Serving Joliet's Catholics
The Wrath of God
On August 29, 2005, the sixth-strongest hurricane every recorded in the Atlantic basin made landfall near Buras-Triump, Louisiana. Hurricane Katrina, and its subsequent storm surge, destroyed much of the coastal regions in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama on its way to becoming the most destructive and cosliest natural disaster in United States history.

Just north of Biloxi, Mississipi rests the small fishing community of D'Iberville. It is a town of less than 10,000 residents, and a Catholic population of about 1,500 families served by Sacred Heart Parish.

Founded in 1921, Sacred Heart is one of the largest parishes in the Diocese of Biloxi. In addition to five Sunday Masses each week, the parish has an active youth group, Knights of Columbus Council, a Ladies' Auxilary, and a Society of St. Vincent De Paul.

Hurricane Katrina flooded the church, rectory, gym and school with eight feet of water.

As you can see, nearly everything inside the parish building was destroyed.

But the Blessed Mother continues to pray for her people...

The Damage
Sacred Heart also operates an elementary school with 100 students and a religious eductional program for another 300 students. The 100 elementary school students represent 10% of the total elementary school population in D'Iberville, according to the 2000 Census.

Damage to the school is significant, according to school officials.

    Sacred Heart Elementary School received eight feet of Bayou and sewer water as a result of Hurricane Katrina. Due to the contents of the water, we were not able to salvage anything. The water did not just come in and rise up to the ceiling; it came in with a whirlpool effect and destroyed tables, chairs, books, computers, desk, bookcases, furniture, refrigerators, machines and much more.



    After the storm we had little faith that we would be able to continue the 2005-2006 school year. The families that lived within a mile south and west of the school lost homes and businesses. These homes and businesses did not just take water in, but were destroyed to the point of looking like large splinters of wood.

    The area is devastated and many of our parents no longer have jobs. Families are sharing their homes with other family members. Some families may have two or three families living in one small home and many people are with out transportation.

    The devastation is so huge that we have already exceeded our insurance limit.

The Relief Effort
The spirit, hope and faith of Sacred Heart Elementary is on the rise and manding. From their account...
    Within a week we began receiving phone calls and emails from other parishes around the country offering help and relief. At that time, we began all efforts to do what was needed to begin cleaning the school and letting the community know we have not been defeated.

    Due to the nature of the destruction, we knew we could not allow the families to clean the facility. Since then we have hired a company from Texas to come in and clean the school.

    At this time the school has been completely cleared out and all contaminated structures have been removed. The floors and walls have been power washed, sanitized and humidified. And the relief efforts of restoration are in the progress of being restored.

    On October 3rd we relocated to the Big Ridge Baptist Church and due to our financial status we had to lay off half of our faculty and staff. We are organizing hope and relief for our school and families through good neighbors such as yourself.

    The spirit, hope and faith of Sacred Heart Elementary is on the rise of mending.