Inside Living on a prayer Marian College football coach, players eager to open inaugural season, page 9. Serving the ChurchCriterion in Central and Souther n Indiana Since 1960 CriterionOnline.com August 31, 2007 Vol. XLVII, No. 46 75¢ ‘Katrina was big, but God is bigger’ Two years later, Indiana parishes still help Gulf Coast communities By Sean Gallagher The weather was unbearably hot and Submitted photo sticky. The work that needed to be done seemed endless. What could 22 teenagers and eight adult leaders from St. Paul Parish in Tell City do to help the community of St. Bernard Parish, La., recover from the devastation caused nearly two years ago by Hurricane Katrina while they were in Louisiana for a week in late June? As their trip was coming to an end, the group was cleaning up a park. A van stopped, and children from a nearby daycare center piled out for play time. The youths from Tell City saw in the happy faces of the boys and girls that progress can be measured by more than the number of houses rebuilt. It’s also measured in love given and received. “We were having our lunch break, and they pulled up,” said Derrick Woodfield, a member of St. Paul Parish and a high school junior. “A bunch of us played kickball with the kids and had a great time. That park was really all they had. “We usually only took about a 20-minute lunch break. But that day, we took almost the rest of the day off just to play with those kids. Just to see the smiles on those kids’ faces was awesome.” Two years after Hurricane Katrina came ashore along the Mississippi- Louisiana coast and ravaged much of the area, the people who remain there Marianne Krueger, a high school senior and member of St. Paul Parish in Tell City, carries two young girls in a park in St. Bernard Parish, La., during a still need massive amounts of help in June 25-29 volunteer trip sponsored by her parish. The 22 teenagers and eight adult leaders were cleaning up the park when the children arrived from a both material and human terms. nearby daycare center. But because of the large numbers of previous residents who have St. Paul Parish who helped organize the But in the midst of all this good work, along the Gulf Coast. They permanently moved elsewhere, finding service trip, knew the challenges facing Linda Krueger’s daughter, Stefanie, accomplished their goal, and gained a jobs and enough skilled labor to St. Bernard Parish because her daughter, wasn’t sure if she and the other volunteers lot as well. rebuild businesses and homes is a Theresa, lives there. from Indiana were making a difference. “I don’t take stuff for granted challenge. “The businesses can’t come back “Every night, I prayed that we would anymore, and I try to spend more time In Louisiana, a parish is the term without the people,” she said. “And the actually feel like we were doing with my family,” Derrick said. “There used for the equivalent of the counties people can’t come back without [jobs something good,” said Stefanie, a junior were so many families that got split found in many other states. Before that] businesses support.” at Marian College in Indianapolis and a up. I used to go out to eat all the time. Hurricane Katrina, St. Bernard Parish, In addition to helping clean up the member of St. Paul Parish in Tell City. Now, I just lay back at the house and which is southeast of New Orleans, park in St. Bernard Parish, the group from “And then, the last two days, we saw say, ‘We should just have dinner [here] had a population of approximately Tell City helped prepare a former school those kids. I just broke down in tears tonight.’ ” 67,000, according to local government building to be converted into government when we saw those kids because that After the success of their first trip, figures. As of now, the population has offices. They also cleared a nature trail on made everything worth it.” St. Paul Parish is planning to take dropped to approximately 25,000. the grounds of a museum and readied a The group from Tell City went south another group to Louisiana next June. Linda Krueger, a member of public baseball field for use. with the intent to help people who live See KATRINA, page 2 Vatican officials say new book illustrates Mother Teresa’s strength VATICAN CITY (CNS)—Vatican officials cross, he said. Blessed Teresa of said a new book detailing Blessed Mother Such moments of “weakness” Calcutta holds the Teresa of Calcutta’s long “crisis of faith” are in fact “the proof of the CNS file photo hand of an ailing man illustrates her spiritual strength in the face of greatness of faith of Blessed at the