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Vermilion Faith Community of Care Uniting the faith community of Vermilion Parish in service |
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Vermilion Faith Community of Care PO Box 554 Abbeville, LA. Louisiana Inter-religious Disaster Recovery Network PRESS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – MAY 6, 2006 Contact: International Day of Prayer for Protection from Hurricanes FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE — The 2006 hurricane season is only weeks away. Gulf Coast residents, still reeling from the worst hurricane season on record, are bracing for yet another brutal season, according to forecasts. Several religious organizations — the Louisiana Inter-religious Disaster Recovery Network (LIDRN) and the Vermilion Faith Community of Care (VFCC) of Abbeville, Louisiana — are hoping to do something positive about the upcoming hurricane season, which begins June 1. They have organized an international day of prayer in an effort to pray for calm waters. June 1 is the day LIDRN and VFCC have designated to begin prayers on affecting the weather in, over and around the Atlantic. Titled the International Day of Prayer for Protection from Hurricanes, they are encouraging people on both sides of the Atlantic to gather that day on the shores, in their houses of worship or wherever they choose, to pray for peaceful waters. They hope to build a “bridge of peace” through prayers between Africa and the Gulf Coast to minimize the effects of oncoming hurricanes. People in parts of Africa and around Louisiana and Mississippi are already scheduling prayer gatherings. A resolution recently adopted by the Louisiana Legislature (HCR NO. 153) in support of these efforts clearly summarizes the intent of this day: “a day of unified, intercessory prayer by and for those people living throughout the regions in and around the Gulf of Mexico, not simply praying for personal safety but rather for a calm and peaceful 2006 hurricane season, sparing us all from the destruction and from fear of destruction, would be an extremely positive way to begin the 2006 hurricane season.” The people organizing this effort believe that the frequency and strength of these maelstroms of wind and water can be directly affected by prayer. “We in Vermilion Parish (Louisiana) have learned valuable lessons over the years about how our prayers have affected the weather, even hurricanes,” says Dr. Grant, the VFCC Executive Director and the initiator of this project, “and we are continuing to learn from others about their experiences. Locally, this process has the endorsement of the City of Abbeville and the Vermilion Parish Police Jury, and we will be sponsoring an interfaith prayer meeting in a local church. We encourage people of faith everywhere, particularly those who are most likely to be directly affected by hurricanes, to join together with us in their own way.” For more information about the Day of Prayer, visit www.vfcc.net. To read the text of Louisiana HCR NO.153, go to http://www.legis.state.la.us/billdata/streamdocument.asp?did=387245. |
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