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Our
Pastor, Fr. Pete Mockler, was in Ireland for his Mothers
80th birthday celebration. His return flight was
scheduled in advance for Sept. 20.
Fr.
Antoine Lynch, a retired Priest in our Diocese is
scheduled to do the Masses for St. Ann while Fr. Pete Is
in Ireland.
During
the week before the storm, he called and left a message
on the recorder that his nephew was in a very serious
accident and would be going to his family. He asked
that I make calls to locate another priest for the
weekend masses. He wished me luck and said he would not
be calling again.
I
called other churches, it was suggested that I call the
Retirement Community of The Society of the Divine Word
in Bay St. Louis. They did have a Priest, Fr. Brendon
Murphy. I offered him the use of the house and the
promise of a good meal.
On
Sunday August 28th I was the only member of our parish
working to prepare the Church for the Storm, It was
important to remove the small object inside so they
would not be picked up by the wind and break the windows
of the church. Fr. Murphy was in the office and wanted
to show me a new layout for our Bulletin. With so much
to be done outside I was in and out of the office on
this project as well. I kept insisting that he either
plan to stay and ride out the storm in the rectory or go
to Bay St. Louis soon. This was repeated several
times. I could tell by the strength of the wind at 5 pm
on Sunday that this was going to be a serious storm. It
was very scary. He insisted that he would go.
After
Fr. Murphy drove away, I went to the garage moved Fr.
Pete’s car closer to the wall so I could make room for
my car.
As I
was getting out of my car Fr. Murphy came back shaking
the rectory keys in the air saying he was passing
the Mission Church and discovered he had the keys in his
pocket and felt he needed to return, it was an omen.
I was
very relieved. I pulled my car out asked that he put
his in. He said it was okay for me to leave mine in.
No, my husband would rather have me go home.
He
wanted me to go back to the office he had something else
to show me on the bulletin. As we were walking into the
office the phone was ringing, Fr. Carignan SSJ of St.
Theresa of Lisieux Parish, in Gulfport wanted to speak
to Fr. Pete. I told him he was in Ireland. He had hope
to come to St. Ann he also mentioned that He’d talked
Fr. Endslow SSJ of Our Mother of Mercy Parish, Pass
Christian, MS. to come with him. I mention that another
fellow was here and was sure he would know him, and It
would be okay with Fr. Pete. They talked, it was decided
they would come. I asked about cooking a meal, Fr.
Murphy told me not to worry they would be stopping on
their way at Popeye for Chicken. On their arrival, I
had the beds made gave instructions. Set out a few
bottle of wine and whiskey told them to stay in the
house, the gas grill was in the garage and not to leave
before I came back it may be one day or two but promised
I’d be back.
I did
call Fr. Pete in Ireland and told him they would be
staying in his house, he was very happy about the news.
It
took two days because of the debris before I was able to
return.
Fr.
Endslow lost his home, all he had was the things he
brought with him to St. Ann, his house was the wood
frame house that had washed up on the railroad track
pictured in most national newspapers. He is still living
in a fema trailer.
Fr.
Murphy, was the only priest in the community of Bay St.
Louis that had a car. They had 8 feet of water in the
Retirement community, all the cars went underwater.
Fr.
Murphy agreed to stay a few extra days to keep an eye on
the church. I checked on him every day. I did get all
the freezers dumped at the church before the food could
thaw. One day I came and he was gone, he left a note
about needed more medication is possible he would
return, he took the key with him.
On
Saturday, September 3rd, while Glen, Ivy my youngest
daughter & I were working at the Church. At
approximately 9 am, Fr. Lynch drives up and is in tears,
over the amount of damage and the lost of his library &
home, he told me he had a friend that he felt the need
to check on but was concerned about fuel. Promised to
do the Masses at St. Ann if I would promise him 10
gallons of gas so he could return to Jackson, Sunday
after the 9 am Mass.
Yes can
do! Ivy and I took my little red car which had ¼ tank of
gas and located as many gas cans we could, with $66. in
my pocket, took to the road. We headed east on 1-10 to
Mobile. I forgot to take an ice chest with water, or
pack food, not a good thing to do. The traffic was
backed up at the Hwy 57 exit in Jackson County,
I
decided we would go north and work our way on the back
roads to Alabama. I was desperate.
