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her fellow parishioners arrived at St. Genevieve Catholic Church for Mass on » Weather
Sunday, Mary Bell Neck greeted them with a large can of insect repellent.
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"Bug spray? The gnats are eating people alive," she warned. "Welcome to the E-mail This
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Unbowed after Hurricane Katrina swamped the picturesque church nestled

among the live oaks along Bayou Liberty near Slidell, the congregation has
resorted to holding services outside.

Just two dozen people attended the first Mass nearly two weeks after the Aug.
29 storm. But by Sunday, the ranks had swelled to more than 400 as the
church became a rallying point for the devastated Bayou Liberty area.

Church members sat on rows of folding chairs on the dusty ground, forming a
semicircle around a battered 300-year-old live oak that lost about a third of its
branches during the storm and provided little respite from the unseasonably
warm November sun.

Several potted yellow mums were placed in front of a metal table serving as
the altar, and a junked air-conditioning unit at the back provided auxiliary
seating for the overflow crowd.

Neck said the large turnout shows that while many parishioners have lost their
homes and their church, they haven't lost their faith.

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UNDER THE HEAVENS Page 2 of 3

"We're sitting out here in the middle of all this devastation, and we're still
worshipping God," she said. "He's still the center of our lives."

Deacon Dan Haggerty said the live oak at the center of Sunday's Mass is the
same tree where services were held more than 100 years ago before the first
church was built.

"In a sense, we've come all the way back to our beginnings," said Haggerty,
the Slidell police chaplain. "It's going to take a lot of hard work, but I think
everyone is committed to rebuilding the church bigger and better."

Back in the fold

Sunday's service marked the return of St. Genevieve's pastor, the Rev. Roel
Lungay, who was recuperating from thyroid surgery in his native Philippines
when Katrina struck.

"It's so good to see us all back together as a church and as a family," he said,
using a microphone to be heard above the rumble of cars crossing the
drawbridge at the nearby Bayou Liberty Marina, where a crane dredged marsh
grass and mud from the storm-clogged channel.

Lungay said he was on a snorkeling expedition near his hometown of Bohol

when he received a cell-phone text message about the pre-Katrina evacuation.
He said he grew frustrated during the following days as he was unable to get
any information about how his congregation and church had fared.

"Each time I tried to call, I got a recording that said, 'You are calling a disaster
area,' " he said. FROM OUR ADVERTISERS
>>
Lungay said the first news he received was when his brother-in-law found a >>
report on the Internet that a church steeple had fallen on Bayou Liberty Road. >>

"He asked me if I knew where that was, and I said, 'That's us! That's our
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church!' " he said. "I was so excited to hear something that I didn't even think
about the damage."

As Lungay prepared to come back, his mother had a stroke and slipped into a
coma. He said he stayed with her at a hospital for several weeks before
returning to Slidell last week.

"I was torn between my responsibilities here as a pastor and my

responsibilities to my mom," he told the congregation, pausing to regain his
composure. "I've been a priest for 20 years and have counseled many families
dealing with illness and death. But when it comes to your own mom, I cannot
explain."

Although he had seen news coverage of the hurricane on TV, Lungay said it
was shocking to see the storm's aftermath firsthand.

"This is the kind of devastation you expect in poor countries like the
Philippines, but not the United States," he told the congregation.

Church submerged

Katrina's storm surge sent a wall of water from Lake Pontchartrain rushing
across southern Slidell, flooding thousands of homes. Some of the worst
destruction was along Bayou Liberty Road, where virtually every home
suffered substantial damage from wind, water or fallen trees.

At St. Genevieve, the church, reception hall and rectory were inundated by
more than 4 feet of water.

The church was filled with 18 inches of muck, but not one of the dozens of
stained glass windows lining three walls was broken. Beneath a sign that
reads, "Open wide the doors to Christ," a set of double doors were swung wide
open Sunday to air out the musty church.

All three buildings have been gutted by volunteers from the church, the military
and various youth and church groups from as far away as North Carolina,

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UNDER THE HEAVENS Page 3 of 3

Haggerty said.

Church member Lee Miltenberger, 69, said the generosity has spilled over into
the collection basket.

"This is not a wealthy congregation, but the donations have really picked up,"
he said. "It's amazing to see how people who have lost so much are still willing
to share what little they have left."

Enjoying the outdoors

Although the church isn't expected to be ready for at least a few more months,
church leaders plan to hold Sunday's Mass in the reception hall, where
electricity has been restored and two new air-conditioning units arrived this
week. But some parishioners said they hope they haven't seen the last of
church under the oaks.

"It's been great," Nora Begue said. "In fact, maybe we ought to make it a
tradition to have Mass outside whenever the weather is pretty."

Lungay said it doesn't really matter where the service is held as long as the
congregation stays together.

"This is what church is all about -- not the building, but the people," he said as
he spread his arms wide as if to embrace the entire congregation. "We are the
church."

.......

Paul Rioux can be reached at prioux@timespicayune.com or (985) 645-2852.

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