Most churches, schools in Mobile escape serious damage from Ivan

Published: 2004-09-23

MOBILE, Ala. (CNS) -- Archbishop Oscar H. Lipscomb of Mobile announced that all parishes in his archdiocese would take up a special collection during Masses Oct. 9 and 10 for hurricane relief for those affected by Hurricane Ivan. Funds will go to hurricane victims in Alabama but a considerable amount will go to people in the nearby Pensacola, Fla., area where the damage from Ivan was "disastrous" and "widespread," the archbishop said. He made the comments in a column he wrote for the Sept. 24 issue of The Catholic Week, Mobile's archdiocesan newspaper. After sweeping through the Caribbean, Ivan battered the Gulf Coast Sept. 16, causing an estimated $3 billion to $6 billion in insured losses in Pensacola and other parts of Florida's panhandle as well as in some areas of Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi. Many homes and businesses along coastal as well as inland areas received devastating damage because of wind, rain and storm surge. But most area Catholic churches and schools in the Mobile Archdiocese suffered comparatively minimal damage, according to Jim Weisser, insurance and risk manager for the archdiocese.

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