Archbishop Aymond: Please don't forget Lake Charles

By Peter Finney Jr.
Clarion Herald

LAKE CHARLES, La. – Archbishop Gregory Aymond led a delegation from the Archdiocese of New Orleans to Lake Charles Saturday to lend spiritual and fraternal support to the victims of Hurricane Laura.

(See video here:  https://youtu.be/LgLd2dJRwBg)

The archbishop went to Lake Charles with Father Colm Cahill, director of vocations; Father Kurt Young, director of human formation at Notre Dame Seminary; Marianite Sister Marjorie Hebert and Deacon Martin Gutierrez of Catholic Charities Archdiocese of New Orleans; Natalie Jayroe, president and CEO of Second Harvest Food Bank; Dr. RaeNell Houston, superintendent of Catholic Schools; and Cory Howat, executive director of the Catholic Community Foundation.

The archbishop celebrated Mass at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Lake Charles for about 30 seminarians from Notre Dame Seminary who have spent more than a week clearing trees and debris from homes, serving food and spending time ministering to residents.

The Lake Charles outreach has taken the place of the annual "Acompaño" mission trip – a mission outreach program started more than 25 years ago by then-Msgr. Aymond when he was rector of Notre Dame Seminary. Acompaño was conducted primarily in Nicaragua before civil unrest forced the seminary to change venues.


The archbishop said his concern is that the plight of the people of Lake Charles will become "old news" in the near future, even though it will take years to rebuild the region.

"It is off the radar unfortunately," Archbishop Aymond said. "There's nothing in our (daily) newspaper, nothing on the media, on telelvion, and people will forget. They move on to the next issue. Everybody's talking about the next storm that's coming. They have been forgotten.

"My plea to the people of the archdiocese would be to continue to pray, continue to give. These are our brothers and sisters, and they are God's people, and we want them to be able to see the face of Christ."


The archbishop said the archdiocese and its parishes and local Catholics have been incredibly generous, collecting about $500,000 in recovery donations for the Diocese of Lake Charles.

"Every day we get a whole stack of donations that we have been sending here," Archbishop Aymond said. "The people of the archdiocese have been overwhelmingly generous, not only with money but also I can't count the number of trucks that have been here. Every day, I hear about another truck (filled with supplies) that came here."

Anyone wishing to make a direct donation to the Diocese of Lake Charles can send a check, payable to the "Archdiocese of New Orleans," to 7887 Walmsley Ave., New Orleans, LA 70125.

Archbishop Aymond will forward the funds to Lake Charles Bishop Glen John Provost.

With needs changing every day, Religious Sister of Mercy Miriam MacLean, the 34-year-old nun who runs Catholic Charities in the Lake Charles Diocese, said cleaning and garden-equipment supplies are now in biggest need.

For the latest information on how you can help, go to http://www.lcdiocese.org.