New Orleans archbishop visits displaced families at Catholic school

Published: 2005-09-19

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- In New Orleans, they had never met their archbishop. Now, nearly 1,100 miles to the north, they had their chance. Like Archbishop Alfred C. Hughes of New Orleans, these families had been displaced by Hurricane Katrina. Archbishop Hughes has found temporary quarters 80 miles north, in Baton Rouge, La. The Curran and Beaudet families fled the Gulf Coast before Hurricane Katrina struck and eventually made it to the Washington area, where the wives in both families had grown up. The archbishop met the families, and other young evacuees from Hurricane Katrina, Sept. 16 at Blessed Sacrament School in Washington, which the women had attended as children -- and where their own children were now being enrolled. Archbishop Hughes, who earlier had participated in a prayer service for hurricane victims at the Washington National Cathedral, visited classrooms and addressed students. "I come from New Orleans. At least, I used to come from New Orleans," he said in one classroom.

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