Catholic Media Journal

New Website for Catholic Media Journal

2008-03-07T09:55:00.003-05:00

Hi. Last night I redirected CatholicMediaJournal.com to a redesigned website on another hosting service. Thanks for visiting this blog during the past 2+ years, and I hope you'll check out the new site for news and conversations about Catholic media and media coverage of the Catholic Church.

Jim Coyle

Catholics Alive and Well in the Blogosphere

2008-02-25T14:09:00.020-05:00

As I'm writing this, the Catholic Blog Directory shows there are 1,281 Catholic Blogs. (I haven't counted them myself.) Technorati today identifies 3,759 "blogs about Catholic" (as I was writing this sentence, 4 more "Catholic blogs" were added to the list). On February 11, Anne Helmond mentioned in The Blogherald that Technorati reported tracking 112.8 million blogs while wondered about blog counting itself:

I don’t think the blogosphere is quite mature yet. Technorati currently states it is tracking over 112.8 million blogs, a number which obviously does not include all the 72.82 million Chinese blogs as counted by The China Internet Network Information Center. Blog statistics often concern the English language blogosphere but we should not forget about the millions of other blogs that are not always included in estimations.

How do you find the Right Blog for You? Talk to your friends about blogs they read. Check Catholic websites for mentions of blogs. Search online. Find out what Catholic blogs are popular, as shown by blog awards results. Googling for Catholic Blogs, you might have discovered that nominations are open for the 2008 Catholic Blog Awards - the 5th year of the awards. The two-week nomination period ends Friday, February 29, and voting will be open March 3-17, 2008. All the details are available online, along with a kind of "History of Catholic Blogging" reflected in the lists of each year's winners - which goes all the way back to 2004.

However you find them, it's important to read the blogs, and read about the blogger. Find what you like, what engages you, what you get passionate about. Haven't found that yet? Keep looking...or better yet, think about adding your voice to the online conversation by posting comments on the blogs - or starting your own.

Call In Your Experience of the Clinton Pro-Life Protest

2008-02-17T11:18:00.007-05:00

The Communication Arts Department at Franciscan University would like to hear about your participation in the Pro-Life demonstration during Bill Clinton's visit to Steubenville February 17. Share your experience for possible inclusion in an upcoming audio podcast. Tell us why you participated and what it was like to be there. Call 740-314-1830

Thanks,
Dr. Jim Coyle

Media Ethics and the Church

2008-02-14T20:51:00.002-05:00

Following up on a question in class yesterday, I've added 14 links of Journalism/Media Codes of Ethics to my del.icio.us webpage. It's a collection - a sampling - of professional journalism organizations' codes of ethics or professional practices, as well as an updated bibliography of journalism ethics resources from the Poynter Institute. It's encouraging to see so many policies and statements, but it seems that not all journalists and other professional communicators follow their industries' codes.

No wonder Pope Benedict XVI is calling for development of "info-ethics" in today's information-driven world. Journalism is an important aspect of that.

Jim Coyle

Franciscan U Students at the United Nations: Looking Forward and Looking Back

2008-02-03T22:42:00.001-05:00

During our 2005 Spring Break, 25 Franciscan University of Steubenville students and four faculty members traveled to United Nations headquarters in New York and spent the week at the UN's "Beijing Plus 10" conference on the Status of Women. Working with the talents of the Communications students and staff, that week we inaugurated Franciscan University's Podcasting services - which have had more than 100,000 downloads since March, 2005. As another means of sharing our experiences there, we established a Web-based communication outreach, Catholic NGO Voice, focusing on issues involving authentic Catholic Human Rights around the world. The NGO Voice website is presently being redesigned and will be online again by late February, but our many podcasts are available online. Several of the participating students and staff members were interviewed by Vatican Radio and featured on their global English language programmes.

Upon returning to Franciscan University, students and faculty attending the "Beijing + 10" conference shared about their experiences and impact at a live presentation to the University community. The live reports concluded with some of the photos and comments recorded in New York. On this small screen, I invite you to see and hear that closing presentation:

Franciscan University students and faculty members have participated in several other UN commissions since then, and during our Spring Break next month, students and faculty members will be spending a week at the UN's 2008 Commission on the Status of Women, with reports throughout the week on the NGO Voice website and Podcast site. We'll let you know when the updated website is up so you can follow the story as we return to the United Nations.

