Sunday in New Orleans

Moira here, sorry for the delay in writing about Sunday. After a quick visit to the French Quarter for coffee at Cafe Du Monde, a group of us went to an amazing Mass at St. Augustine, a historically Black Catholic church where slaves and free people worshipped together. The service was amazing. As a Catholic, I was deeply moved by the similarities in this service and my usual service in New York. I was also struck by the cultural differences in this New Orleans church--the call and response style, the deep history of this place. During the Sign of Peace, the entire church came over to us. I felt so welcomed. The homily was about the tree as a metaphor for resilience, and the priest was definitely speaking to the New Orleans community. "Don't cut the tree down. Give it another chance to bloom."

The message was in stark contrast with what I saw in the 9th ward later in the day. The storm could've happened yesterday. Rows and rows of destroyed and abandoned houses, dangling power lines--a ghost town really. I had to force myself to remember the resilience in the face of such trauma and desolation. This community has a long way to go, but it's moving forward.