Parishes link up, help others battered by Katrina

Published: 2006-07-06

NEW ORLEANS (CNS) -- Father Joe Palermo, executive director of the New Orleans archdiocesan Department of Pastoral Services, prefaces any story about parish twinning by saying he knows his information is incomplete. "I can only tell you what we know about," said Father Palermo. "Many contacts were made directly from parish to parish and we weren't involved at all." But contacts with the archdiocese and through it came fast and furious in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina's destruction Aug. 29, 2005. Even though archdiocesan operations were relocated to Baton Rouge, parishes managed to reach out and get in touch with Father Palermo. He eventually called on Deacon Andrea "Drea" Capaci, associate family life director, to help him on the project. "I don't know how they (the parishes) found us -- the Internet, the Catholic directory, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Web site -- but the calls came," Father Palermo told the Clarion Herald, newspaper of the New Orleans Archdiocese.

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