Houma-Thibodaux, other Louisiana dioceses take in student evacuees

Published: 2005-09-16

HOUMA, La. (CNS) -- The Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux and the other Catholic dioceses in Louisiana have made a commitment to do everything in their power to accommodate Catholic school students from the New Orleans Archdiocese who were displaced by Hurricane Katrina. Thousands of school-age children from Louisiana and Mississippi have been placed in schools in cities all across the country in the wake of the devastating storm. "One of the most important issues for us was to be accepting and gracious to those parents who were looking to place their children in our schools," said Sister Immaculata Paisant, superintendent of Catholic schools for the Houma-Thibodaux Diocese. "These families have been through so much and we wanted to be as sensitive to their needs as possible," she told the Bayou Catholic, the diocesan newspaper. According to Sister Immaculata, a member of the Congregation of the Marianites of Holy Cross, the diocese's 10 elementary schools have registered 584 new students and its three high schools have registered 362 new students.

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