Hurricane devastation challenges religious orders, Catholic colleges

Published: 2005-09-02

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The Gulf Coast devastation left by Hurricane Katrina in late August posed major challenges to some Catholic religious orders with headquarters or educational institutions in the hurricane's path. With the entire city of New Orleans being evacuated and shut down for months, the fall semester appeared to be entirely lost for the three Catholic colleges and universities there. The Jesuits' Loyola University of New Orleans has about 6,000 students. Xavier University of Louisiana, run by the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament and long a leading educator of African-Americans, has more than 4,000. Our Lady of Holy Cross College, run by the Marianites of Holy Cross, has more than 1,400. Other Jesuit colleges and universities across the nation were scrambling to accommodate any Loyola students who would want to transfer to their institutions for the semester. A spokeswoman for the Blessed Sacrament Sisters told Catholic News Service Sept. 1 that she knew of no contingency plans by Xavier that could have anticipated an entire semester's shutdown. "I'm sure there aren't any," said Sister Juliana Haynes, the order's public affairs coordinator. "Nobody expected this disaster. We're still trying to grasp the horror of it."

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