Jim Coyle

Pope Benedict XVI's U.S. Visit

2008-02-03T15:58:00.000-05:00

As announced in November, 2007, Pope Benedict XVI will make his first visit as the spiritual leader of the Catholic Church to the United States this April. Pope Benedict XVI will arrive in Washington on April 15, travel to New York City April 18, and return to the Vatican on April 20.

The trip is historic, especially since the Holy Father will address the United Nations General Assembly, meet with President George Bush and visit Ground Zero. There will be several public events during the visit, including Masses at Nationals Park in Washington and Yankee Stadium in New York.

The schedule of events, along with other information about the Papal visit, is available online on the Papal Visit website from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Planning Triumph of the Cross Cathedral - 2005-2007

2008-01-30T21:08:00.001-05:00

I mentioned in my Church and the Media class this morning that I have been a member of the Building Committee for Triumph of the Cross, a new parish church which would also be the new cathedral for the Diocese of Steubenville. The Building Committee included members from the six parishes in the city of Steubenville that would be closed and form the new Triumph of the Cross Parish.

Meeting weekly, our first couple of months were devoted to studying Built of Living Stones: Art, Architecture and Worship, a document issued by the U.S. Bishops Conference in 2000 to guide people planning church building and renovation projects. As stated in the book's preface,

The document begins with a theological reflection on the liturgy and liturgical art and architecture. Since decisions about church art and architecture should always be based upon the theology of the eucharistic assembly and its liturgical action and the understanding of the Church as the house of God on earth, the first chapter is foundational for the chapters that follow.

The remaining chapters addressed liturgical principles and practices as well as practical architectural principles. It is a rich source of ideas about worship and buildings designed for workship.

We took advantage of online media opportunities by regularly sharing about our work through a website for the new parish, posting early floor plans, renderings and computer images we received from the architects. I invite you to take a look at what we've posted:

Gallery of Images and Audio Recordings

Building Committee/Parish Blog

Parish Website

My birthday is November 18, the day the Roman Catholic Church celebrates the Feast of the Dedication of the Basilicas of Saints Peter and Paul. Not just Saints Peter and Paul, but the Basilicas named after them. Whether or not it's coincidental, I have so often been aware of the effects a church building itself can have on my prayer and worship. It has indeed been a blessing to be a member of the Triumph of the Cross Building Committee.

Jim Coyle

Inter Mirifica - On the Means of Social Communication

2008-01-30T09:27:00.000-05:00

Man's genius has, with God's help, produced marvellous technical inventions from creation, especially in our times. The Church, our mother, is particularly interested in those which directly touch man's spirit and which have opened up new avenues of easy communication of all kinds of news, of ideas and orientations. Chief among them are those means of communication which of their nature can reach and influence not merely single individuals but the very masses and even the whole of human society. These are the press, the cinema, radio, television and others of a like nature. These can rightly be called "the means of social communication".

With these words, the Second Vatican Council began the Roman Catholic Church's reflection on the media and called for the development of pastoral instruction on the proper use of the instruments of social communication. Promulgated on December 4, 1963, "Inter Mirifica - On the Means of Social Communication" was the second document from the Council, and is available online from the Vatican's website.

The Vatican's Media Part 2: Radio

2008-01-24T21:07:00.000-05:00

At the Vatican on February 12, 1931, radio pioneer Guglielmo Marconi spoke these historic words:

I have the highest honor of announcing that in only a matter of seconds the Supreme Pontiff, Pope Pius XI, will inaugurate the Radio Station of the Vatican City State. The electric radio waves will transport to all the world his words of peace and blessing.

Today Vatican Radio broadcasts on 5 continents, offering programs in 40 different languages produced by two hundred journalists from 61 different countries. In addition to shortwave radio transmissions, Vatican Radio offers programs via satellite and the Internet, adding Podcast distribution in 2005.

Vatican Radio is "The Voice of the Pope and the Church in dialogue with the world."

