Priest witnesses devastation in drive north from Mississippi coast

Published: 2005-09-01

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Divine Word Father Brendan Murphy thought he was just going to celebrate weekend Masses in Lizana, Miss., and then head back to his order's monastery in nearby Bay St. Louis. That was not to be. Even though it's less than 24 miles from one town to the other, Hurricane Katrina made Father Murphy a virtual prisoner in the rectory of St. Ann Church in Lizana until after it blew through southern Mississippi Aug. 29. Once he was able to leave Aug. 31, a bridge between Lizana and Bay St. Louis was out, and Interstate 10 was closed in the area, prompting a trip northward to Jackson, where the Divine Word order staffs a parish. "I tried to get back to Bay St. Louis but I couldn't get back," Father Murphy told Catholic News Service in a telephone interview from Jackson diocesan headquarters, where he had stopped to ask for directions to the Divine Word-staffed parish. "The police were turning us away and the roads were impassable," he said, noting that the destruction was widespread. "I was in shock when I saw it."

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