Young volunteers display the heart, hands of Christ

    You came up with the idea of having local teens and young adults get together for a volunteer effort last Saturday to help clean up homes and businesses damaged by Hurricane Isaac. Were you surprised by the outpouring of support?
    When we thought about the idea of inviting the young adult church to participate in this recovery effort, I knew there would be a good response, but the response was even beyond my expectations. On Saturday morning, we had a large group that met on the northshore and another large group of a couple hundred people meet at St. Lawrence the Martyr in Metairie. I was thrilled that so many of our young people offered themselves to walk in solidarity with those who had been affected by Isaac. They were willing to use not only their hands to help with the clean-up and rebuilding but also their hearts to show the compassion of Christ. We asked each of the groups to pray with the people before they started work on the home and when they had finished for the day. This was a chance to gather the family around them and offer a prayer of support for them. We not only got young people involved, but many adults also heard about the volunteer effort and asked if they could come along as chaperones and also to help out.
    Will this be an ongoing effort?
    Yes. A number of juniors and seniors in high school  really wanted to be there last Saturday but couldn’t join the volunteer group because they were taking the ACT test. Once we see what the needs of each area are and what we can do, we will schedule another volunteer day probably in a couple of weeks. This has been a tremendous, collaborative effort among several offices of the archdiocese – our youth and young adult ministry, Catholic schools and Catholic Charities.
    You were not here for Katrina. Are you surprised to see the damage that was inflicted by a Category 1 storm?
    The surprise here is that a Category 1 hurricane would cause this kind of devastation. Though the winds were not that great, apparently the rain and the water surge was greater than we expected. From what I saw on the news, the results actually ended up being what the experts had expected. But in our New Orleanian belief system, we always think it’s not going to be that bad. Unfortunately, it was. There are some areas that flooded again as they did in Katrina. Other areas had never flooded, and some experienced flooding for the first time in a long time. I do know this: this experience – the storm itself and the aftermath – opens up unhealed wounds from Katrina and forces people to live through what they have been through in the past. And now there’s a new set of circumstances, which are also devastating. No matter how many people are affected, whether it’s a smaller number as in Isaac or a larger number as in Katrina, every home is a home. Every person and every family is a person and a family. So for those people, it’s their world, their life, their home, their memories, their possessions that have been lost.
    What have you tried to tell people?
    I’ve heard so many heart-wrenching stories, from the flood coming and ruining a person’s house to the lady who climbed the utility pole to get away from the rising water and then using a log to get to land. There was the young man we saw in the Clarion Herald last week who told me about ending up in the attic with his wife and daughter. Every story is unique. We always need God, but in these trying times, God must be our strength. He is the rock that we stand on. God does not send human suffering. People ask where God is in the midst of the storm. I saw him as I went around visited all these places. I saw him walking with people through the floodwaters. I saw him crying with them as they went into their homes and as they saw their possessions ruined. That’s where God is. God is with us. The Lord Jesus is with us, drawing us closer to himself, crying with us and loving us.
    Questions for Archbishop Aymond may be sent to [email protected].