Collection at Los Angeles parish yields gift for Katrina victims

Published: 2005-10-28

BATON ROUGE, La. (CNS) -- The second collection taken up at St. Lawrence of Brindisi Church in the Watts section of Los Angeles, earmarked for Hurricane Katrina victims, was not much different from the thousands of other collections at Catholic churches across the country. St. Lawrence is an inner-city church of 3,000 families, about 80 percent Hispanic and 20 percent African-American. They are people of "very modest means," said Capuchin Franciscan Father Peter Banks, St. Lawrence pastor. The normal parish collection is about $6,000, but on this weekend, the second collection amounted to $7,000 -- plus one stunning gift left by an anonymous donor: a woman's wedding ring that eventually was sent by Father Banks to a New Orleans church that was hit by floodwater 8 feet deep after Katrina. The ring was in an envelope along with a note in Spanish which said: "For the victims of the hurricane. I did not bring any money. But this should be of some value. It is with all of my heart."

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