Bishops view hurricane's devastation, help clean up houses
Feb. 6, 2006
NOTE: Photographs are available with this report at http://umns.umc.org.
A UMNS Report By Betty Backstrom and Jackie Campbell*
Getting a firsthand view of hurricane damage in Louisiana left four United Methodist bishops moved and with a deeper understanding of the recovery task ahead.
"I didn't know how seeing this would truly affect me, since I've been viewing the disasters from a distance," said Bishop Jane Allen Middleton, who leads the denomination's Harrisburg (Pa.) Area. "Up close, seeing the courage and hope shown by those who have been so affected has touched me deeply."
The bishops traveled to Louisiana Jan. 12-15. They helped "muck out" two houses and also met with state and United Methodist disaster response coordinators.
The bishops agreed that the amount of damage is difficult to imagine without a visit to affected areas.
"I'm impressed by the sheer magnitude of the situation. You don't really understand until you see it yourself," said Bishop Tom Bickerton, Pittsburgh Area, after touring miles of destroyed housing in New Orleans.
Bickerton also spent several days volunteering with a United Methodist work crew from West Pennsylvania in areas south of Lake Charles that were severely affected by Hurricane Rita.
"All of us are under an obligation to keep the story of these devastating storms alive," he said. "Once interest drops, giving will drop and prayer will drop. United Methodists need to be the voice of hope by giving our presence and our support."
Others on the trip were Bishops Charles Crutchfield, Arkansas Area, and Michael Coyner, Indiana Area, along with Coyner's wife, Marsha. Louisiana Bishop William Hutchinson and his wife, Kay, accompanied the other bishops during their visit.
The group spent the afternoon Jan. 12 mucking out a house in Chalmette, one of the most affected areas in greater New Orleans.
"We were trying to move this horrible sludge, which has soaked into carpets and is nearly impossible to remove," Middleton said. "The house hadn't been touched since September, and it was still wet and had a horrible odor."
"The most shocking thing for me was to work hard for several hours, raise up my head, look around and realize how little we accomplished," Bickerton said. "There is an awesome need for people to come to Louisiana as work teams. The need will go on for years."
In addition to working on two storm-damaged houses in the New Orleans area, the bishops attended a meeting of the Louisiana Recovery Authority at the state capitol in Baton Rouge. The committee is overseeing governmental aspects of Louisiana's recovery from the recent hurricanes.
Crutchfield commented that his annual conference has experienced firsthand the diaspora triggered by Hurricane Katrina. "Arkansas offered aid to thousands of evacuees, and thousands have remained with us," he said.
The bishops also toured United Methodist-related Dillard University in New Orleans. The school is undergoing an extensive restoration due to storm damage.
"I'm impressed with the spirit of the people here," Coyner said of Dillard. "Despite the hardships they have endured, their spirit of hope and giving is evident."
A ministry of presence
Problems confronting most United Methodist annual conferences and congregations pale in comparison to the challenges facing those struggling to rebuild lives, homes and communities in Louisiana and Mississippi, Bickerton said.
He delivered a check for $56,000 from Western Pennsylvania clergy to Bishop Hutchinson to help support pastors displaced by the hurricanes. Another check for $56,000 was given to Bishop Hope Morgan Ward of Mississippi for displaced pastors in her area.
"In a $190 billion (rebuilding) effort, our contribution isn't a whole lot," Bickerton said. "What is invaluable is a human presence. The real recovery happens when people love people with a presence of caring. We are the hands and feet of Jesus in places like this. While our money and our work teams are important, the most important piece is how we provide hope with our presence among them."
The meaning of that presence was especially evident, he said, when people who had been trying to remain strong and working to restore lives and hope broke down and cried while talking with visitors.
It was what Middleton described as "breakthrough grief."
"As stories were told, the accounts, although horrendous, would be told in a matter-of-fact way. Suddenly, the teller would dissolve into tears, unable to continue. Time after time this happened," she wrote after the trip, her second to the region. "There is much evidence of the brave, massive effort to restore homes, churches, schools, hospitals, businesses, infrastructure and in some cases whole communities. There are many signs of hope. But even in the midst of all that is being rebuilt, the enormity of the loss becomes overwhelming, and the tears flow."
Undimmed faith
The job facing New Orleans, as well as Slidell, La., Gulfport, Miss., and other areas is beyond comprehension, Bickerton said. Yet the work of the United Methodist Church gives hope and inspiration.
The Rev. Darryl Allan Tate, the disaster response director for the Louisiana Conference, "is the most upbeat person I have met in a long while," Bickerton said.
Tate's home and church were destroyed, and his church members dispersed, the bishop said. "And to think that in the midst of this personal devastation, this man is coordinating disaster recovery for the whole state.
"His wife and two children are living a couple of hours away," he continued. "They only see each other every two weeks or so. Darryl's insurance company settled with him. He got $303 - the contents of his refrigerator. They won't cover anything that is from rising water. What's a guy to do?
"Yet, in the midst of it all, this man's faith was a tremendous source of inspiration for us," Bickerton said. "It put us all in our place to know that a person who has been through so much devastation is able to live out his faith in such a positive, hope-filled manner."
Information about donating to the United Methodist Committee on Relief's hurricane response can be found at www.methodistrelief.org.
The Council of Bishops also has launched the Katrina Church Recovery Appeal for rebuilding United Methodist ministries on the Gulf Coast. Details are available at http://archives.umc.org/interior.asp?ptid=21&mid=10253.
*Backstrom is the editor of the United Methodist Church's Louisiana Annual Conference, and Campbell is a staff writer with the Western Pennsylvania Annual Conference. This report was compiled from separate stories they filed.
News media contact: Tim Tanton, Nashville, Tenn., (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umcom.org.
********************
United Methodist News Service Photos and stories also available at: http://umns.umc.org