NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana, SEPT. 29, 2005 (Zenit.org).- The Catholic Church is showing signs of recovery on the hurricane-damaged Gulf Coast.
On Sunday, Archbishop Alfred Hughes of New Orleans plans to celebrate Mass at 10:30 a.m. in St. Louis Cathedral. It would mark the first Mass celebrated in the French Quarter cathedral since Hurricane Katrina ravaged the city.
Mass also will be celebrated at 69 of the 142 Catholic church parishes in the archdiocese. A complete listing of the parish Mass schedules can be found on the Internet at www.archdiocese-no.org.
On Monday, the Catholic schools on the east and west banks of Jefferson Parish will reopen. Details concerning specific schools can be found on their individual Web sites and on the archdiocesan site listed above.
All schools, with the exception of one, St. Ann, will open at their locations. St. Ann will house its elementary school temporarily at St. Phillip Neri and its middle school at St. Benilde.
Many schools will open with increased attendance to accommodate displaced students from Orleans, St. Bernard and Jefferson parishes.
Senators exhorted
Meanwhile, two Church figures said that the United States has the ability and the responsibility to assist hurricane victims at home as well as the poor and vulnerable abroad.
In a letter to the U.S. Senate conferees on the bill appropriating funds for foreign operations, Bishop John Ricard and Kenneth Hackett reminded the Senators of the need to address the critical needs of the world’s poor.
Bishop Ricard chairs the U.S. bishops’ International Policy Committee, and Hackett is president and chief executive officer of Catholic Relief Services, the bishops’ overseas relief and development agency.
“At the same time Congress responds generously and quickly to those who have lost so much, we ask that you continue to work to improve the lives of those who have so little around the world,” they said. “We believe our great nation has the will, the resources, and the responsibility to do both.”
