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August 30, 2005
Is this the end of New Orleans?
Frequent commentor James sends this:
From an emergency notice put on the TV station's web site, which mirrors a bulletin they just had on TV (I'm watching online):****ALL RESIDENTS ON THE EAST BANK OF ORLEANS AND JEFFERSON REMAINING IN THE METRO AREA ARE BEING TOLD TO EVACUATE AS EFFORTS TO SANDBAG THE LEVEE BREAK HAVE ENDED. THE PUMPS IN THAT AREA ARE EXPECTED TO FAIL SOON AND 9 FEET OF WATER IS EXPECTED IN THE ENTIRE EAST BANK. WITHIN THE NEXT 12-15 HOURS****>>As all of us native Louisianians know, the "entire East bank" constitutes all of New Orleans, Metairie, etc.The question of New Orleans' survival as a city was in some question an hour ago. Now, I think the question may have been answered. New Orleans will not be habitable for a very long time, and then only after the expenditure of unfathomable treasure.May God have mercy. Lord have mercy. I am out of words for prayer other than that. Lord have mercy.I think I am going to go cry now.
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» Breathtaking Katrina from The Anchoress
First - a little good news in the midst of all of this death and destruction, there is life.
Glenn Reynolds has a good list of Flood Aid Organizations and Truth Laid Bear is in the process of organizing a bloggers consortium of aid. Send him (or Gle... [Read More]
Tracked on Aug 30, 2005 10:45:24 PM
» KATRINA: HELL BREAKING LOOSE from Michelle Malkin
***scroll down for updates, more charitable relief info, looting/prison riot status, definitive clarification about reporting on "martial law," midnight update and declaration of tomorrow's Day of Prayer*** As I noted below, the Orleans Parish Prison i... [Read More]
Tracked on Aug 30, 2005 11:02:39 PM
Comments
I was born in New Orleans. I was raised in Metairie for my first 11 1/2 years. I remember people saying that they always knew there was a chance this day would come.
I pray that all parishes do what they can this weekend to help the affected areas, especially with food, potable water, and medical supplies.
Many people from Louisiana visit Western NC for a vacation or stay here for the summer. It is time for us to give back to people who have been geenrous.
Pray, also, that the anarchy and looting gives way to social order. May the police, the Coast Guard, and all emergency service people by protected and supported.
Posted by: Fr. Shawn O'Neal at Aug 30, 2005 7:44:46 PM
Please let this not happen.
Posted by: sj at Aug 30, 2005 8:09:41 PM
www.nola.com seems to have the latest news, which isn't good.
Posted by: sj at Aug 30, 2005 8:12:36 PM
As Rod put it: "New Orleans is lost."
Posted by: RC at Aug 30, 2005 8:24:54 PM
I was born in New Orleans and spent my childhood 'cross the Lake in St. Tammany Parish. I have family in the Algiers area (West Bank) which is said to be in better shape than most of the city. I don't know how they're fairing. But NOLA itself will never be the same, brave vows to re-build not withstanding. The texture of life in the city, its history cannot be put back.
It's breaking my heart to see the filthy water submerging those little shotgun houses. Unless you've seen it with your own eyes, you cannot grasp just how utterly poor "the poor" of New Orleans are--100,000 of them at the very least. They have nothing left. What government or charitable agencies can feed, house, and support such numbers for long months to come?
Yet the wailing of Ooooh Ooooh the Chastisement is already heard on the wind. How anyone can prattle on about God punishing sinful New Orleans and fail to shed a tear for the afflicted. Well, that's a brand of Catholicism I utterly reject. I hope the rest of you do, too.
Posted by: Sandra Miesel at Aug 30, 2005 8:26:54 PM
Sandra: What creeps have been saying that?
Posted by: James Kabala at Aug 30, 2005 8:36:09 PM
Yes, Sandra. Amplify, please.
Posted by: Nance at Aug 30, 2005 8:43:00 PM
I'm listening to Fox News (Hannity & Colmes) and they're interviewing EWTN's Raymond Arroyo, whose house evidently has been destroyed. His immediate family is fine, and he sounds fine as he relies on his faith. I'm sorry but I don't know where Arroyo lives. He described the scene he fled as "Atlantis."
