wfn.org | [ENS] Resilient Mississippi Episcopalians determined to rebuild

["Matthew Davies" <mdavies@episcopalchurch.org>]

Tuesday, September 6, 2005

Resilient Mississippi Episcopalians determined to rebuild Gulf Coast
congregations

By Matthew Davies

ENS 090605-1

Photographs accompanying this article can be found online at:
http://www.episcopalchurch.org/3577_64854_ENG_HTM.htm.

[ENS, Gulfport, Mississippi] Surrounded by scenes of devastation left
behind
by Hurricane Katrina, more than 50 parishioners of St. Mark's Church in
Gulfport, Mississippi, were joined by police, military and relief
workers
September 4, as they worshipped on the site where their church once
stood --
a testimony to their strength and determination to move forward.

"You are St. Mark's Church," said the Very Rev. James Bo Roberts,
rector, as
he addressed the congregation. "You are the spirit of St. Mark's Church.
It's you who have to stand for Jesus. It's you who will bring us back as
we
once were."

Built in 1846, St. Mark's is the oldest Episcopal church on the
Mississippi
coast and one of six that were completely destroyed after Katrina hit
August
29.

"Although the church is not standing physically," Bishop Duncan Gray III
of
Mississippi explained, "spiritually the church continues to stand and we
will continue to do the work that God has called us to do."

Despite the dangers involved, Roberts remained in his Gulfport rectory
as
Katrina pounded the coast, "because it's difficult to gain access to the
area afterwards," he said. "I wanted to be where I could check on my
people
and be available to them."

Roberts' house in Gulfport is about 20 feet above sea level, yet the
water,
he said, came right up to the door.

"It's time for us to reach out to one another; to try and renew our
faith,
increase our strength and our relation to God," he added. "Walking in
the
presence of Christ, we'll be able to recover from the ruins that we find
ourselves in today."

It is Roberts' second hurricane as rector of St. Mark's. He had lived in
Gulfport for only four months when Hurricane Camille devastated the area
in
1969. Until Katrina, Camille was the worst hurricane on record to hit
the
Gulf Coast.

Local needs

The first priority, Gray explained, is to give the local clergy some
stability so that they can return to the area. "We need to make sure
they
have a place to live," he said. "We will probably get some motor
scooters
for them because gas is so hard to come by. We will get trailers for two
or
three clergy to give them temporary space."

The Diocese of Mississippi is helping to set up supply areas for local
needs. Coast Episcopal School in Long Beach has begun to receive goods
and
volunteers and is hoping to serve 2,000 hot meals a day. Christus
Victor, a
Lutheran church in Ocean Springs, is home to Lutheran-Episcopal Services
of
Mississippi, an ecumenical social ministry organization.

St. Thomas, Diamondhead, will become another distribution point along
the
Mississippi coast in the weeks ahead. "Once these are fully operational,
all
the people who are eager to help our community will have a place to come
to,
a place to send materials and we will begin to step out into the
community,"
Gray said.

Supplies are being received at several churches throughout Mississippi
and
the diocese is organizing these to be transferred to the coastal
operations
centers.

Episcopal Relief and Development sent immediate assistance to the
diocese,
where some parishes have become disaster shelters. ERD's support is
helping
to provide food, water, and other basic needs.

National support

The Rev. Rob Dewey from the Diocese of South Carolina works with the U.S
government's Disaster Mortuary Operational Response Team. He was
deployed to
Mississippi August 29 to support the men and women who make up the
forensic
team and to help families find their loved ones. "I would equate it very
much to 9/11," he said. "I think we will all be here a while to offer
assistance and support."

A center has been set up where people can provide information about
family
members who are missing. "This is certainly one of the most devastating
things that I have been a part of," Dewey said, "but the local folks are
resilient and we will do all that we can to help them."

After the service, Gray accompanied Dewey to the morgue where the bishop
offered a blessing over the facility.

Looking ahead

Originally from the Diocese of Kentucky, Catherine Gautier has been
youth
minister at St. Mark's for just six weeks. She is hoping to continue her
work with the young people in the parish despite the devastation caused
by
Katrina.

"I have asked for people to consider getting in touch with organizations
such as Salvation Army or the diocesan offices to offer support," she
said,
"but to definitely remember us over the coming months because the long
term
is going to be very difficult in moving forward and reestablishing this
area."

Gautier explained that her husband's family lived on Jackson Avenue in
Ocean
Springs, Mississippi, where three homes in a row were destroyed by the
hurricane. "Only one home on that street -- my husband's grandmother's
-- is
still standing," she said. "It has been really painful to see how many
people have lost their homes."

"It's not about the past, but looking to the future," said Diane Hayes,
a
St. Mark's parishioner since 1982. "St. Mark's is not the church, it's
the
people, and with everyone pulling together we will go forward."

Hayes, who is still living in her house by the sea despite it being five
feet deep in water and without doors, windows and electricity, described
people's generosity as staggering. "Not only have people been bringing
water
and food; two days ago someone came by with a case of fresh bananas,"
she
said. "I didn't think we'd see fresh fruit for a very long time."

Asked whether the church would rebuild, Hayes explained that it is
important
for the coast that it does. "We don't want to not have a community
here,"
she said. "I know the first reaction is maybe it's time to move away,
but if
everybody did that then the coast could not rebuild. So we have to stay
and
slowly put it back together and to make it our community again."

Further information and updates about the Diocese of Mississippi's
relief
operations can be found online at: http://www.dioms.org/home.html.

-- Matthew Davies is staff writer and web manager for Episcopal News
Service.

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