Missionaries of doubt. Mother Teresa and take nothing Charity home in “This is a figure who had moments of away from her holiness,” he said. Calcutta in this uncertainty and discouragement, experiencing Cardinal Herranz, who spoke undated file photo. the classic dark night that God gives to chosen in an interview with the Rome Vatican officials said a people in order to forge them on the road to newspaper La Repubblica, said new book detailing holiness,” said Spanish Cardinal Julian the progress of Mother Teresa’s Blessed Teresa’s long Herranz, a member sainthood cause would not be “crisis of faith” Mass to mark the of the Congregation affected by the letters published illustrates her spiritual 10th anniversary of for Saints’ Causes. in the book. strength in the face of Blessed Mother Teresa’s death, page 2. “These moments Vatican and other Church doubt. of crisis felt by great officials were already familiar saints are normal and in line with the Church’s with the letters because many tradition,” Cardinal Herranz said on Aug. 26. were first published in 2002, and Even Christ experienced a similar spiritual in fact formed part of the trial in the Garden of Gethsemane and on the See BOOK, page 10 Page 2 The Criterion Friday, August 31, 2007 KATRINA continued from page 1 Small beginnings, big results Wiechec CNS photo/Nancy Putting a human touch on charitable work is an essential part of Catholic charity, and the volunteer group from St. Paul Parish did this. Caring for the material needs of people is also important. Members of St. Bartholomew Parish in Columbus have been hard at work on this aspect, while not ignoring the other, for more than a year in Waveland, Miss. In May 2006, the parish teamed up with St. Clare Parish in the coastal town in the Biloxi Diocese to form St. Clare Recovery. It is a ministry that is working to put families back into homes in Waveland. Many who have received aid are members of St. Clare Parish, but the ministry is dedicated to helping anyone in the town who is in need. According to Noel Phillips, a member of St. Clare Parish who helps oversee the ministry, in the 15 months A sign showing the faith of Catholics along the Gulf Coast stands on the grounds of St. Clare Parish in Waveland, Miss. The church, that St. Clare Recovery has been up and running, the school and homes in the surrounding community were destroyed by Hurricane Katrina on Aug. 29, 2005. St. Bartholomew Parish in volunteer work it has coordinated has allowed 122 families Columbus helped establish the St. Clare Recovery ministry to rebuild the homes of members of St. Clare Parish and others in the to move back into their homes. community. This work was brought about through 121 groups of volunteers from 33 states. Overall, more than for a year while overseeing the ministry. over the past two years that they have now taken over 1,000 volunteers have logged more than 31,000 service The ministry expanded by leaps and bounds in a short leadership of St. Clare Recovery from St. Bartholomew hours. time, largely through attention it received through its Parish. “I just don’t know how to explain it,” Phillips said. “We Web site. The Columbus faith community, however, is still are just so grateful that these people have given their time “In nine or 10 months, it went from a non-existent committed to helping the ministry. Volunteers from and their talent to come down and help, and to not expect ministry to the largest ministry, both dollar- and people- St. Bartholomew are still going south, and the parish has anything in return.” wise, in our parish,” Cord said. committed to contribute $4,000 per month to the ministry This massive outpouring of aid from across the nation In the 15 months that the ministry has been in operation, until September 2008. started with a simple spring break trip for two families the kind of volunteer work that has been coordinated has This is in addition to the financial aid given by from St. Bartholomew Parish. changed. St. Bartholomew over the past 15 months, and $15,000 John McCormack and John Cord took their families “In the beginning, … you needed a lot of hands to do contributed by Catholic Charities Indianapolis from the down to Waveland in March 2006 to show their teenage clean-up,” Cord said. “But as it went on, we discovered that archdiocese’s Hurricane Katrina Relief Fund, which was children the devastation along the coast, and to lend a hand we needed more and more skilled labor, people that actually created after second collections were taken up in parishes in helping people there start to recover.