Group of family missionaries with Archbishop Emeritus Phillip Hannan of New Orleans, Fr Pat Wattigny, parish priest of St Benilde’s Parish in New Orleans, and Fr Patrick Murphy, LC

Over the past few weeks, Youth & Family Missionaries for the Third Millennium in Louisiana have been organizing humanitarian relief missions to areas stricken by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita under the name of MISSION HOPE.  The focus has been to adopt a Catholic parish or school, find out their immediate needs and answer them as best we can sending missionaries, materials and financial support. The characteristics of each mission site is usually somewhat unique, depending on the needs of the local community.

On the weekend of October 21-23, MISSION HOPE organized a family relief mission in New Orleans at St Benilde´s Parish. Local Catholics donned the MISSION HOPE - FMTM T-shirt and headed into the neighborhood to bring the Christian message of charity and support to those who had been gravely affected by the storm.  Children went out bringing flowers and gifts to those in need, as parents and older siblings got to work tackling the clean-up and renewal of the parish locality, house by house.

On the final Sunday of the mission, the family missionaries attended the parish Mass celebrated by Archbishop Emeritus Phillip Hannan of New Orleans and concelebrated by Fr. Patrick Murphy, LC. Ken Davison, director of Catholic World Mission, then presented a donation to the pastor for the support of the parish school.  On the following day, Ken attended Sunday mass celebrated by Archbishop Alfred Hughes of New Orleans at a Vietnamese parish that had recently reopened in the city. After mass, Ken interviewed the archbishop who agreed to record a message encouraging people to volunteer and send their support for the mission. On the same day Catholic World Mission presented the archdiocese with a $40,000 donation to support displaced priests.

In addition to the support given to the priests and families of New Orleans, the missionaries are being the hands and feet of Christ for their brothers and sisters in need. A letter from one of the missionaries below captures the spirit being lived by all.

The needs here are seemingly endless: 160,000 families are homeless, numerous parishes, schools and universities are still closed.  Many months of intensive labor is on the horizon.  Please consider coming down to be a part of the solution for the Mission Hope Christmas Megamission that will run from December 26-30, 2005.  The mission will include Family missions, young men’s and young women’s missions.

It will be an unforgetable opportunity for your family or son or daugher to experience firsthand that there is more joy in giving than receiving. To register, or for more info, including stories & photos of previous missions, please see the MISSION HOPE website at missionhopela.com.