We
kept driving and became concerned about our own fuel and
trust there was nothing except country. I tried my cell
phone and actually got a signal. I called my son’s
number and he actually answered, I was so relieved to
know he was okay, he was equally as happy. He was in
Little Rock Arkansas with a friend from school. I asked
that he check a map to give us some idea what might be
ahead. He was pretty upset with my decision to seek
fuel. He had problems getting fuel on his travels
north. He explained that the hwy I was on would run out
at Hwy 26 it went east and west. Ivy and I just kept
driving and we were beginning to lose it when there it
was. Hwy 26, and to the right was a Chevron Gas Station
totally in tact, with at least 30 cars lined up. We had
no choice but to get in it. The line did not move for
at least 2 hours, the owner of the station went car to
car and explained that a tanker truck was on the way,
and we would be rationed, we went through the line
twice, it was limited to $30. cost of fuel, $2.49 a
gallon. We got Fr. Lynch his 10 gallons put a little in
the car. Plus a little extra and went west on 26 to
Wiggin, South on Hwy 49 it was after the 9 pm curfew and
we were stopped. Explain our promise of gas for the
priest, and given the go ahead and a scolding. When we
reached St. Ann Ivy and I woke Fr. Lynch up, told him we
had fuel, he was excited and said to me many times
since, Karen Delivers! I told him that Glen would put
it in his car in the morning after Mass.
Eight
people showed up Glen, Ivy and I, included in that
number, but Fr. Lynch preached like the church was
full. He told us, the St. Paul’s, Pass Christian, gone!
St. Thomas, Long Beach, gone! St. Clare, Waveland, gone!
Along with several Catholic Schools. He also mentioned
that all the Churches in the Diocese received Damage.
That the Diocese of Biloxi Owned One policy for all the
Churches, it’s value 35 Million the damage was over
100Million. And St. Ann, you have structure, if you
think you will get any of that insurance money you’re
kidding yourselves, I suggest you get help to put your
church back together.
Monday, September 6th, my brother Richard, lives in
Texas he made a trip with two of his friends brought
three pickup truck loads of supplies which we
distributed among our neighbors, including fuel. He
picked up Ivy and my parents from their home in Biloxi
went straight back Texas, Ivy went to school for a month
and my parents stayed because of health issues for seven
months.
On
Tuesday, September 7th the electricity was up at the
Church.
I
turned on the water in every building and washed down
all the coolers and freezers and cleaned the rectory.
Went
home for the night, while we were dealing with the heat
in our home, Glen blurted out, we are crazy living in
these conditions when we could move our camper to the
church and hook up.
On,
Wednesday, September 8th, Glen removed the debris from
around the trailer, hooked it up to old gray and headed
to St. Ann; it took him three hours to move the trailer
three miles.
Fr.
Pete had just moved into the rectory at St. Ann in
January. While the rectory was being built he lived
eight months in our camper, a sight was ready with power
and water.
That
evening we cleared the area around the office near the
pond, I had already decided that I would not be leaving
the property on Thursday. I had to clean the gold fish
pond so I could turn on the pumps.
Because, Glen had remove the debris in the driveway of
the Church, very early Thursday, the dumpster company
came on the property and empted the dumpsters, (they
were pretty smelly by this time.)
I was
alone at the Church and in the Goldfish pond when a man
(Later I found out his name, George) came around a large
pile of tree limbs & metal from Fazzio’s across the Hwy.
“Hello, I didn’t think anyone was here.” He apologized
for startling me,”we have a truck load of supplies we
would like to give out to help your neighbors is it okay
for us to use your parking lot.” Help my neighbors?
I was
concerned for at least 2 seconds about liabilities, and
remembered what Fr. Lynch had said; I really believe we
did not have money. YES! He responded with a thank you,
went about his business. I continued to work in the
pond. A long time had passed; I was so caught up in my
pitiful world, thinking it was going to take me years to
clean up if I had to do it myself. Then suddenly I felt
myself lifted out of the pond, my feet never touching
the ground and up to the front gate I went. At the top
of my lungs I asked, “HEY! ARE ANY OF YOU FOLKS
CATHOLIC” three men answered, yes we are they (Dave
Booth, Mike Baxter & George Farkas from Michigan ) came
to the gate, where I was standing. I felt the need to
remind them, “All the members of my parish have damage
or losses of their own and are not able to help me clean
up this little church, and our dioceses will not have
the money to help fix St. Ann You know this is your
Church, being catholic, universal, you understand that?
Will you please adopt us and help us clean up?” they
were silent, and I asked them to walk with me.
