Though the devastation following Hurricane Katrina took place back in August 2005, the Oblates continue to assist local residents who continue to return to the city who have very little. In New Orleans, at Our Lady of Guadalupe Chapel / International Shrine of St. Jude, pastor Fr. Tony Rigoli, OMI helps those who come to the parish door requesting emergency assistance with food and funds for transport.
At times, Fr. Tony receives help from visiting Oblates. In the summer of 2006, Bro. Emmanuel Bwalya, OMI, an Oblate seminarian from Zambia completing his philosophy studies in San Antonio, was sent to St. Jude?s to assist. He helped with the door ministry each day, listening, providing a plate of food at times, or referring visitors to a nearby organization for transportation assistance. He also took Holy Communion to shut-ins, helped with an area youth summer camp, and assisted volunteers in preparing damaged houses from the post-Katrina flooding for indigent and otherwise challenged residents who planned to have the interiors of their homes reconstructed.
Fr. Tony also works with Sr. Beth Mouch, MSC, a Missionary Sister of the Sacred Heart, the director of the women?s homeless shelter at the St. Jude?s Community Center across the street from the parish. The Community Center provided a food program and other services for the needy before Katrina, and was converted in November 2005 by Fr. Tony into a shelter for the displaced. In the first weeks after the shelter was opened, it housed about fifty men and women, both in individual rooms and on cots and sleeping bags on carpeted floors, in a space that would comfortably sleep twenty.
In late January 2006, Sr. Beth began her ministry as Director, providing counseling and advocacy to temporary residents and others seeking help. The Community Center shelter is now exclusively for women. Sr. Beth emphasizes that the shelter is ?not a hotel, but for those women who come to New Orleans to rebuild their lives.? Each of the residents must leave the building by 9 AM each day either to work, or to look actively for a job. There is an obligatory community night each Monday, in which all gather for a meal. During the community night, local groups will often lead seminars on various topics, such as Bible study, knowing your legal rights, parenting, and job searching and careers. ?Groups find out about the Center; I don?t have to make calls,? Sr. Beth says. ?It?s a matter of being open to having people come. The word spreads.?
At the Center, there is other assistance as well. For example, local agencies have set up temporary space in the main gathering area to offer job search assistance by appointment, and to assist people in the outside of the shelter to find housing. Additionally, a local resident runs a food bank program in which people can participate once a month.
