Helping Our Neighbors

Not since Hurricane Katrina can I recall a national disaster that seems to get worse with each passing day. As drones and news cameras gain access to the devastation brought by Hurricane Helene in Southwest Virginia, Eastern Tennessee, and Western North Carolina, the images they bring defy imagination.

I’m sure many of you know people affected and perhaps even some who lost their lives. I feel rather helpless as I hear the tragic recounts of those who have lost so much and may have nothing to go back to when all is said and done. I have a childhood friend who escaped relatively unscathed in Swannanoa, NC, but the living conditions are difficult even for the lucky ones – no gas, no water, no phone service. And the mud and muck are everywhere.

As a society, Catholic and non-Catholic alike, we come together in these situations. To that end, Bishop Knestout has asked our pastors to take a special collection the weekend of October 12^th and 13^th. The collection will go to aid those in Southwest Virginia as well as our neighbors, the Diocese of Charlotte and the Diocese of Knoxville.

In the meantime, I will continue to pray for those affected, as well as the rescue teams who are stretched thin but trying to help as quickly as possible.

God Bless,

Margaret