God
only knows what it was I was going to show them or tell
them. We stopped at the gate between the office and the
back entrance of the Church. I pointed to the Parish
Hall. “See that building over there?”
“No
one in the county of Harrison or the Diocese of Biloxi
knows we have that building, it has electricity, the air
condition works, it has a commercial kitchen, freezer &
refrigerator, stove, the water is good, I know because I
opened
all the faucets and let the water run for a good ½ hour.
I do not know the purpose of my telling you all this,
but I said it. You can stay here and help us clean up?
“Dave did respond after a brief moment, “Well we already
have a place to stay, the place we are staying at does
not have electricity or running water. When we get back,
we will tell our leader about you and your offer.” I
went back to the pond and finished my work.
Because I was a small business owner, and due to
Katrina we no longer had an income. My husband & I own
two house trailers, our children resided in them at one
time, and both were vacant prier to the storm. We had
all the paint and other supplies bought and ready to
make the repairs long before Katrina, just no time to
work on them.
On
Friday, September 9th being the day after I made my
appeal, we went to work to make the necessary repairs on
one of the house trailers, and so we could rent for
income when the power was restored. While hard at work,
my cell phone rang; it was Joey Lind, a member of St.
Ann. Prier to the storm he and I had worked together on
the more recent projects around the Church. I had not
heard from him until he made this call. In his words,
“Ms Karen, there are some men here that would like to
speak to the lady that was here yesterday, from what
they have told me I know you are that lady. Whatever it
is you are doing right now you need to stop doing and
come to the Church.” “I can’t believe this, my phone
has not worked since the storm, and this call is the
first one that has gotten through.”
Steve
Hulst, is the founder of Project Hope & Compassion. He
made his first trip with his son Nathan to Mississippi
four days after Katrina they came with Nathans boat to
help with search & rescue, only to be turned away in
Jackson.
He
really believed he had failed. On his travel back to
Michigan he got on the phone and started making calls.
Thirty years before he and his wife Jacque had been part
of an international youth missionary organization, and
several of those persons that they had worked with were
still in the organization bases in Texas. Some were
associated with disaster relief work; he wanted to know
if they were doing any work in Mississippi, he found out
that they were working with the pastor of a small
community church in Texas. (A former minister of a
church in Gulfport) whose congregation was collecting
and delivering truck loads of relief supplies to the
greater Gulfport area. He contacted the minister, Rev.
Dwight Lawson, the two worked together to bring relief
supplies and work parties to help as many victims as
they could.
When
he arrived in Michigan he was given permission by his
pastor to speak at all of the Masses (St. Bartholomew’s,
Newaygo, MI)He asking for anyone interested in learning
about and supporting a relief effort to the victims of
Hurricane Katrina to met him after Mass.
On
Monday Morning (Labor Day) one week after the storm they
were loading medical, food and water supplies, his
brother Jim and Deacon Richard Pitt from Holy redeemer
Parish in Jenison, MI, join in the efforts, More
donations, volunteers located they got on the road and
headed to Gulfport, leaving MI, Tuesday September, 6
2005.
Steve’s daughter Cynthia, living in Orlando, was
contacted and asked to met him in Gulfport, with her
camera to document the destruction and the needs of the
people in Mississippi. They arrive Wednesday morning in
Gulfport. They met Steve Ewing, the head of an
organization called “Compassion Alliance,” at their
large distribution site in the parking lot of the
biggest mall in Gulfport. They were unloading 40-50
trucks at that site everyday. At this time Steve and the
others were still looking for a site of there own. That
night they joined there Texas friends in the homes of
locals.
Thursday, September 8, 2005. The supply group had
decided to meet at the Hancock Bank parking lot on the
corner of Hwy 49 & Hwy 53 to distribute the relief
supplies. Unknown to them the site had begun
reconstruction and was not available. The truck driver
from Texas just drove, no one knew where he was going,
they followed, he drove 9 miles on Hwy 53, passing
several churches and other location that would have be
adequate for distribution, he wheeled into the driveway
of my little church in Lizana, Thank God. Dave Booth
spotted the volunteer fire department, with no luck at
finding anyone there, he made his way back to St. Ann
only to find the supply trucks completely surrounded by
passing vehicles, and the folks from Michigan & Texas
busy handing out food, water and the other supplies, It
took 3-4 hours, the large load of supplies was
completely gone.
It
took Dave, Mike & George several tried to convince Steve
to come out to St. Ann to speak with me. He did come, we
prayed, we trusted, we accept, we are open to the
Spirit.