Posted by: Christopher Fotos at Aug 30, 2005 8:49:55 PM
Well the New Orleans City Council President Oliver Thomas goes half way there (speaking about looting):
"I'm telling you, it's like Sodom and Gomorrah."
http://tinyurl.com/coacw
Posted by: Samuel J. Howard at Aug 30, 2005 8:51:51 PM
Does anyone have any suggestions as to the best organisations to whom we can give? I feel most desperately for those who had so little to call their own in the first place.
Posted by: anna domini at Aug 30, 2005 8:56:44 PM
I think this is the end of New Orleans too. I don't see how it can be rebuilt.
Posted by: Patrick Rothwell at Aug 30, 2005 8:56:56 PM
James/Nance/Samuel: Let's just leave that alone tonight. What we do know is that thousands need our prayers:
“Charity Hospital is in a crisis,” Nagin said. He estimated it would take as long as two weeks to clear out the floodwaters once the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers fixes the levees.
Also, Municipal Yacht Harbor burned to the ground. And looting has become so widespread that it's sometimes taking place in full view of police and other emergency workers who are busy searching for any survivors in need of rescue. Drug addicts have been looting pharmacies, Nagin said.
There are no official death tolls, but it's expected to be steep. At this point, “Rescue workers are not even dealing with dead bodies. They're just pushing them to the side,” Nagin said.
Posted by: Rich Leonardi at Aug 30, 2005 8:57:23 PM
Amy,
I think you're right.. does anyone know how the Archdiocese faired? N.O. has some of the most beautiful parishes and amazing architecture. Praying for miracles on this end..
Posted by: Yvonne at Aug 30, 2005 8:59:22 PM
Anna, Glenn Reynolds at Instapundit has a superb list of charities including everything from Catholic Charities and the American Red Cross to Mercy Corps, which I know is thought well of by Mark Shea. I am sure Amy will have her own recommendations if she hasn't posted them already (apologies in advance, Amy, I'm surfing a bit too rapidly.)
Posted by: Christopher Fotos at Aug 30, 2005 9:06:42 PM
Jesus already has an answer for the doomsdayers: "Unless ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish."
Posted by: Jason at Aug 30, 2005 9:08:23 PM
New Orleans will never die.
Geez, we're Americans! We love big projects! We need to think big.
1. How could you dry out a whole city _quickly_? Don't they have those big sopping-up rice things for oil spills and stuff like that? This might also help slow down the flows through levee breaks, if you used it as a sort of little Dutch boy's thumb.
We should also be shipping New Orleans that underwater cement stuff, that can harden even underwater. That'd make a really good temporary dam where needed, I'd think.
2. Couldn't we make pre-fab houses that looked like the ruined ones? I mean, there's no rule that says a pre-fab house can't look Victorian, or Napoleonic, or whatever. This would also be an opportunity to put really nice small houses in place of the shotgun shacks. This could help all of the damaged towns along the coast, especially poor Biloxi. If Sears did it last century, we can do it better and cheaper now.
The insurance companies are facing massive payout problems. If they banded together, they could almost certainly fund a project like this, and that would allow them to control and reduce costs.
3. Massive emergency DDT spraying against the mosquitoes. I'm sorry about the birds, but human health comes first. We do not need massive malaria, sleeping sickness, etc. spreading throughout the United States this fall on top of all our other problems. DDT works.
4. "Remember the Promises in the Attic. Never Again." A Dayton-like over-engineered levee and drainage system, because we don't want to go through this again! And maintain them every year against settling, even if that's just a new load of dirt and sod. And this sounds stupid, but couldn't the city be raised a little higher? On piles or floating cement and such?
Anybody else got some ideas?
Posted by: Maureen at Aug 30, 2005 9:09:05 PM
Good heavens. I suppose it's safe to say that the day so many people have feared is finally here. I pray that the city is spared complete destruction.
Posted by: julian at Aug 30, 2005 9:14:08 PM
I am not sure how much insurance companies have to pay since most don't cover flood damage. I am betting that would be the case here. They clearly live in a flood plane.
Posted by: Father Todd Reitmeyer at Aug 30, 2005 9:14:16 PM
Here's the Catholic Charities USA link:
http://www.catholiccharitiesusa.org/news/katrina.cfm
About "God hates New Orleans": Catholics and non-Catholics alike can be prone to this stuff. We had a 3.8 earthquake just north of Asheville last week. Was that divinely-inspired punishment?
For those who link disasters with divine retribution far too readily, I recommend Luke 13:1-5.
Posted by: Fr. Shawn O'Neal at Aug 30, 2005 9:16:55 PM
Thank you Fr. Shawn and Christopher.