The Vatican's Media Part 1: Newspaper

2008-01-24T18:13:00.000-05:00

The oldest of the mass media used today by the Vatican is L'Osservatore Romano, the Vatican's newspaper, first published in 1861. Distributed throughout the world, weekly editions are published in 6 different languages and a Polish edition is published monthly. The Vatican's website offers a brief history of the newspaper that highlights several undoubtedly intriguing stages leading to its position as "the Holy See's official organ of information" in 1885. The website offers this observation:

Faithful to its origins, in these 146 years of life L'Osservatore Romano has continued its work of the service of the truth. With enthusiasm and with no fear of sounding a discordant note, it has documented the history of peoples and nations. Above all, it has continued its privileged service, making known the Magisterium of the Successor of Peter.

A PBS List of Links to Catholic Information Resources

2008-01-24T17:45:00.000-05:00

Shortly after the death of Pope John Paul II in 2005, PBS, the USA's Public Television Service, and Britain's BBC produced a program titled White Smoke which addressed some of the issues facing the Church as we waited for the start of the conclave of Cardinals to elect the new Pope. One of the show's resources still online is a list of links to several sites by and about the Catholic Church. It's a good starting point for Church information.

Coming in 2008: The New Catholic Media Journal

2007-12-18T17:38:00.000-05:00

Catholic Media Journal was started in 2005 to share experiences by a group of Catholic journalists visiting areas hit by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita

During the first quarter of 2008 we'll be bringing you a "New" Catholic Media Journal. Watch this space for details.

Jim Coyle

Katrina Nine Weeks Later: A Video Album

2005-11-23T10:40:00.000-05:00

As Thanksgiving Day approaches, my prayers and memories are especially directed toward the people we met in Mississippi and Louisiana and the challenges they - and people like them - face in the aftermath of the hurricanes. The Church and the people of the Gulf Coast need our prayers and support now and for months and years to come.

You'll be reading more articles about our Catholic Media Tour of the Gulf Coast nine weeks after Hurricane Katrina hit. The important stories are about people, but the places where they lived, prayed and played have been transformed forever. To share a sense of the places we visited, I produced this short Video Album of images I shot between October 30 and November 4 - nine weeks after Katrina. I invite you to view Album. Make sure your speakers are turned on.

-Jim Coyle

(This online video version posted May 11, 2006, replacing a link to another hosting site)

Thanksgiving in a FEMA Trailer

2005-11-23T10:17:00.000-05:00

Al Tompkins of The Poynter Institute, a professional school for journalists, future journalists, and teachers of journalists, writes a daily online column with story ideas for and from journalists. Today, the day before Thanksgiving, he shares from his heart about a recent volunteer trip he took to the Mississippi Gulf Coast and issues a call for all journalists.

Jim Coyle

Thanksgiving in a FEMA Trailer
by Al Tompkins, The Poynter Institute

To many of you living and working in the storm-damaged Gulf Coast area, this may seem pretty obvious. I am not speaking to you. I am speaking to the rest of the country, which may have put your region on the back burner after months of focused attention.

A million or so people are not celebrating Thanksgiving in their homes this year. They are spread across all 50 states, living with family, friends or strangers. They are crammed into one of the 125,000 FEMA-purchased mobile home trailers that are serving as temporary emergency housing.

I just returned from giving a measly few days of work to the effort to rebuild southern Mississippi. I met people there who have been doing the work, week after week, since the storm passed. They will go back many more times. Their dedication made me feel like a tourist. I was one of a large team of people who mostly spent our days hanging and mudding drywall in houses that had been gutted by other volunteers. I didn't muck out mud and debris, gut any moldy houses or clean refrigerators filled with rotten maggot-infested food. The volunteers who came before us did those awful jobs.

I can't get the image of life inside a FEMA relief trailer off my mind. Those little white trailers are parked in driveways, line narrow side streets and occupy open spaces in Mississippi and Louisiana. My mind is on the thousands of families who will not sit down around a big Norman Rockwell-esque banquet table tomorrow. They are still in those crammed little FEMA trailers waiting for their homes to be rebuilt. The trailers I was in were barely larger than a popup camper that a family of four might take on a weekend outing to a state park. One minister I met asked the (rhetorical) question, "Can you imagine living in one with a wife and two teenagers for a winter?" He says he knows such a family.

