Youngstown Exponent

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.