Worship, prayers provide comfort, hope to Katrina evacuees in Houston

Published: 2005-09-07

HOUSTON (CNS) -- Stranded for days at her home in New Orleans, Shirley Levy could have lost hope. In knee-deep water for almost a week, she had run out of food and her situation had grown more desperate as the floodwaters resulting from Hurricane Katrina had quickly risen. "I prayed the whole time, every minute of it, until I was rescued by boat and helicopter," she said, with tears pooling in her eyes. "I was doing my rosary on my fingers." Tens of thousands of evacuees from New Orleans have been received in Houston following the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, whose death toll could reach the 10,000 mark. And Levy, finding shelter at the George R. Brown Convention Center, was among those grateful to be on safe ground. On the morning of Sept. 4, Archbishop Joseph A. Fiorenza of Galveston-Houston joined a group of local church leaders for an ecumenical prayer service for evacuees housed at Reliant Park, a complex that includes Reliant Stadium, Reliant Center, Reliant Astrodome and Reliant Arena.

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