To get an idea of how bad things are for people in places like D'Iberville, Miss., you have to watch as one of these little campers arrives in the front yard. Families rejoice, because a trailer with bathrooms the size of coat closets has arrived. It says something about how they had been living before that trailer was parked in front of their destroyed home.

Larger FEMA trailers will soon be in use at a school where we worked, near Vancleve, Miss. Sometime after Christmas, kids will be able to have their own classroom trailer there. They will no longer have to share a school building in a split day -- students attend from 7 in the morning until lunch time, then another set of kids attend from early afternoon to early evening -- sharing the same classrooms.

Some Floridians who fell victim to Hurricane Charlie in 2004 are still living in FEMA trailer communities. Those people need our attention too.

Time magazine today has an insightful package of stories about the difficult lives of Katrina victims on this Thanksgiving eve.

Like an ice cream truck driving a small town street in summer, a Red Cross truck crept through the streets of D'Iberville at dusk Sunday. A cheerful woman called out over a loudspeaker "hot meals -- hot meals." Shadows trudged to her truck window, then carried Styrofoam boxes filled with warm food. The lady offered relief workers food too. She said it was "steak." We didn't take it -- but I wish now that I had looked inside the box to see what Sunday dinner would be for those who didn't have a choice.

I suspect a fair number of families will be sitting down to a Thanksgiving dinner that arrives in one of those Red Cross vans tomorrow. They are on my mind today. I hope they have sweet potatoes. I hope they have pie.

For thousands of families who do eat dinner together tomorrow, it won't be the same as before. Some told us that they are still living elbow-to-elbow with extended family in crowded homes. One woman, for whom we hung drywall in the home that her husband built, told us that there were three families -- 10 people -- living in her son's house. If disaster teams keep coming, she hopes to be back in the little frame house for Christmas. If they allow "disaster fatigue" to set in, if the relief workers stop coming, who knows when she will get her home back. Her home was uninsured; she cannot afford the sheetrock, the labor, the supplies that it would take to rebuild. Churches she has never attended, from towns she has never heard of, have donated everything.

I am thinking today of the volunteers at churches and relief centers who are cooking Thanksgiving meals for disaster workers and victims -- just as they have cooked meals for weeks upon numbing weeks -- and will be, for months to come. You can see them as you drive down the streets of cities like D'Iberville, Miss. Some are working out of big white tents, called "Volunteer Villages," that have popped up because of the need for housing for out-of-town volunteers. The repeat volunteers must be bone-tired from it all. But I did not see one -- not one -- who was unkind, and I did not hear one volunteer say an unpleasant word.

I am thinking today of the journalists who have covered so many painful stories, while their own losses and the stress they were (and continue to be) under were just as great as those of the people they covered.

I also heard from those who live in the storm-damaged area, but who survived with minimal damage. They have a different burden -- a sense of guilt that others have suffered so unjustifiably.

I say all of this to urge you journalists, especially those of you outside of the storm-damaged area of the Gulf Coast, to keep telling the stories of the local relief crews that travel from your town to work in the hurricane-cleanup areas. There is so much more that needs to be done.

Some of these relief workers are idealistic young people. Others are senior citizens -- lifelong do-gooders who have donated their time and hands around the world. They gather from around the country and work in homes choked with drywall dust. They arrive as strangers, and yet the relief teams quickly grow curiously close.

Keep reporting the need for more help. Your stories will encourage others to volunteer. Don't think for a minute that the need for fundraisers, relief work or attention has passed. Don't stick those stories at the end of your newscasts or on inside pages because you think interest has waned. Do your best work -- there are lots of hurting people who need you still.

A First Draft - Jim Coyle

2005-11-05T23:47:00.000-05:00

“Are you ready for this?” That’s the question we were asked as we boarded the bus to New Orleans’ Lower Ninth Ward, perhaps the city’s hardest-hit area in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

We were in the Lower Ninth Ward on the last day of our week in Mississippi and south Louisiana to witness first-hand the destruction brought by Hurricane Katrina. A small group of Catholic media professionals traveled from New York, Indiana and Ohio to the Mississippi Gulf coast and New Orleans to meet people affected by the storm and get a personal sense of life following Katrina. Each of us felt the need to have a better sense of life in these areas because it was clear to us that critical needs for support will continue for months, and as we found, years to come.

