At the request of the Rev. James Wehner, Rector of Notre Dame Seminary in New Orleans, the Notre Dame Seminary Catholic Relief was organized to assist in the aftermath of Hurricane Laura to bring relief to so many in need.
The catastrophic Category 4 storm that made landfall on August 27 in Southwest Louisiana wreaked havoc on the Diocese of Lake Charles, destroying churches, rectories, schools and displacing a third of the priests in active ministry.
Two mission trips involving Notre Dame seminarians — one on Tuesday, September 8, and another over the weekend of September 18-20, have been planned to assist in the recovery efforts on many levels. The Most Reverend Glen John Provost, Bishop of Lake Charles, celebrated Mass and addressed the seminarians on September 8, the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, while the Most Reverend Gregory M. Aymond, Archbishop of New Orleans, will visit the Lake Charles diocese on September 19.
Father Joseph Caraway, parochial vicar of St. Henry Catholic Church in Lake Charles, is coordinating a list of homes of the needy, shut-ins, and homebound that will be visited in the church parishes of St. Henry, Immaculate Heart of Mary, and Sacred Heart in Lake Charles. Additional church parishes will be added as this effort advances.
Selected to assist the Notre Dame Seminary Catholic Relief effort is retired Diocese of Lake Charles priest, Father Roland Vaughn, who served as a pastor for coastal church parishes for nearly three decades. Father Vaughn experienced firsthand hurricanes like Rita and Ike, as well as the initial rebuilding of Our Lady’s Assumption Catholic Church in Johnson Bayou and St. Peter Apostle Catholic Church in Hackberry.
The Most Reverend Glen John Provost, Bishop of Lake Charles, celebrated Mass in the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception on Tuesday, September 8, for seminarians from Notre Dame Seminary in New Orleans. The Notre Dame Seminary Catholic Relief effort was organized to assist in the aftermath of Hurricane Laura to bring relief to so many in need.
Above and below: Seminarians assisting with the Notre Dame Seminary Catholic Relief effort help clean up debris in the yards of the homebound in the Diocese of Lake Charles. The "mission trip" was organized following the devastating Category 4 Hurricane Laura that destroyed many homes, businesses, churches and schools in Southwest Louisiana as it made landfall on August 27.