Posted by: anna domini at Aug 30, 2005 9:20:40 PM
"What nature doesn't do to us
will be done by our fellow man."
-Tom Leherer
Posted by: Nancy at Aug 30, 2005 9:21:32 PM
FEMA's web site has a long list of charities involved, including Catholic Charities USA. Web links not provided, but phone numbers are.
http://www.fema.gov/news/
newsrelease.fema?id=18473
Posted by: Peggy at Aug 30, 2005 9:23:04 PM
Fr. Todd is right. Private insurers do not provide coverage for damage caused by flooding. Flooding is covered under the FEMA Flood Insurance Program.
The little town of Columbia, Virginia, of which I was Mayor until recently, knows all about being wiped out by hurricane-induced floods - Camille hit in 1969 followed by Agnes in 1972. Two 1000-year floods within 3 years of each other.
Posted by: Jay Anderson at Aug 30, 2005 9:27:44 PM
Has anyone heard from Father Bryce Sibley (the well-remembered Saintly Salmagundi guy)?
Posted by: katymalone at Aug 30, 2005 9:27:56 PM
I saw on Nola.com that as of 4:30, the authorities sent out a call for anybody with a boat, especially a flatboat. It's a bit late tonight, but it sounds like they may still need a whole flotilla of rescue boats come daylight.
So I'd say anyone living in a nearby state who wants to do like Dunkirk should maybe think about driving the boat over tomorrow....
Posted by: Maureen at Aug 30, 2005 9:29:18 PM
New Orleans will continue to face flooding problems through next week as what has fallen in the Midwest flows downstream eventually into the Mississippi.
We celebrated the feast of Saint Lawrence, Deacon and Martyr three weeks ago. He had no problem telling everyone who the treasure of the Church was and he gave his life in an effort to care for them. Through his intercession and in his memory, may we do what we can to care for the treasures of the Church no matter where they live.
It can be as simple as breaking out the spare change jars.
Posted by: Fr. Shawn O'Neal at Aug 30, 2005 9:29:39 PM
"I have this terrible feeling that what Katrina started human beings are going to finish off tonight and afterwards,"
I'm not sure I understand what you mean Amy. Isn't it more that what Katrina began last night human being are going to be unable able to stop tonight?
Posted by: Mark Adams at Aug 30, 2005 9:29:44 PM
Is Fr. Sibley from the affected area?
I am writing from Montreal and I have just watched the CBC 10 o'clock news in which they spent a measly 9 minutes covering the devastation in New Orleans. Nine minutes! And nearly half of that was complaining about how gas prices were going to go up as the result of Katrina. I realise I am an American and therefore sensitive. But honestly - - - nine minutes!!!
Posted by: anna domini at Aug 30, 2005 9:33:13 PM
Sandra's comment doesn't surprise me. I've seen some lovely comments on the Net. Fundamentalists noting that N.O. is, after all, a "pagan, Papist city" - so they had it coming. And a Compassionate Leftist(TM) at Daily Kos mocking the southern accents he/she was hearing on TV. Other CL's hoping that this will be the start of a Great Depression that will drive the GOP out of office. Yeah, real heartwarming stuff.
It's time to shut off the computer, I think, and start praying. God, help those people. Lord have mercy.
Posted by: Donna at Aug 30, 2005 9:34:42 PM
I mean in rendering the city uninhatible, looters and other criminals are well on their way to doing terrible damage in an already crippled city.
Posted by: amy at Aug 30, 2005 9:35:06 PM
Ah. I see. I thought you were referring to the failure of the levee.
Posted by: Mark Adams at Aug 30, 2005 9:40:05 PM
I know that such disasters are not really imaginable even if they are to some degree predicted. But I so, so, so wish they had had an evacuation plan for people without cars.
Posted by: Katherine at Aug 30, 2005 9:45:34 PM
I thought amy was refering to the failure of the levee as well. I thought she meant that New Orleans would be wiped off the map. It's not outside the realm of possibility. When the hurricane first hit, I thought New Orleans would be destroyed. As in, it would never exist again, ever. It didn't happen, but it still might.
Posted by: Sydney Carton at Aug 30, 2005 9:49:25 PM
In conversation earlier today I offered to bet my house that some preacher somewhere was already pronouncing this to be God's vengeance on New Orleans. No takers.
