snowfall with insulation drifting down from the hole in the roof that tree had torn out.

Tuesday morning dawned with bright sunshine. This photo shows damage to the sacristy on the other side of the sanctuary from the nuns choir. The tree that had snapped behind Sam can be seen leaning on the roof, while other limbs had torn into the priest’s porch leading into the sacristy. Janua Caeli can be seen to the right. It weas undamaged.

Tuesday morning was spent clearing limbs from the driveway leading into the monastery grounds. Our Father Provincial does his share with help of a yellow wagon while Aletheia pulled limbs out of the Camillas nearby. Everyone pitched in in this clean-up effort, nuns, seminarians, and priests.

After a day of hard work, everyone retreated to the nuns’ library which had been set up as a temporary chapel for an afternoon Mass Tuesday at 4:30 pm. They let the ditch digger preside, while his umbrella holder sat beside him. Fr. Augustine sits on the other side near the lecturn.

On Wednesday, our six refugees from New Orleans, vacated their quarters for some elderly Sisters who had taken refuge at the Benedictine abbey down the road. The monks could not run their generators because of gas leaks. As the brothers left Covington, however, they could smell gas and wondered how long our nuns could continue to run their generator on natural gas. The convoy of Gregory’s Taurus and the student Suburban headed up I-55 to Jackson, taking basically the same route the hurricane had followed. Trees had been cleared off the highway, but finding gas was a problem. They were finally able to get half a tank and made it to Marylake at 2:00am Thursday morning. The first thing Fr. Anthony gave me was a CD Sr. Fides had burned of these pictures. They cannot send out anything on the internet. The Nuns also begged anyone coming down to bring food and provisions.