A Year After Katrina, Churches Continue Recovery and Rebuilding Work

c. 2006 Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly NEW ORLEANS _ In the blistering summer heat of the Crescent City, Southern Baptist volunteers are putting the finishing touches on a new development of Habitat for Humanity homes _ rare signs of construction in the city’s still-devastated Ninth Ward. Just a few miles away, United Methodist volunteers are […]

c. 2006 Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly

NEW ORLEANS _ In the blistering summer heat of the Crescent City, Southern Baptist volunteers are putting the finishing touches on a new development of Habitat for Humanity homes _ rare signs of construction in the city’s still-devastated Ninth Ward.

Just a few miles away, United Methodist volunteers are dragging out moldy carpet that has rotted inside a church sanctuary for nearly a year. Team members are shocked at how little has changed since Katrina.


“I guess I wasn’t aware that the devastation was still as bad as it was, almost a year later,” United Methodist volunteer Cheryl Walker told the PBS program “Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly.” “I thought more work had been done because of all the money that you hear has been pumped in.”

A year after Hurricane Katrina unleashed death and destruction across the Gulf Coast, faith-based groups are playing a key _ and often overlooked _ role in the region’s struggle to move forward.

And while political wrangling and unwieldy bureaucracies are hampering many recovery efforts, residents here say religious groups are bringing much-needed hope amid the despair.

“You can never overlook the importance of human capital, you know” said Jim Burton, director of volunteer mobilization at the Southern Baptists’ North American Mission Board. “As corny as it may sound, people are our greatest assets.”

The Baptist-run Operation Noah Rebuild is committed to rebuilding 1,000 homes and 20 churches in greater New Orleans over the next two years.

Pastor Jay Bruner said he and his church in North Richland Hills, Texas, came to be part of Operation Noah Rebuild because of their faith.

“Christian means Christlike, and when Christ walked this earth, he came to help those that were hurting and in need,” Bruner said. “It’s a core value. It’s just who we are.”


In some neighborhoods, residents say faith-based groups are the only ones getting anything done.

“What the volunteers have been doing is coming here and really helping the people to rebuild,” said New Orleans resident Malcolm Russell. “You know, ever since the election, I haven’t seen a politician through here.”

Russell is one of the many trapped in a post-Katrina bureaucratic nightmare. His house is badly damaged, but he said he is not receiving any federal, state or city assistance. He and five other family members sleep in two barely habitable rooms because they have nowhere else to go.

“We’re not asking for a handout from the government,” he said. “They can do what they want with the money. Just help us to get our houses back together.”

Operation Noah Rebuild has Russell on its list, but the group can’t keep up with the demand for volunteer groups with experienced roofers and electricians. The spiritual and emotional toll of the last 12 months has also been huge.

New Orleans community activists Angele and Joe Givens embody the uncertainty of many residents. They are worried about whether the levees will hold during this hurricane season. They’ve been waiting for months for their gutted home to be demolished, and they haven’t decided whether to rebuild.

“This was our dream house,” Angele Givens said, standing inside the shell of the structure. “When we bought it, we said we were going to live here for the rest of our lives,” she added.


“We’re still in a permanent state of emergency,” said the Rev. Dwight Webster, pastor of Christian Unity Baptist Church of New Orleans. “We’re still not whole.”

Webster and other clergy have been trying to help their congregations while also dealing with their own losses. He still feels the pain of gutting his home.

“Books that I had been collecting, lecture notes and my personal notes of over 30 years _ I couldn’t even pick them up with my hands, my gloves. We had to shovel 30 years of my life up,” he said.

Cheryl Taylor, a mental health expert, serves on a special post-Katrina justice commission set up by the faith-based Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference. She is especially concerned about the impact of losing a home. She knows; she lost hers, too.

“I can speak for all of us,” she said. “There is no place like home. And home is not just a physical structure. It’s the families, the memories, the people.”

The situation has been especially difficult for the elderly, she said, citing her mentors, Church of God in Christ United Bishop James Feltus and his wife, Hazel.


“I’m 78 and my husband is 85 and … it’s hard for us to do some of the things that (other) individuals are doing,” Hazel Feltus said.

“We have been taxpayers for so long and good citizens for so long,” the bishop added. “We feel like the government owes us something. And we’ve had many promises but no return. And it has been said, `justice delayed is justice denied.”’

Some residents believe that racism is blocking African-Americans, especially poor blacks, from returning. Others worry about a just and corruption-free distribution of government aid.

“We know that there are billions of dollars on the way to New Orleans,” Webster said. “But the frustrating thing is that most of that money will not get down to the level where people need it the most.”

Indeed, churches have become a major organizing point for much of the community activism. And they’re finally catching the attention of local officials. New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin has promised to meet with faith-based community leaders for at least two hours every month.

“We’re really starting to focus on the importance of the faith-based community in the restoration of this city,” Nagin said.


While some damaged churches have made dramatic turnarounds, hundreds of others are still in ruins.

A coalition of national faith communities, including the National Council of Churches, has launched a new program called Churches Supporting Churches. Under the program, 360 congregations around the country will adopt 36 New Orleans churches.

“Rebuilding congregations with the expectations that those congregations then revitalize the neighborhood,” said Joe Givens, the community activist, describing the program.

Looking around at the still-devastated city, Givens puts it in a bigger perspective.

“The insurance companies will say to you that this was an act of God. That this, what you see, Katrina, was an act of God,” he said, gesturing to his ruined home.

“But the real act of God is what you see people doing today by themselves, and with ministries.”

KRE/JL END LAWTON

To obtain photos of reconstruction in New Orleans, go to the RNS Web site at https://religionnews.com. On the lower right, click on “photos,” then search by subject or slug.


A version of this story first appeared on the PBS program “Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly.” This article may be reprinted by RNS clients. Please use the Religion & Ethics Newsweekly byline.

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