Posted by: Maclin Horton at Aug 30, 2005 10:00:49 PM
Maureen:
"Geez, we're Americans! We love big projects! We need to think big."
I'm afraid that's beyond us now. We haven't "thought big" in years. Our idea of "big" is sending the ricketty old space shuttle up to go around and around the earth like a senile old poodle going around and around its favorite fire hydrant. Clean up and rebuild an American historical treasure? God forbid one cent of tax dollars be spent for that.
Posted by: Andrea Harris at Aug 30, 2005 10:03:42 PM
Well, I'm as conservative as it comes, and I have no problem spending tax money and my own money on the Gulf Coast towns for this.
They don't call us the United States for nothing.
Posted by: Maureen at Aug 30, 2005 10:10:44 PM
From the sounds of it, they're expecting the pumps to fail and the levees to be overrun. 9ft of water is a lot of water, and, while it might not wipe the city off the map, it will probably cripple it for a long time.
Unless repair efforts gain a foothold soon, I think that there will be trouble,
Posted by: julian at Aug 30, 2005 10:11:10 PM
I ride a vanpool to work each day and just before the hurricane hit, a fellow rider commented on it being God's wrath.
I thought, well, we better expect a lot more of this all over the world then.
I remember 9/11. I moved to NYC right out of college and it is in that city I seriously grew up. I didn't realize just how much I was attached until I moved to D.C.
On 9/11 I was scared, being in D.C., but seeing a home you love be destroyed is heartbreaking (I thought lower Manhatten was destroyed on that day, where I worked). Seeing the innocent jump to their death (or in this case cling to a roof) is beyond heartbreaking.
It could be each of us, no matter where we live, any day.
I don't know about God's wrath or His permitting Will and how it figures into 9/11 or NO, but I do know that to find some satisfaction in death because it makes a person feel 'right' is sick and sad.
I'm a total sucker. I wish that somehow, someway, hell is empty. I also pray that I don't do a big sin and then the suitcase nuke goes off before I find a confessor. For me, I'm grateful for being a Catholic because I'm all too human. On another thread, maybe on this blog, someone quoted Peggy Noonan as saying she was a good, bad Catholic. That's me. And I know I'm going to die. I can find no reason to imagine finding satisfaction in this kind of death in destruction. I may be next. May God have mercy on us all. And may God help all affected by this hurricane.
Posted by: Kathleen at Aug 30, 2005 10:11:28 PM
Amen, Kathleen. Amen.
Posted by: Maureen at Aug 30, 2005 10:23:24 PM
If I am not mistaken St. Joan of Arc is the patron saint of New Orleans:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joan_of_Arc
If nothing else, the pictures of beautiful statues of St Joan of Arc may encourage us all in our prayers, and, more importantly, those in New Orleans who are praying this evening.
I have friends in New Orleans, and the distance pains me the more.
Posted by: Plato's Stepchild at Aug 30, 2005 10:24:25 PM
Our Lady of Prompt Succor, Patroness of New Orleans and Louisiana
Novena to Our Lady of Prompt Succor
Posted by: Anne at Aug 30, 2005 10:41:29 PM
I can't tell you how sad the pictures of NO and the Mississippi Gulf Coast make me. I was a hurricane refugee 3 times as a child and we lost everything in Camille. The coast looked like an atomic bomb had been dropped after Camille. I never imagined that a hurricane could be worse but this one definitely is because the damange is so much more widely spread.
And the continued flooding and looting and lawlessness in NO. New Orleanians aren't exactly pious Puritans under the best of conditions so I'm not surprised.
One bright note - the famous statue of Christ with his arms outstretched behind St. Louis Cathedral in a garden dedicated to Henriette De Lille is still standing. Two ancient oak trees were uprooted and crshed over the statue but it still stands and locals regard it as a miracle.
Henriette de Lille is a local saint - a heroic woman of mixed race (a French-speaking creole) who may become the first American-born saint of African American background. She would be a wonderful intercessor for the city she loved and served so well. Also Margaret Haughery - the empowerished, illiterate Irish orphan who turned out to the be a business genius and became the greatest philanthropist NO ever saw. And Francis Xavier Seelos, the priest with the gift of healing whose shrine is in the city.
All were genuine saints in this city of saints. Lets invoke them for the protection and deliverance of many tonight.
Posted by: Sherry Weddell at Aug 30, 2005 10:45:59 PM
Donna,
"Fundamentalists noting that N.O. is, after all, a "pagan, Papist city" - so they had it coming."
