Message from brotherhrolf....asking for prayers!

[Edwin1961]

I received this e-mail from brotherhrolf about his trip to New Orleans. He is VERY distraught.
Here is his message:
The view expressed are those of brotherhrolf. IMO since he has now seen everything first hand, please direct your remarks to him.

First, to Zooey! Thanks for the card and your support. And I didn’t mean to dump on you last night. I had just gotten back from NO and DW was asleep. DW and I talked this a.m.

To everyone! I went to NO yesterday. The city of my birth and of my ancestors is by and large destroyed. By and large the western suburbs where I grew up did not flood but there is a tremendous amount of wind damage (e.g. the cement plastering that covers the sides of large buildings broken off; 8 story office buildings with broken glass - still exposed to the elements; and the large live oak trees which were a hallmark of the city - shredded, broken, knocked over).

I guess what I am trying to deal with is twofold. First, of course, is the sheer scale of the devastaton. After five months about the only thing that has been done is that they have cleared the roads and many
people have gutted their houses. But by clearing the roads, all the sand and mud and debris is just pushed up onto the sidewalks. The salt water killed most of
the live oaks as well as every hedge, bush, flower, grass - anything that was living in the flooded sections. NO really looks like a deserted Old West ghost town. Collapsed houses, houses listing to one side,
cars and boats on top of houses and flooded cars and trucks all over the place. A scattering of FEMA trailers -maybe one or two per block. Very few traffic lights but very light traffic. And the water marks on the walls of the houses and buildings anywhere from 4’ to 13’…No power
in over 60% of the area. No natural gas for heating or cooking. No water. Condemned
for human occupation signs all over the place. One of the people on tour with me from California said “My God, it looks like a war zone”.

The second thing that has set in is anger. My grief over what I have seen at the office and on local TV has changed to anger. Anger at the hype of Bush standing in front of the Cathedral saying NO will be rebuilt. Anger at Mayor Willy Wonka for his a**inine remarks. Anger that we can spend all
this money over in Iraq and let an American city lie in ruins because federal levees failed. Anger that they can even conceive of Mardi Gras (they don’t even need to be thinking about Mardi Gras after what I saw
yesterday). Anger that the news media only showed the poorer sections of NO but not the same devastation to the middle class, upper middle class, and wealthy. Remark after remark from other people from across the country on the tour - why isn’t this being reported on the news? Or, they turned to me and the others from here and said “My God, if I had only known it was this bad…” (I gave a presentation at a national meeting in Salt Lake City 3 weeks after Katrina - I came home to Rita).

I really did not want to go but since we were hosting a national meeting, I felt obliged. DW said she knew it was going to be bad for me because she teaches kids from NO. She said she knew I was going to come
back mad and shocked. And I am.

This coming week, I am going to spend some time in reflection and prayer. Then, I am going to do something I have never done before. I am going to write to our governmental officials starting with President Bush and reminded him of the
city he used to visit!

So dear friends, pray for me. This has hit me like a ton of bricks. The rug has once again been yanked out from under my feet.

Edwin, for what it is worth, we went by Holy Trinity Cathedral which flooded. They have pressure washed the Cathedral, cleaned up
the grounds, and have pansies planted. The Hellenic Center next to the Cathedral still has damage. If the Holy Spirit moves you, you can send Fr. Ambrose et al a
message.

Also if Bob or Anne ask, feel free to relay this to them. We took tons of digital photos so as soon as these are released, I may send you some.

A very, very down Leonard

 

[furlan1985]

Edwin1961:

I received this e-mail from brotherhrolf about his trip to New Orleans. He is VERY distraught.
Here is his message:

Be assured of my prayers. I, too, have many friends from NO. Most have moved to Houston where they have had to start their lives anew, from scratch.

 

[contemplative]

My prayers goes out to brotherhrolf.

Is it possible that much more work has been completed thus far…much more than what meets your eyes?

I think that just clearing the roadways is a great accomplishment. We know NO wasn’t originally built in a day…it will take much time to rebuild.

 

[aurora77]

All I can say is, I’m so, so sorry and I’ll be praying for Brotherhrolf and family. I can’t even begin to imagine what he and others must be going through.

