Texas Episcopalians join in Ike recovery efforts
Episcopal News Service. September 17, 2008 [091708-02]
Mary Frances Schjonberg
The Episcopal Diocese of Texas reopened its Houston diocesan offices September 16 and continued to contact clergy and assess the damage caused by Hurricane Ike.
Diocesan Bishop Don Wimberly reported in a video message that officials have had a "great degree of success" in that work. "We've contacted just about everybody," he said.
Wimberly reported that he, Bishop Coadjutor-elect Andrew Doyle and Director of Communications Carol Barnwell visited some churches September 16 and found roof and water damage, missing siding, fallen trees, but "nothing catastrophic."
"We continue to feel blessed that the damage to most of our churches other than [in] Galveston is not extreme, but we know that many parishioners are living a different reality," the bishop said.
Meanwhile, congregations in the diocese are cleaning up their buildings and church yards, and hoping to continue or resume Sunday services on September 21.
"Our priority now is to make sure our clergy are cared for so that they can, in turn, care for their members and provide needed resources," Wimberly said. "We want make sure that worship services are going as soon as possible so that families can support one another and their neighbors."
"I'm committed to making sure that all pastoral care needs are met during this crisis because we realize it will be some time before we are back to normal."
In an email to her fellow Episcopal Communicators members, Barnwell warned that the area is not yet ready to host volunteers due to a lack of gas, water and electricity in many areas. An update on the diocese's recovery efforts is available here.
A call for Type O blood and platelets in Houston will be answered in part by bloodmobile visits September 19 to Palmer Memorial Episcopal Church and at Emmanuel Episcopal Church the next day.
Diocesan Treasurer Bob Biehl has briefed representatives of Church Insurance September 16 with information diocesan officials have about church damage. Normal deductibles of five to 10 percent will mean that congregations face certain costs in their repairs.
Wimberly said that Church Insurance representatives as well as people from the Houston-based Episcopal Health Charities have set up shop in the diocesan offices.
Thus far, officials attribute 50 deaths in nine states to Ike, which made landfall about 2:10 a.m. CDT September 13 at Galveston, Texas, as a 600-mile wide category 2 storm packing winds of at least 110 mph.
CBS and the Associated Press reported September 17 that "despite primitive conditions" in Galveston, thousands of residents caused a traffic jam the day before as they tried to take advantage of a brief "look and leave" lifting of the curfew so people could check on their homes and businesses. Officials called off the temporary return just a few hours later.
The two news agencies reported that there are still about 250 survivors on the nearby Bolivar Peninsula who won't leave, even though officials insist they must go so the cleanup can safely begin. "Our goal is to vacate the peninsula," said County Judge Jim Yarbrough, the top elected official in Galveston County.
A check of websites shows some Diocese of Texas congregations and schools reporting on the status of their facilities and initiating web-based ways for congregants, students and parents to report their whereabouts and be in touch with each other. Trinity Episcopal School, connected with Trinity Church in Galveston, set up a "school family evacuation blog" for parents.
The Rev. Lillian Hyde, rector of St. George's Episcopal Church in Texas City, on the mainland opposite Point Bolivar, reported in a September 17 post on the parish's Google Group website that she had only been able to reach a few parishioners. St. George's buildings sustained minor damage as some rain water ran into Quinn Hall and the library, she said.
David Taylor, senior warden of St. Timothy's Episcopal Church in Houston, wrote a letter to parishioners saying that "many of us have never personally seen or experienced anything along the lines of devastation that we are witnessing."
"We have families in our parish who have had little to no damage and others who have lost everything," he wrote. "Will you join me in praying each day for those who are in desperate need and feel like everything is lost? This is our opportunity to share the love and power of Christ."
Taylor reported that the church campus has "some urgent needs that should be addressed as soon as possible," including roof damage on both the parish hall and the church. The parish lost some of its large trees, sustained damage to the picnic area where the roof over the barbecue pit has collapsed. "One window appears to have been shot out by vandals and we also sustained water damage inside as well," Taylor wrote.
The Rev. Dr. Russell J. Levenson Jr, rector of St. Martin's Episcopal Church in Houston, told parishioners in a message on the church website that he was "not going to offer a syrupy sweet suggestion to you that you slip on some rose-colored glasses and pretend as if we have not, all of us, been impacted by this storm. The wake of Ike is not just physical -- it leaves mental, emotional and spiritual scars in our personal landscapes."
"Whatever you are feeling, don't 'rush through it.' Instead, experience it -- move through it -- not around it," Levenson suggested, having explained that he learned these lessons when Hurricane Ivan hit Florida in September 2004 while he was serving Christ Church in Pensacola. "But here is my next request -- don't get 'stuck' in those feelings. This is another reason why it is important to move through them -- so you can get over them."
Levenson reported "significant damage" to parts of the large campus and its buildings. "If I let it get to me; if our staff lets it get to us, then we could quickly descend into a whirlpool of anger, depression and paralysis," he wrote. "We are quickly reaching out to neighboring churches, the diocese and outreach agencies to determine the best way we can respond as a parish. My sense is that some of our planned outreach and mission initiatives will not only increase in number, but will also shift in priority."
Meanwhile, Christ Church Cathedral "is essentially unscathed, and even has power," Dean Joe Reynolds reported on the cathedral's home page. "People are still about the hard work of getting lives back to a semblance of normalcy."
Before Ike struck, young people at the Church of the Holy Apostles near Katy, Texas, decided to collect non-perishable food, water and other necessities for hurricane victims. They passed the word and stood waving signs at motorists driving past the church parking lot and they collected almost a truck full of aid in the first day, according to a report in a local newspaper.
In the San Antonio-based Diocese of West Texas, officials are helping to coordinate efforts to host more than 5,000 Ike evacuees. Information about those efforts is available here.