You know what? I just don't believe anyone said that. Without checkable citations, you shouldn't either.
Posted by: Bonnie at Aug 30, 2005 10:46:25 PM
"In conversation earlier today I offered to bet my house that some preacher somewhere was already pronouncing this to be God's vengeance on New Orleans. No takers."
We will see that in the dark, dank corners of St. Blog's soon enough. And woe betide the political fortunes of the so-called religious right if any of its well-known public faces make this point.
Next prediction: We will see the Fred Phelps clan make a trip to LA, MS, or AL to gloat over Katrina. If he does that, it wouldn't surprise me if a angry redneck blew his and his family's brains out.
Posted by: Patrick Rothwell at Aug 30, 2005 10:50:08 PM
Oh, and I want to commend Kathleen's comments. 9/11 spooked the crap out of me, as I worked on Lafayette Square at the time, but I think this is far worse for New Orleans and the country than 9/11. Things are very subdued everywhere I've been today.
Posted by: Patrick Rothwell at Aug 30, 2005 10:54:34 PM
I hope that the death toll will be less than 9/11, and people tend to be more traumatized & have higher PTSD rates after murders by other human beings than by natural disasters. But in one respect this is certainly worse: very few New Yorkers were left homeless, whereas here it's more or less an entire city (in addition to the devastation in Mississippi and Alabama).
Posted by: Katherine at Aug 30, 2005 11:04:08 PM
p.s. to my above comment: the same sort of preacher will note with satisfaction that the gambling dens of the Mississippi coast were also targeted. In fact the juxtaposition will be part of his proof.
To those who don't think anybody would say such things: a few years ago a little Methodist church somewhere in Alabama was hit by a tornado (I think--something like that, anyway) and several children were killed. Somebody made the papers with his judgment that God had smote the church because the minister was a woman. Of course there are Protestant churches all over the place with female ministers--no indication of why they remain unsmitten.
Personally I'm more interested in why I remain unsmitten.
Posted by: Maclin Horton at Aug 30, 2005 11:08:17 PM
Since somebody asked:
I spoke to Father Sibley on Sunday night, and he was completely sanguine about it, since he was about 130 miles away and on high land to the west. I reflected that even though I'd lived my entire American life in the South, it was always more than 100 miles from the sea, so I never went through more than hurricane remnants. Though when 1999's Floyd was a category 5 that looked like it would score a direct hit on a major American postcard city (Savannah), I was just 140 miles upriver in Augusta, right in its path.
Admittedly Katrina hadn't hit yet when I talked to Father Sibley, but at the hour we spoke -- I had just gotten off work at 7 EDT -- the conventional wisdom was still This Is The Big One, a Category 5 making a direct hit on New Orleans. Father was completely at ease and said nothing more than bad T-storms were expected where he lives. Since that point, Katrina weakened slightly and turned away to the east, away from him. The threat to new orleans is a unique feature of its geography. I just looked on Lafayette's TV station's Web site and there's no indication of any local damage at all.
I haven't spoke to him since, but I would be stunned if Father Sibley has had to deal with more than an influx of refugees.
Posted by: Victor Morton at Aug 30, 2005 11:19:18 PM
"To those who don't think anybody would say such things"
Mac,
Donna wrote that they are already saying it, have already said it. I doubt it, and the word "papist" clinches it for me. That term is so arcane.
Posted by: Bonnie at Aug 30, 2005 11:43:16 PM
This sort of stuff IS happening all over the world. Last summer's European heatwave. Dec. 26th. This summer's European flooding. I think nature responds to the level of sin in the world, not just in New Orleans. It is a wakeup call for all of us, not just residents of the Gulf Coast. If you want an example of God's mercy, compare what did happen (tragic as it is) with what MIGHT have happened if the thing had hit N.O. directly at 175 mph. I think prayer helped!
Posted by: Patti at Aug 30, 2005 11:44:09 PM
First of all, let us pray for the victims, living and dead, and provide for their well-being. Second, let's make sure we have our own emergency/disaster plans ready in case our own home is ever struck, including evacuating when you are told to and not obstinately staying in our homes. Third, before rebuilding, lets take a good rational look at the situation first -- They should never, ever, be building anything in a hole in the ground that is surrounded by water, just inviting disaster to happen. If the structures are a total loss, as it looks like they are, then, instead of just rebuilding, they need to dump about 25 feet of fill dirt in the area first, so that they are above the water level, instead of insanely trying to rely on this levee system. Its the same with the WTC -- was it really a good idea in the first place to be building super-high skyscrapers without an idea of how they might come down? Perhaps the government can take these properties by eminent domain and fill in all these low lying areas -- they cannot simply make the same tragic mistakes again.
