I know that St. James in Gulfport is ok because my b-i-l is Pastor there. SirKit's sister finally heard from him this afternoon. We were SO releived to know he was fine. His parish is only about 1/2 mile off the beach, so it was a real concern. I don't know about the parishes in Biloxi. St. Michael's did make it through Camille, but this storm did MUCH more damage to that area of Biloxi than Camille did. The Cathedral must be OK because the Bishop was making the rounds checking the parishes today. He came by my b-i-l's parish to make sure he was OK.
Did anyone else see Raymond Arroyo being interviewed on CNN tonight? He was on with Aaron Brown. As far as I could tell, Aaron never mentioned that Raymond was on EWTN. He only identified him as the owner of a restaurant in New Orleans. It is a restaurant that was started by Raymond's grandfather, so I guess it has stayed in the family even since. Apparently Raymond and his wife had a daughter who was born 10 days before the storm. He came down from Birmingham to get them before it hit, and he assumes his home is gone. He was very peaceful about it, though, because he said he was Blessed that his family was safe and all together.
Evidently as Raymond, his wife and their newborn fled the area, their home was destroyed. Was that the story?
Raymond's family owns..owned... a great restaurant in N.O. called Tony Angelo's -- best Italian food I ever had. It was definitely the Italian Catholic place to be. I'm just thankful to know that he and his young family got out and safely. (It is sad for me and my memories to know that the restaurant is gone.)
Doesn't surprise me that Brown wouldn't credit Raymond Arroyo for being with EWTN.
Also doesn't surprise me that Arroyo is handling this so well. He has such an angelic character about him.
Any word on St. John's or St. Theresa's in Gulport?