Steve
was committed to this ministry by giving up his job in
the beginning to devote full attention to the details,
organizing to establish PHC to make what it is. He is
still involved, he continues to update a newsletter
every 6 months to keep former & future volunteers
informed.
Fr.
Pete was told of the activities the day before he was
due to leave Ireland; he said “We’ll see.” When he
arrived home on Sept 20th, 2005, the church property was
full of activity. Men & Women are on the roofs of all
the buildings, folks working on the property picking up
debris and some going out into the community to help our
neighbors. Distribution Center was in full swing, 7
days a week, (We canceled our religious education
program 06-07. Our Distribution Center served more than
12,000 people. It was closed March 06.
I
explained to Fr. Pete, that several attempts were made
to contact the Diocese of Biloxi. I left messages on a
few phones to give a report of the activities. No
response and I was not going to delay any repairs.
Fr.
Pete said and I quote, “It is better to sometimes ask
for forgiveness than it is to ask for permission.”
One of
my dearest friends from my youth Penny Goodman (we are
kindred spirits), I had not been able to contact her for
ten days after the storm her husband is a Deacon at St.
Mary’s on the Hill, Augusta Georgia. I had just
programmed their home number into my phone less than a
week before Katrina. Cell phones as mentioned worked at
random, well I got a signal and called, she answered on
the first ring and was in tears, “Oh, Karen I have been
so worried about you, I had given your name to the Red
Cross as missing because you are the only person in
Mississippi I had not heard from, are you okay? What
can Brian & I do to help you!” I responded, “You want
to help me?” YES! Well I need help with my little church
in Lizana, I told her what Fr. Lynch had said about the
insurance, that volunteers were staying in the Parish
Hall. Within three days Deacon Brian, Charlie Mays, an
engineer and the pilot managed get permission to land at
the local airport. Steve & I picked them up, brought
them to the camp showed them around and talked with them
about the needs of the community, the Church and
volunteers. They went home put a crew together and
returned with material and built the outdoor showers
that we are using. St. Mary’s group has been back a
number of times. And last July their group also redid
the ceiling tiles in the church added the light
fixtures.
St.
Mary’s on the Hill, like many other Catholic Parishes,
Christian Reform, Reform Christian, Methodist, Baptist,
Non-religious have been supportive of “Project Hope and
Compassion, “ a hurricane relief ministry that was
started because of Katrina,
There
are so many stories that should be documented. Every
Volunteer can tell you a story about his or her
experience, working in Mississippi, The friendships that
have been made, the interfaith communities that have
bonded, so much good from such a disaster. We are
getting better, because the Spirit of Christ is at work
in so many, thank God.
Fr.
Pete is the Director of Project Hope & Compassion &
Pastor of St. Ann
Terri
Moore is a parish member – Volunteer Reservations
Richard
Dunlap is a parish member – PHC Bookkeeper
Project Hope & Compassion a Ministry of St. Ann
Catholic Church, Lizana, Mississippi, receives no
grants, no Catholic Charities, no Diocesan Support,
solely supported by donations
So
much destruction, the work is endless.
Over
6000 volunteers have come to St.Ann to help with
clean-up, distribution, reconstruction, community
service, many groups have repeated. We’ve had few long
term volunteers. Steve Hulst Founder Full Time Sept. 05
– January 06./ Rex & Shirley Foss, Zealand MI Oct 05 –
May 06 - / Mike Casey Newaygo MI Nov 05 – Dec 06. /Bill
Horn Has been here from St. Simon’s Island, GA about
16-17 times/ Jo Anderson Naperville IL & James
O’Hollearn Iowa - June & July 06/ Victor Said, Local
Cook for Volunteers, Sept 05 – Nov. 06/ Barry Wright,
British Columba Dec 06-April 07 / Tom Cook, May 22 –
August 1, 2007
Dave
Booth has been at least 5 times – Dave was Glen’s side
kick at all four Fish Fry (Fundraisers for PHC) in
Michigan - Aug 06.
George
Farkas has been here 2 times – He and His wife Pat, did
Funnel Cakes at the 5th Catfish Festival. Coordinated –
Fish Fry in Newaygo Aug 06
Mike
Baxter, has come 3 times, 2 with his sons.
Paul
Zimmerman, has come three times with groups from Aquinas
College, Grand Rapids MI., and is our Web Master.
Thank
you,
Karen
Parker
On-site
Coordinator
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