Posted by: Donbot at Aug 30, 2005 11:46:27 PM
Bonnie: A friend emailed that comment to me earlier today, telling me they found it on Free Republic. When I visited there just now, I couldn't find it, although there's some "Pastor Fred" nut raving about how "God hates gay New Orleans." So you're right, I can't provide a cite, but tell me, why do you find it so unbelievable and incredible that someone could be that nasty-minded?
The Daily Kos quotes are still there:
These are some deep south accents... (1.00 / 4)
...coming from Blanco and Barbour. The accents are hilarious.
"I tell'ya it look lie-ke shomebawdy gone down there and set awe a nucular bomb."
"Make the truth your litmus test."
by independentchristian on Tue Aug 30th, 2005 at 18:04:12 PDT
That's a reminder to Patrick Rothwell that conservatives don't hold a monopoly on small-minded bigotry.
Of course, most of the comments I've seen, on the Left and Right, express compassion for those afflicted. It's naive, though, to think that there aren't spiteful people gloating over this.
Victor Morton: Glad to hear Fr. Sibley is on high land.
Posted by: Donna at Aug 30, 2005 11:48:28 PM
re Raymond Arroyo: Saw him interviewed on CNN tonight. He, his wife, two sons and 2-week old daughter fled New Orleans to Birmingham AL on Saturday before the hurricane hit. His house in NO is gone as well as his grandfather's restaurant which has been a family business for many years.
I've been watching video footage of the horrendous damage on TV - but I know in reality it's worse than I can imagine. I know that donating money will help, but it seems like so little to do to help in the face of such a disaster.
Posted by: ann at Aug 30, 2005 11:50:02 PM
Bonnie: When I lived in Northern Florida, I met more than one Southern Baptist who referred to me (sometimes jokingly, sometimes not) as a "Papist." "Arcane" or not, it's not unheard of, especially in areas where real Catholics are thin on the ground.
Posted by: Donna at Aug 30, 2005 11:54:27 PM
rendering the city uninhatible, looters and other criminals are well on their way to doing terrible damage in an already crippled city.
I really don't see the logic behind this looting -- food and water? OK, I can understand that, and can even excuse it. But several shopping carts stuffed full of clothing and electronics? The entire city needs to be evacuated! Even if you've taken it from the store, you are not going to be able to carry it out of the city! You might get it home, where it will be ruined by flood waters, so what is the point?? I even saw a guy trying to carry a big package of toilet paper through the water! Come on, doesn't he know that its going to be a big soggy mess by the time he gets where he's going? And now, some of the looters are shooting the police, and with AK-47s? What are they thinking? You have to leave people! You have to get out of the city; it is uninhabitable. All the worldly goods you have stolen are of absolutely no use to you. And this is what you want to teach your kids to act like?
Its all so very sad and tragic.
Posted by: Donbot at Aug 31, 2005 12:02:35 AM
You have to leave people! You have to get out of the city; it is uninhabitable.
Exactly so - and yet imagine how frightening it must be to leave your home when you know there are violent criminals and looters roaming the streets. Especially if you're elderly and are in a house you've lived in your entire life. I think you're right Donbot, and yet I bet there are people who are so absolutely paralyzed by fear that they can't move.
Again, God please help them.
Posted by: Donna at Aug 31, 2005 12:29:47 AM
"All the worldly goods you have stolen are of absolutely no use to you."
When all you believe in are worldly goods, then it becomes your religion.
I remember when the blackout hit NYC. After the fear that it was terrorism resided, I thought that the city would riot. But it didn't, probably because everyone was afraid it was terrorism again and so there was a mindset of sticking together.
That is probably not the case for New Orleans.
Posted by: Sydney Carton at Aug 31, 2005 12:45:50 AM
I find the looting and "lawlessness" described by CNN online frightening. The tv news tonight (11pm) reported that at least one policman has been shot trying to establish order, and that one looter has shot another..
It is heartening to see New Orleans-bound convoys of emergency/supply trucks leaving Central Florida tonight.
