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Vermilion Faith Community of Care Uniting the faith community of Vermilion Parish in service |
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Faith against the storm: |
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Hurricane Rita left the small town of Cameron devastated P.C. Piazza |
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Sunrise, June 1. Dozens of Acadiana residents are scheduled to gather along the banks of the Intracoastal Canal just outside of Intracoastal City with a single purpose in mind: prayer. The goal: Encourage God to calm the seas and spare the wounded region and state from another direct hit in the 2006 hurricane season, which begins June 1 and runs through November. They won’t be alone. It’s just one of several gatherings planned throughout Louisiana on June 1, which Gov. Kathleen Blanco this week officially proclaimed the statewide Day of Prayer for Protection from Hurricanes. “We call upon people of good will everywhere to pray to God for protection from hurricanes, to pray that he guide us in preparing for the coming season and to pray that he provide us emotional, physical and spiritual strength to withstand the vicissitudes of nature,” the proclamation states. |
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Jim Grant, executive director of Vermilion Faith Community of Care in Abbeville, in conjunction with clergy members from across the state, spearheaded the campaign to obtain the prayer day. There are no specifics. Churches are not required to host services. Residents are not required to pause in their day and pray, but they are encouraged to do just that. “We encourage people to take the basic idea and make their own plans and programs,” said Grant, who organized the sunrise prayer service along the Intracoastal Canal banks. “I hope people, in some way, dedicate some time to help us in the process.” Ideas to organize a prayer day surfaced in recent weeks as the start of the 2006 hurricane season approached. Grant said he noticed and overwhelming sense of dread, especially among his fellow Vermilion Parish residents, many of whom are still picking up the pieces seven months after Rita roared ashore. “There’s a tremendous amount of fear and anxiety in our culture today after what we went through last year,” he said. “We want people to be able to find in their faith in God some sense of comfort that they can be protected and get a sense of the effectiveness of their prayers.” The Lafayette Roman Catholic Diocese recently completed a series of prayer services in its four regions, which also asked for protection in the coming season. Bishops in the state declared June 2, the Friday closest to the start of the 2006 hurricane season, a day of prayer and fasting for divine protection from storms Acadiana residents are asked to carry the prayers beyond church walls into their daily prayer or mediation schedules to help form a continuous wall of prayer that stretches from the African coast, through the southern Atlantic, into the Virgin Islands and into the Gulf Coast region. Prayers remind the faithful of the "divine power that sustained us in the past through all sorts of storms and difficulties," according to the Rev. Dan Krutz, Louisiana Interchurch Conference executive director. "That doesn't mean in any way the storms won't come," Krutz said. "We are simply asking to be protected in the event they do." |