Back on Their Feet
By Jean Prescott, The Sun Herald, Biloxi, Miss.
Jan. 26–Progress reports
As displaced congregations return to repaired or brand-new churches, we would like to let the rest of the Coast community know about it, either in a brief or a story. Please e-mail jtprescott@sunherald.com about changes in the status of your congregation.
St. Paul Catholic Church in Pass Christian wants to focus on its school before looking at the repair or rebuilding of its beachfront church.
First Baptist Church in Bay St. Louis has been worshipping in a new auxiliary building on State Street, but it probably won’t have a new sanctuary chapel until well into 2008.
Conversely, Ingalls Avenue Baptist Church in Pascagoula could be in a new sanctuary by the end of February.
Up and down the Coast, places of worship continue to move forward, leaving Katrina destruction of 18 months ago behind them. In fact, a survey of destroyed or severely damaged area churches back in August of last year revealed even then that more than 50 percent of them — 44 of 74 — had settled somewhere since the hurricane, either back in their sanctuaries or in adjacent or neighboring buildings. Repairs in many cases were more than 50 or 60 percent completed.
The status listing published then by the Sun Herald is being reproduced today on our Web site, and all 74 churches’ dispositions can be examined there.
We also spoke to some for whom work stretches out into the future; spirits remain high and progress is real.
Joan Cooper was on a mission Wednesday afternoon to examine property that might be acquired for the Christian Science Society of Gulfport. That group has been meeting in the homes of a couple of members, but the concern is the public can’t find meetings if the meeting places are not highly visible.
On a positive note, BellSouth has allowed the Gulfport organization to place a Yellow Pages ad listing telephone numbers to call — 832-2398 and 875-5207 — to inquire about meeting locations.
At Ingalls Avenue Baptist Church in Pascagoula, music director Brad Replogle reiterated the congregation’s almost complete loss of facilities, nearly 95 percent. But day-care, education and fellowship buildings have been rebuilt. Worship will continue in the gymnasium until the sanctuary is ready for occupancy, probably in four or five weeks.
The Rev. Dennis Carver spoke Wednesday for Holy Family Parish, which was formed after Hurricane Katrina and encompasses St. Paul Catholic Church, which will rebuild on Scenic Drive, and Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church on Menge Avenue.
His in-a-nutshell message is parishioners will continue to worship at Lourdes, which they have done since the hurricane, and money and energy will be spent first on the school.
In the wake of studies by engineers and other professionals, it was decided to raze the heavily damaged school buildings and rebuild them from the ground up. As for the St. Paul church building, which appears sound from the exterior, Carver said it becomes a matter of what should be done for the parish, looking ahead 30 years. There is no rush to either raze or repair the church, as the congregation is not “homeless.”
Over in Bay St. Louis, the Rev. Elizabeth Wheatley wanted it known that things are happening with regard to Christ Episcopal Church, quite literally flattened by Katrina. Meetings have taken place as recently as this week, and an announcement about the future of the church could be forthcoming after the weekend.
Karen Smitherman, secretary to the pastor of First Baptist Church of Long Beach, Dr. LaRue Stephens, reported the church has acquired property north of the CSX tracks — North Cleveland Avenue specifically, just beyond Long Beach Middle School, where the congregation has been meeting in the gym.
As recently as just a couple of months ago, the Rev. Chuck Register announced Phase I of a First Baptist Church of Gulfport rebuilding plan which, as the Sun Herald reported at the time, will have a worship center, a gym, a Christian bookstore and a cafe and coffee shop on the church’s new 35-acre property in Orange Grove.
Local churches provide inspiration for business and residential property owners to follow suit.
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Copyright (c) 2007, The Sun Herald, Biloxi, Miss.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News.
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