Timetable Uncertain as Parishes continue to

Recover

By Rick Walker
Special to the Exponent

http://www.doy.org/viewpast.asp?ID=1996

SLIDELL, LOUISIANA – Many areas outside the city of New Orleans

suffered severe damage as a result of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
When I visit my step-daughter in Slidell I attend St. Genevieve
Church. It is located on the north shore, two miles from Lake
Ponchartrain. St. Genevieve Church was flooded with 4-1/2 to five
feet of water, scattering the 1,000 parish families to all parts of the
country. The church building, the rectory and the social hall, now
used for church services, were all flooded. The church has been
gutted, but the rectory is just now being cleaned out. When asked
how many have returned, Deacon Dan Haggerty, whose ancestors
donated the land for the church, said, “We have had a number of
parishioners relocate, but also an influx of new parishioners from
[the badly flooded] New Orleans East and other areas. Right now
we’re holding right at 900 to 1,100.”

Father José Roel Lungay, pastor of St. Genevieve for five years, was
in the Philippines with his ailing mother when the hurricanes struck.
He returned in February after her death, thinking, “Coming from the
Third World, I thought nothing would shock me; you live in poverty. I
can handle this easily. But, no matter how much you try to block it
[the disaster], you’re in it. I’m a parishioner too. If we pastors say
we are not affected, there is something wrong.”

Asked about his parishioners, Father Lungay said, “It’s amazing! I

asked my deacons. They [the parishioners] don’t talk about each
other any more. They ask each other how they’re doing. They help
one another.”
Since he returned in February, Father Lungay has lived with three
different parish families; each move was a little closer to the church.
He now has a loaned RV that has taken the place of a rectory,
parked right beside the social hall where parishioners attend Mass.

The people of St. Genevieve greet each other joyfully on Sunday. The
welcoming conversations still, eight months later, begin with, “How
much water did you get?” Or, did you hear what happened to…?”
The concern for one another is palpable. Worshipping in the social
hall does not dampen their spirits. “Glory to God in the Highest” rings
out from a congregation surrounded by artifacts from the church, a
St. Vincent de Paul table filled with household items parishioners
might need but not buy, and a table with all kinds of helpful
information.

St. Genevieve Parish is on its way back, but the timetable is

uncertain.