 

[deb1]

Of course he will be in our prayers. It is difficult not to think of most of the regulars on this board as being part of a family. My heart goes out to him.

 

[Celia]

I can’t imagine what it must be like to see such a beautiful old city, that you grew up in, destroyed. My heart goes out to brotherhrolf and all of New Orleans. Prayers…

 

[JKirkLVNV]

My prayers for Brotherhrolf and all the people of New Orleans.

 

[aimee]

I’ll pray for Brother and NO…

 

[Shoshana]

It breaks my heart to see Bro under such distress. Bro, we are all thinking of you and uniting our prayer with yours. While i was reading your e-mail to Edwin, it made me think of Jesus crying over Jerusalem.

God bless you my friend…we are praying for you on the rosary thread… When one part of the body hurts…the whole body does…:crying:

 

[puzzleannie]

I also have a lot of anger that since we no longer have the round of clock news coverage, we seem to have forgotten any of this ever happened, that people are still in need in every conceivable area of daily life in these areas, and the national will to help seems to have dissipated. Also, the outrage at how this mess was handled does not seem to have produced any visible change in our disaster planning.

 

[Little_Mary]

brotherhrolf, I am so glad you saw for yourself the devastation that is down there.

I have been trying to convey this to people I know as well as in some posts I’ve made on these forums.

The pics do NOT do it justice.

The more people that go down there and see it for themselves, the better.

Biloxi, MS (90 miles east) is just as bad as NO.

Did you read that? 90 miles .

 

[turboEDvo]

Yep, I’ll be praying.

Eamon

 

[deb1]

Little Mary:

brotherhrolf, I am so glad you saw for yourself the devastation that is down there.

I have been trying to convey this to people I know as well as in some posts I’ve made on these forums.

The pics do NOT do it justice.

The more people that go down there and see it for themselves, the better.

Biloxi, MS (90 miles east) is just as bad as NO.

Did you read that? 90 miles .

I lived in Biloxi for six months while my husband took training through the military. It was one of the loveliest places that we have been to. How tragic for all the people in the region.

 

[computerguy]

I shall also be praying.

 

[Zooey]

Little Mary:

brotherhrolf, I am so glad you saw for yourself the devastation that is down there.

I have been trying to convey this to people I know as well as in some posts I’ve made on these forums.

The pics do NOT do it justice.

The more people that go down there and see it for themselves, the better.

Biloxi, MS (90 miles east) is just as bad as NO.

Did you read that? 90 miles .

You make an excellent point!! Brother sent me some photos from the local papers down there, & the pix…Not one of them, or anything remotely like them, ever was shown on TV, or printed in the papers up here.
Without folks like Brother & yourself, to bring our attention to the facts, it would be easy to assume that everything is just fine now…It’s not fine; it’s a disaster area…literally.
A lot of people in need of prayers, folks!!

 

[Zooey]

puzzleannie:

I also have a lot of anger that since we no longer have the round of clock news coverage, we seem to have forgotten any of this ever happened, that people are still in need in every conceivable area of daily life in these areas, and the national will to help seems to have dissipated. Also, the outrage at how this mess was handled does not seem to have produced any visible change in our disaster planning.

You have just taken the words out of my mouth!!
60% of the city still has no power; that alone should be getting the attention of everybody…
Yet, we are not told this…I am angry, ans I am also very, very :crying:sad…

 

[Edwin1961]

I sent an e-mail back to Leonard and I just believe in my heart that NO is being used in a political game. While all in all people are suffering, and a once thriving community is decaying right before our eyes, and we are NOT seeing it!

Prayer warriors, unite!

 

[Gearoidin]

My prayers for Brotherhrolf and all people hit by natural disasters.
Gearoidin

 

[Melanie01]

Poor fella, just because it aint in the news does not make it unreal for the real folk who live and loved the area.

He shall be in my prayers and for his fellow Orleans cits.

 

[farmbabe1]

Not all have forgotten…In my fourth-grade religious education class, we always start the class with prayer in which the children can offer their prayer intentions aloud. Not a week goes by when at least one of the kids ask us to pray for the people affected by Hurricane Katrina…even now, they continue to pray. Out of the mouths of babes…