I agree that we need to pray and go to Mass for victims of Katrina and for those trying to help. I wonder if churches are organizing some kind of prayer presence in the city.
I believe that New Orleans can recover from
this. May God be with them.
Our Lady of the Assumption, Patroness of the Acadians, pray for us.
Posted by: Lynn at Aug 31, 2005 12:46:44 AM
Donbot: "Its the same with the WTC -- was it really a good idea in the first place to be building super-high skyscrapers without an idea of how they might come down?"
Excuse me, but that is incredibly offensive. Why don't you ask the same damn thing about St. Peter's Bascilica? It's too big! Before 9/11, I thought that the Towers were like the Pyramids: they would stand forever. I say that they should rebuild them again, EVEN HIGHER.
Posted by: Sydney Carton at Aug 31, 2005 12:48:58 AM
I can't give you a link, all I can give is from memory. Pretty sure is was from a Pat Robertson article about him and Chavez where he was quoted as saying something like areas of the world can expect more hurricanes and other disasters as a sign from God telling them to repent (that was it more or less). That *may* be where this preacher quote stuff is coming from but I got the impression from the article this was something he had said some time ago, pre-New Orleans (if not pre-Katrina). In any event, I have to assume he's regretting having said it.
Posted by: Jay at Aug 31, 2005 1:41:23 AM
When I stayed at Madonna House and there were reports of especially bad news in the world, the director of women said to Pray, be more tolerant of the petty stuff, be even more attentive to doing little things well.
It's where I really understoond what it is to be a communion of saints, that prayer and doing God's will in my corner of the world can act as a prayer ballast and transcend distance to offset the disorder and fear, allows God to work in the awful situation.
Probably not said well, but it did and still helps me realize that I can do my part with prayer and material support.
Posted by: Mary Kay at Aug 31, 2005 4:35:16 AM
Thanks, Mary Kay, for remembering Jean Fox's words. At least I'm assuming they are Jean's as she was Director of Women ever since Catherine died until her own death two years ago.
Posted by: Kalanna at Aug 31, 2005 5:18:52 AM
Ive been reading Michael Brown.. ie www.spiritdaily.com nearly daily. Michael does have some good reports posted and certainly does question the meaning of this storm vs the evil that flourishes in NO.
While Im not an over-believer of prophecies, and such,it certainly makes for an interesting read from a catholic biblical perspective..
The Novena to Padre Pio starts Sept 3rd..
Posted by: Yvonne at Aug 31, 2005 5:52:23 AM
Is this the end of New Orleans?
No. This country has experienced many disasters, both man made and natural, and rebuilt every time. New Orleans will be no different.
Posted by: Donald R. McClarey at Aug 31, 2005 6:02:31 AM
"I tell'ya it look lie-ke shomebawdy gone down there and set awe a nucular bomb."
I didn't know Pres. Bush had visited New Orleans! (ducking for cover now....)
Posted by: fbc at Aug 31, 2005 8:11:14 AM
For those wondering, I just exchanged a few e-mails with Fr. Bryce; he never lost power and all he got was some wind and rain, as did some of our mutual LA friends.
Posted by: KH at Aug 31, 2005 10:12:11 AM
I'm an American living here in Heidelberg and my heart just breaks for all in Louisianna. You are all in my prayers. Know that the world is hurting and praying.
Blessings, Francine
Posted by: Francine Biere at Aug 31, 2005 4:06:00 PM
This appeared at nola.com this afternoon:
"No Children's Hospital Looting
4:35 p.m.
Doug Mittelstaedt, vice-president of Human Resources for Children's Hospital in New Orleans, said one of the biggest issues at the hospital on Wednesday was debunking the prevalent rumor that looters had stormed the hospital.
Mittelstaedt said things actually were operating smoothly at the hospital - the generator was running efficiently and efforts to relocate patients were going well - but fighting the rumor was a major issue."
At least, one thing turned out better than reported.
Posted by: sj at Aug 31, 2005 8:52:15 PM
Pat Robertson made his comments in 1998. After living through 3 hurricanes passing over the house in central Florida last year (all Category I or less by the time they got here), I would NEVER stay for a cat 5 if I could get out. These people either had no idea, or no means.
On the other hand, they always knew this could happen. But if 1.3 million others are living below sea level with you, somehow you tell yourself that many people can't be wrong. That's exactly how I look at the 20 million people living on the giant fault that is California.
Posted by: Patti at Sep 1, 2005 1:22:33 AM
