Maggie Gibson and Joan Winchester landscape at St. Gabriel in New Orleans.
St. Andrew Parish photo

They met a man who watched floodwaters sweep his 3-year-old granddaughter from his grip. They heard an elderly woman explain how phony contractors had bilked her out of $96,000. They observed that tourist sites are almost fully recovered, while low-income neighborhoods are still largely uninhabited, almost three years after Hurricane Katrina.

Homelessness and homicide are rampant in the town known as the Big Easy, even more so than before the storm.

“Just because it’s out of the news does not mean it’s over,” says Laura Bradford, a 28-year-old member of St. Charles Parish in Portland who was one of 16 Oregon Catholics who made a service trip to New Orleans this summer.

This is the first year a group from St. Charles has gone to the damaged city. They joined a delegation from St. Andrew Parish, which has made the trek for three years. This was the second year that the Oregon Catholics focused efforts on St. Gabriel the Archangel Parish in the Upper Ninth Ward, a largely African American faith community which defied a planned closure and has helped more than 200 parishioners get back into their homes even before fixing damaged parish buildings.
Much of that effort has been carried out by volunteers like Bradford, who helped hang sheet rock at one worshiper’s house.

St. Gabriel’s, which itself was gorged by floodwaters as high as eight feet, keeps what it calls a “Pilgrims’ Board” listing families who have moved back into their houses. If a returned homeowner reports in during Mass, there is enthusiastic applause. It means the community is being reborn.

The Gentilly Woods neighborhood near Lake Pontchartrain was largely built in the 1950s, one of the first places where African Americans could readily purchase a home in New Orleans. Many of those fighting their way back are original owners, now in their last years.

“The biggest thing was thinking of how long it’s been since Katrina and how much work there is to do,” says Bradford, a junior-high teacher at Catholic schools who leaves this summer for a two-year stint with the Peace Corps in Belize.

After grueling discernment, the financially-strapped Archdiocese of New Orleans had decided to close St. Gabriel’s. But Msgr. Doug Doussan and the people would not stand for it. They said they would wrangle the resources to keep their faith home open.

“You talk about a leap of faith,” says Joy Ruplinger, a trip leader and youth minister at St. Andrew Parish in Northeast Portland.

A year ago, the parish’s block was dark at night, with most houses abandoned. But this year, about a fourth of the homes are occupied. The Oregon volunteers were delighted to see the progress. But it has been hard-won.

That’s because the flood of water has been followed by a flood of paperwork and expense. The amiable and gentle Msgr. Doussan felt this personally, when he had to fill out federal grant forms three times before the documents made it to the right bureaucrat’s desk. An applicant with less moxy and fewer resources would likely give up.

“People are discouraged, but they keep on,” Ruplinger says.

With some emergency repairs, the church was ready for Mass by February 2006. Then the focus fell on helping people come back home. Using donations from all over the country, the parish has been giving $1,800 grants for parishioners to purchase construction supplies.

Soon, the faith community hopes to start working on its own damaged grounds. As much as $2 million is needed to repair the parish hall and a classroom and office building.

Joan Doherty, a member of St. Charles and a credit union market services manager, was amazed at seeing cement slabs where houses should be. The slowness of recovery in some parts of New Orleans angers her. But the joy of St. Gabriel parishioners supersedes the negativity.

“We met so many people who were so secure in their faith and were grateful to see us there,” says Doherty, who at 49 was making her first service trip. “I got more thank-yous and more hugs than I have gotten in a long time.”

Now, weeks later, Doherty notices that she takes nothing for granted, but is grateful for the gifts of faith, health and family.

“I still am struck by the fact that almost three years later, these conditions exist for so many,” says Michael Arrieta-Walden, a member of St. Andrew’s and a managing editor for the Oregonian. “I am struck by the generosity and the indefatigable spirit of people, their willingness to carry on and rebuild their homes in the face of a lot of obstacles. I am struck by parish leaders and the selfless giving of others.”

Members of the two Northeast Portland parishes did feel a kinship with St. Gabriel’s. Before Katrina, the parish had 45 different ministries. Now, 35 of the projects are back up and running. About 350 parishioners are coming to Mass on Sundays, not up to pre-storm levels of 565, but still hopeful.

St. Gabriel has seen other helping groups come and go. The Oregon delegation was special.

“They were a great group,” says Sister Kathleen Pittman, St. Gabriel’s pastoral associate and jack-of-all trades at the recovering parish. “They were hard-working and had a real good spirit and were sensitive to the whole situation, open to the spirit of the people and the joy they have.”

Ruplinger designed the schedule so that the Oregon workers could attend Mass at St. Gabriel on two weekends, on either end of a week of work.

“The most important thing is that we keep getting to know the people better,” says Ruplinger, a native of Louisville, Ky. who knows a thing or two about southern hospitality and human engagement.

In addition to working on parishioners’ homes, the Oregon group helped maintain the parish grounds. It was hot and demanding labor.

Beginning this month, the St. Andrew and St. Charles volunteers will speak and show slides at parishes in their area, hoping to educate Oregon Catholics on New Orleans.

“We wanted to see for sure how the recovery has been there,” says Joan Winchester, who guides relational leadership and faith formation at St. Charles.

News reports have indicated that the city is about 50 percent recovered. But that meant the high-visibility spots and upper-class neighborhoods. In low-income areas, the rates are lower.

Winchester says the lower Ninth Ward, for example, is only about 10 percent back.
The volunteers report that New Orleans residents may complain about government policy, but that there is surprisingly little bitterness, which is inspiring.

“They are a people of hope,” says Winchester. “They praise God for all they have. One person told me, ‘If St. Gabriel can recover from six feet of floodwater, what can we do as a church in western Oregon?’”

“When you look from the outside at the people of New Orleans, you think they have lost everything, but they have lost nothing because they have not lost their faith and their trust in God’s mercy,” says Ruplinger.

At a meeting last week, the Oregon volunteers decided they would like to go to New Orleans again next year. Ruplinger says she’ll keep it up until St. Gabriel decides they don’t need the help anymore.

Last week, the Oregon folks sent a thank-you letter to St. Gabriel’s, along with $2,000 left over from fundraising for travel expenses.

“Through your hope and strength,” the volunteers wrote, “we are reminded that our God never leaves us alone.”