Like people around the world, we’d seen, heard and read news reports of Katrina’s destruction. But nothing prepared us for the scope of devastation we encountered. Our week was a physical and emotional roller coaster, one that I doubt any of us will ever forget, a week that will help us better tell the stories of people and their needs. A week when we witnessed the strength – and the fragility – of the human spirit. A week when we saw God at work in people’s lives through His Church and His people.

Our week began on Monday, October 31, nine weeks after Hurricane Katrina struck Louisiana and Mississippi. Half an hour after picking up the last member of our group at the Gulfport, MS, airport, we were standing in the midst of a neighborhood that was no more. Every home had been reduced to rubble – piles of wood, shingles, automobiles that had been totally destroyed by a storm surge almost 30 feet high in some areas – as high as a 3-story house. And this scene was repeated over and over as our host took us to different areas of the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Pass Christian, Waveland, Long Beach, Point Cadet, and many, many other areas devastated by Katrina.

There are many areas where structures can be repaired. Water and wind damage wasn’t as strong as in other areas. And there are many homes that received relatively little damage – and from these homes much help and service is being provided.

One of the many things we noticed was the large number of businesses that were closed because of storm damage or the lack of workers who had to leave because their homes were destroyed – or both.

We saw people before and after Mass who asked one another “How are you?” – and really meant it. And people lingered after Mass because it was one the few times many people saw one another since the storm. The parish was a place of community as never before.

Our week included times talking with Church leaders and parish members in Mississippi and Louisiana. We met volunteers and staff members providing services through Catholic Charities and other humanitarian aid organizations. Most importantly, we talked with some of the people affected by the storm.

Was I ready for our visit to the Lower Ninth Ward in New Orleans? I’ve learned this week that I don’t know what would prepare a person for what we’ve seen. It was a humbling experience to ride in a small bus with residents – former residents – who were seeing their neighborhood – and looking for their former homes – for the first, and probably last, time since they were evacuated. Katrina’s devastation was complete. Although we saw many homes built of brick that were still standing, even those are uninhabitable because they sat is 6 to 8 feet of water for several days. Most of the Lower Ninth Ward is pile after pile of rubble, homes leaning into one another – and homes that are completely gone – even the rubble washed away. The ground is dry and hard, cracked, looking like brown alligator skin dried in the sun. We weren’t allowed off the bus, but the driver stopped several times so the displaced residents could see what, if anything, was left of their homes. At one point, it took some of the now-former residents several minutes to even recognize their street, let alone the remnants of their homes.

In all my life, I’ve never seen devastation like I’ve experienced this week along the Mississippi Gulf Coast and New Orleans. No picture or video I’ve seen or taken can begin to capture the experience of witnessing first-hand the physical destruction brought by Hurricane Katrina. We remarked time after time that in many places it was like standing in the midst of Hiroshima, without the radiation. Other areas may not have looked as bad, but were impacted nevertheless.

What must it be like for the people whose homes and work have been wiped out? Hundreds of thousands of people are attempting to cope with loss on an unimaginable scale. Thousands of people are serving them, offering what aid they can.

We can’t see, though, what’s happening inside the people affected by this tragedy. Some are in the midst of grieving, others are still in a state of shock. Most people are trying to cope as best they can with their new way of life. The people being served, and their servants, need our prayers and our generosity. And they need us to remember them, especially during the holidays, and in the months and years to come.

The important stories are the people’s, and those are the stories we’ll be telling in future publications and programs. First, though, we need to acknowledge that seeing the physical destruction has made an everlasting imprint on us. We hope to do justice to the people whose lives have been so profoundly affected.

There’s great strength and love being shown in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, and I pray this continues. My heart is here and I’m sure I’ll never forget the blessings of experiencing this time and place so affected by Katrina.

Jim Coyle

P.S. On the way home tonight, we flew over a residential neighborhood near the airport in Chicago that was intact – no fallen homes, no debris, no blue tarps covering broken roofs. It honestly looked unusual to me.

