New Orleans-based congregation faces changes in post-Katrina world

Published: 2006-03-28

NEW ORLEANS (CNS) -- Planning for her 138-member congregation in a post-Katrina world has presented challenges and changes that Sister Sylvia Thibodeaux, superior of the Sisters of the Holy Family, never envisioned when she was elected leader. More than 6 feet of water flooded the congregation's campus in the Gentilly section of New Orleans, which was home to the motherhouse as well as the eight buildings of St. Mary's Academy, a high school for African-American girls. Six months after Katrina, Sister Sylvia said the planning process has already shown them that "we have to live in a different way." She said, "We have to begin to look at how to do things in a more collaborative way," knowing that the local church is going to be different. The active sisters are already back in the city, back in ministry. "We continue to have a presence where we were founded," Sister Sylvia said.

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