"Faith and Hope in New Orleans:
Dominicans after Katrina"
The Power of Katrina
"At a Glance”
Snapshot # 3NEW ORLEANS SPIRITUALITY CENTER:
"TELLING THE STORY OF RECOVERY AND HOPE"BEFORE KATRINA
August 2005
Sister Noel Toomey, OP, Eucharistic Missionary of St. Dominic, in her 25th year as the center’s director, ministers from her basement-level office
Within easy reach are her 25 years of classroom notes, professional resources, files and personal items
Special among Sr. Noel’s personal items is a small Pueblo clay “storyteller” figurine
An extensive library serves the needs of seminary staff and students
AFTER KATRINA
2007
The Spirituality Center office, devastated by the flood waters, moved to a higher location on the second floor of a nearby building on the Notre Dame campus
All of the Spirituality Center materials were destroyed by water, but through a gift from Ave Maria Press, the Center has a new library of contemporary spirituality resources
The “storyteller” figurine escaped virtually untouched as if to proclaim that Sr. Noel and others at the Center should continue their ministry and keep “telling the story”
Spiritual direction continues, but with an added challenge of listening to people’s stories of suffering inflicted by the hurricane and its aftermath, and of helping them move forward in their lives, recognizing the enduring presence of God with them
In working through loss and pain of the Katrina experience, people must tell their story over and over. Sr. Noel encourages the telling of the whole story - the pain of losses and also the blessings of good people who were generous companions through the ordeal
- Sr. Noel’s ministry of listening is shaped now by a key lesson from the devastation: when people are “pushed to the edge,” they know deeply what is important. This graced awareness of what is most valued “must stay in the retold story, for this is the wisdom that comes from tragedy”
Snapshot text by Peggy Ryan, OP (Caldwell)