Thanks to Our Wonderful Hosts

2005-11-05T22:15:00.000-05:00

All of us on this week's Catholic Media Tour to Mississippi and Louisiana truly appreciated the generosity of Shirley and Dick Henderson in Biloxi, MS, who opened their home and their lives to us throughout the tour. Shirley is editor of The Gulf Pine Catholic, the newspaper of the Diocese of Biloxi. Thank you both for your hospitality to us and for all your work for and ministry to the people of God in Mississippi.

Day 3: Louisiana - Notes from Jim Coyle

2005-11-02T21:36:00.000-05:00

Today we traveled to Louisiana and met with Archbishop Hughes of New Orleans and several other people from the Archdiocese of New Orleans – now working, as Archbishop Hughes out it, as an “Administration in Exile” in Baton Rouge. While his temporary office is in Baton Rouge, Archbishop Hughes spends about half of each week in New Orleans.

A common theme we heard was the belief that the Church in New Orleans will be a stronger diocese even though it will be smaller because many people are expected to decide not to return to New Orleans – or not be able to return. While many of the Catholic Churches, parishes and schools in some areas of the Archdiocese are still closed, there are many in other areas that have opened.

For several weeks, the Archdiocese has been trying to find out where it’s members are so that pastors can reach out to them – and so the Church can get some idea about how many people are planning to return. It’s a time of real uncertainty at so many levels. For example, leaders of religious communities are asking themselves “How are we going to realign our ministry in an archdiocese that will have fewer Catholics, fewer churches – and where will those churches be?” Questions like these are being asked throughout the offices and among the people of New Orleans.

Tomorrow we’ll have our first visit to New Orleans. I wonder how ready we are.

- Jim Coyle

Day 2: Mississippi - Notes from Greg

2005-11-01T22:01:00.000-05:00

Our second day of tour was very similar to the first with words like incredible, unbelievable and inconceivable dominating all of our talks.

My morning began by reading the Gulfport paper and this little snippet that I found there stuck with me all day.

“Poor child”
One little boy in D’Iberville School was asked what he would
like? He said a pillow to put his head on and a blanket to cover with. Think about it!

Later at a Mass offered by the bishop in a Baptist Church for All Saints Day, the bishop asked the children what they had gotten as a result of Katrina the answers included

School supplies in a bag that were sent to us
A new house
A new dog
Didn't lose my house
The Lord has taken care of me

Warm, fuzzy feelings that soon leave as we begin again going from church to church assessing the damages. The adjectives again seem to fail to describe the devastation the loss … or the faith, hope and love that has brought the people together in faith communities.

Later in the day we heard about Carl “the printer” who lost his home near St. Paul’s Church in Pass Christian. Carl asked the pastor of he could stay in the devastated school. The pastor said yes, even though Carl was not a regular at the church. The pastor asked Carl if he in return would gather any artifacts he might see. Later Carl called to say he was going to stay with someone else, but that he “had found Jesus.”

The pastor was most excited … but Carl cooled that excitement explaining he really had found a statue of Jesus.

Every day is a story and each person has their own story.

- Deacon Greg LaFreniere, Assistant Editor, The Long Island Catholic

Getting the Real Picture

2005-11-01T07:49:00.000-05:00

As we drove through devastated areas and walked among the rubble of what had been homes and neighborhoods, we were reminded of the significant difference between seeing pictures and news footage of a disaster and the experience of actually being at the scene.

Joyce commented on the stairs that went to nowhere. Some of the steps led to stately homes along the Bay, other steps to simpler homes.

- Photos and Post by Jim Coyle

Day 1: Mississippi - Notes from Joyce

2005-10-31T22:23:00.000-05:00

Today was definitely overwhelming. We picked up Greg LaFreniere from the Long Island Catholic at the airport and then headed west of Gulfport to the other side of the Bay of St. Louis. Along the way as we got closer to the devastated areas, the debris picked up. There were the stray bags and bottles of bleach hanging in the trees, the blown out neon display signs that look like shredded paper and finally, the damaged or destroyed buildings.

One thing you notice everywhere are the blue roofs. The Army Corps of Engineers are installing strong blue tarps on people’s roofs to keep them protected while the people make arrangements to have their roofs fixed. Greg said you can see the roofs everywhere from the airplane window flying in. I came in at night so I’ll have to look for them on my way out on Saturday.

