Archbishop Hughes: Never thought God would 'ask me to take this on'

Published: 2005-09-06

BATON ROUGE, La. (CNS) -- Displaced himself, New Orleans Archbishop Alfred C. Hughes has been working tenaciously from Baton Rouge to locate his priests, archdiocesan employees and Catholic Charities workers and to organize church relief efforts throughout his hurricane-ravaged archdiocese. "I never thought the Lord was going to ask me to take this on at this age," the 72-year-old leader of half a million New Orleans Catholics told a cluster of reporters after he celebrated Mass Sept. 4 at St. Joseph Cathedral in Baton Rouge. He acknowledged that it might have been the first Sunday since 1725 that no parish Mass was celebrated in New Orleans. But he said he didn't know, since so many of his priests were still unaccounted-for. "We asked the priests to secure property (before evacuating) and bring the Blessed Sacrament and parish records in plastic bags," he said. Reflecting on the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina and the subsequent flooding of the Crescent City, he said, "The most important thing for us is not to doubt God's presence and saving and transforming grace."

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