Hurricane leaves new problems for struggling church
|
A UMNS photo by Mike DuBose Stained-glass
windows glow from inside due to light pouring through the damaged roof
at Felicity United Methodist Church in New Orleans.
|
A
blue tarp, torn by the wind, flaps over the open roof at Felicity
United Methodist Church in New Orleans. The historic church was heavily
damaged by Hurricane Katrina. It is being repaired and modified to house
volunteer relief workers. A UMNS photo by Mike DuBose. Photo #06-G009.
Accompanies UMNS story #166. 3/22/06 |
March 22, 2006
By Kathy L. Gilbert*
NEW ORLEANS (UMNS) — Felicity United Methodist Church was just starting
to see daylight again when Hurricane Katrina came to town and blew away its hope.
The Rev. Marva L. Mitchell, pastor of Felicity
for the past 20 years and the church’s first African-American minister, says the congregation has been
struggling in the past few years and had just started coming back to life by
renting out the fellowship hall to a children’s theater.
“Our membership has been on the decline, and we really only had about
10 to 15 in worship on Sundays,” she says. Life was coming back to the
church with the children’s theater and other groups that were renting
rooms in the building.
Then Hurricane Katrina struck Aug. 29.
Now, Mitchell is directing the Uptown storm station, and the parsonage next
door to the church is housing volunteers. Mitchell hopes the damaged church
can be saved and used to house volunteers coming to New Orleans to help restore
the city.
The church, on the state’s historic registry,
was built in 1848. It was first known as the Flatboat Church because it was
built
from broken-up
flatboats. Fire destroyed the church in 1887, but the congregation rebuilt
in 1888. That was followed by a worse disaster in the early 1900s, as yellow
fever swept through New Orleans, killing every member of the congregation.
The church was converted to a morgue, Mitchell says.
|
A UMNS photo by Mike DuBose The
Revs. Darryl Tate (left) and Marva Mitchell visit outside the Uptown
Station of the Louisiana United Methodist Storm Recovery Center.
|
The
Revs. Darryl Tate (left) and Marva Mitchell visit outside the Uptown
Station of the Louisiana United Methodist Storm Recovery Center in New
Orleans. Mitchell, pastor of Felicity United Methodist Church, directs
the station, and Tate is director of the center. A UMNS photo by Mike
DuBose. Photo #06-G010. Accompanies UMNS story #166. 3/22/06 |
A glass case downstairs contains church records
dating back to the 1880s. One poignant letter, left by someone who came to
the church
during those early
years, is among the Sunday school class rolls and other records. It reads: “Lord
Jesus, my prayer is just simple: I want to marry. I want to have a really happy
marriage. But it seems I haven’t yet met the right person. Help me, Lord,
to find the right person. Please Lord I need a spouse. I am very lonely. Amen
and Amen.”
Today, the beautiful historic church has a huge hole in the roof of its tower,
courtesy of Hurricane Katrina. Light pours into the church through large, stained-glass
windows. The original hand-carved pulpit and wooden pews stand untouched so
far. The gallery, where slaves attended church while their masters sat in the
pews below, looms above the back of the sanctuary. The pipe organ, installed
in 1888, has been disassembled by the National Organ Society, but members hope
it will someday reclaim its place of honor behind the pulpit.
A temporary blue tarp flaps loudly in the wind. It was placed over the hole
but strong winds have ripped its hold.
Church member Judy McAlister sadly shakes her
head. “You should see
it when it rains,” she says. “Water just pours in.”
‘We will share your pain’
|
A UMNS photo by Mike DuBose Members of the Three Rivers Area Faith Community team sing a hymn during morning devotions.
|
Members
of the Three Rivers Area Faith Community volunteer team sing a hymn
during morning devotions before beginning their day's work cleaning up
after Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. The ecumenical group, from
Three Rivers, Mich., lived in the parsonage at Felicity United Methodist
Church during the work trip. A UMNS photo by Mike DuBose. Photo
#06-G011. Accompanies UMNS story #166. 3/22/06 |
An ecumenical volunteer group from Three Rivers,
Mich., was working on the church, Mitchell’s home and other houses
during the week of March 6.
“New Orleans has no hope if you are not here,” prayed the Rev.
JoAnn Mundy, pastor of First Baptist Church, Three Rivers, as the group prepared
to go out for the day. “Use us as your hands and feet.”
Members of Three Rivers Area Faith Community — four pastors from different
denominations and members of eight congregations — were sleeping in bunk
beds in the upstairs portion of what was once Felicity Church’s parsonage.
The group also donated the material and time to install bathrooms in the Uptown
storm center.
During their stay, McAlister took the group on a tour of churches and homes
destroyed in the storm and flood. The group was overwhelmed by the destruction.
“There was a big, fancy brick home that was two-thirds washed away,
and the concrete driveway was in the neighbor’s house,” says the
Rev. Pat Bromberek, Center Park United Methodist Church.
|
A UMNS photo by Mike DuBose A blue tarp, torn by the wind, flaps over the open roof at Felicity United Methodist Church in New Orleans.
|
Stained-glass
windows glow from inside due to light pouring through the damaged roof
at Felicity United Methodist Church in New Orleans. The historic church
was heavily damaged by Hurricane Katrina. It is being repaired and
modified to house volunteer relief workers. A UMNS photo by Mike DuBose.
Photo #06-G012. Accompanies UMNS story #166. 3/22/06 |
“It was helpful to see houses piled on top of each other, to see the
neighborhoods,” she says. “If you can’t see it, you can’t
feel it. Three Rivers will feel it when we go back and tell them.”
“We have felt some of the pain, and we will take that pain back with
us,” says the Rev. Luther Channey, pastor of All Nations Temple Church
of God in Christ.
Mundy described a house they saw in the Lakeview
area. “Two little boys’ suits
were hanging up with pictures of the little boys under them. Written on the
wall was ‘All out.’”
Mitchell, whose house was also damaged in the
storm, says, “My
house is nothing compared to what you saw. My house is still standing.”
Hope for another life
Before Mitchell became director of the Uptown storm center, she was a client,
she says.
“I paid someone $1,800 to take out my furniture, and it was a swindle,” she
says. “They just took my money.”
Mitchell is happy to be directing volunteer groups that are helping rebuild
her hometown.
“The elderly members of my congregation are not coming back,” she
says. “But I hope the church will still have another life.”
*Gilbert is a United Methodist News Service news writer based in Nashville,
Tenn.
News media contact: Kathy L. Gilbert, Nashville, Tenn., (615) 742-5470 or
newsdesk@umcom.org.
|
|