Shirley Henderson, our local host, took us to Beach Street right off of the Mississippi Sound where we saw many upper-middle class homes torn apart. There were toilets laying in the yards, stray clothing, furniture, etc. What repeatedly struck me were the steps that led to nowhere. You would see driveways and front porch steps that led to homes no longer there.

We were talking about the need to use cell phones and Shirley said those first few days she was driving around offering to charge up people’s cell phones using her car adapter because she knew how much they needed it and no one had power.

We drove along the beautiful beach to visit St. Clare Parish, which is located right on the beach. It’s a beautiful area where I wouldn’t mind having a home, but now there is nothing there. Many of the homes have few remnants of their existence. Yes, some of it had already been cleaned up, but much of it, Shirley said was sucked back out into the Bay of St. Louis by the storm surge. They say there is a line of debris 30 miles out where everything went. I learned that the Mississippi Sound is the area between the coast and the Barrier Islands. After the Barrier Islands the Gulf of Mexico starts.

St. Clare Parish just started school today. Their parish and school are being housed in Quonset huts. A gentleman from Alaska donated more than 20 to the parish. They are air conditioned and heated. The parish is having Mass in one.

The pastor said people keep bringing parts of the parish church back that they are finding in the area. When they got back after the storm the first day, they found the parish and school were destroyed. The pastor said he never found the pews. The pastor at Our Lady of the Gulf said the same thing.

Next we visited St. Stanislaus Prep School and Our Lady of the Gulf Parish. It’s a gorgeous view of the Mississippi Sound as well. Right on the beach.

The pastor of the parish there is Irish and gave us some good quotes. He was telling us how this tragedy has helped people come to see what is really important. He said the storm had byproducts that he said were things like genuineness. People now generally care for your answer when they ask “How are you?” When they meet you they aren’t interested in going anywhere else because they have nowhere else to go so they spend genuine time with each other.

Both pastors and the religious we spoke to talked of how there is a real sense of the people of God now. Folks linger for a long time after Mass sharing their experience and spending time together. Shirley and Dick Henderson have mentioned that too. Too bad it takes a tragedy to make us realize this.

He also spoke of the psychological impact the storm has had on priests who are supposed to be even-tempered and have it all together.

He mentioned the suicides of the people in the area. One of the sisters at St Stanislaus mentioned an increase in drug abuse and car accidents [the latter she said is because people are zoned out, in shock].

After lunch we drove to Pass Christian and downtown Biloxi. Pass Christian is worse than what we saw earlier. The population looked denser and is wiped out about a half of a mile inland, it seemed. We visited St. Paul Parish where we’ll go again tomorrow. It’s crazy. That is washed out too. Many of the buildings are still standing in shell only. Again, they don’t know what happened to their pews either.

In downtown Biloxi, we saw the casino barges that broke loose and came up on land smashing everything beneath them. These barges are huge – two and three stories high and one looked about two football fields long. Crazy. The cathedral wasn’t damaged even though its just 3 blocks or so from the shore. It’s on a little higher ground apparently and they think one of the casinos broke the path of the devastation.

The poor sections of Biloxi still had people living in their destroyed homes. That’s what was noticeably different from the middle class and wealthier sections that we saw destroyed earlier.

The devastation is so wide and we’ve only seen parts of Mississippi, not Louisiana. Of course most of the damage there is from the levees.

- Joyce Duriga, Our Sunday Visitor

The Journey Begins

2005-10-28T10:44:00.000-04:00

This weekend several national and regional Catholic print, broadcast and online journalists will meet in Biloxi, Mississippi, to begin a week-long reporting trip to many of the areas devasted by hurricanes Katrina and Rita along the Gulf Coast and in New Orleans. It's been two months since hurricane Katrina hit land, and the needs of the people in those areas are still significant - and will be for a long time. We're going to the area to meet the people and experience, at least briefly, conditions in the wake of these hurricanes. The Catholic Church faces new challenges and opportunities, and many individuals and Catholic relief organizations are keeping people - and hope - alive. As members of the Catholic media, we want to share their stories as widely as we can.

- Jim Coyle, Communications, Franciscan University of Steubenville, Ohio