Don’t let the quietness of the day with regard to the HoB fool you: the bishops have been very busy today. Episcopal Life Online covered bishops working at nine different recovery projects in New Orleans and several additional projects in other areas affected by Hurricane Katrina two years ago.
As fate would have it, there was some concern about a tropical system in the Caribbean However, the storm weakened and hit land well away from the Gulf areas in which the bishops were working.
From the story:
While the work done on September 22 contributed to the efforts of New Orleanians and Mississippians to rebuild their lives and their communities after the devastation of hurricanes Katrina and Rita in August and September 2005, the day had other purposes as well.
Diocese of Newark Bishop Mark Beckwith, pausing from his work with Schori and others, said the past two days of meetings had brought the bishops “a lot of information to digest” and the work day was giving them “some breathing space to sort that through.”
At a news conference the day before, Mississippi Bishop Duncan Gray said he hoped that the Day of Service would be helpful in “interpreting the discussions within the context of mission.” Louisiana Bishop Charles Jenkins said he hope the work day would show that “people of good will and faith stand for the dignity of humanity … [and] even in the midst of our disagreements we stand strongly for all of God’s people.”
After helping to measure and cut a piece of sheetrock at a home in the Gentilly neighborhood, Diocese of Olympia Bishop Suffragan Bavi Edna “Nedi” Rivera looked up at the people working together in the gutted house and said “there’s nothing that’s going to build community more than this.”
The story touches on several different projects and includes comments from many of the participants. Read it all here. There is also a gallery of images from the day here.