By Archbishop Gregory M. Aymond
(Clarion Herald – 7/24/10 – English; 8/7/10 – Spanish)
On July 7, you had the chance to celebrate the funeral Mass at St. Anthony Church in Lafitte for Mrs. Sharon Fabre, who for many years headed up the Louisiana Shrimp Association along with her husband A.J. And then after the funeral, you took a helicopter tour of the oil devastation in the Gulf of Mexico. What were your impressions?
It was very important for me to be in Lafitte for the funeral. As soon as Father John Ryan sent me a letter asking me if I wanted to come, I called him back and said I needed to be there. This was an opportunity to be in solidarity with people who are really going through a lot.
You took a helicopter tour of the coast, courtesy of Plaquemines Parish Sheriff Jiff Hingle. Deacon Patrick Becnel, who assisted you at the funeral Mass, has been the chief pilot for the sheriff’s office for many years, and he flew you over the devastated areas.
It was amazing to take the helicopter flight because it gave me the opportunity to see the tragedy and pray over the waters. I have flown on jets many times before, of course, but this was the first time I had ever been in a helicopter. I wasn’t fearful, and because the helicopter flew at about 300 feet above the ground I was able to see a lot more. I would never have been able to get a true perspective of the tragedy otherwise. I can see it on TV or talk about it over the phone, but it’s not the same. It was also important for me to be here for the funeral of a woman who devoted her life to the shrimping industry and then to make the wider tour to see how this tragedy is affecting thousands and thousands of others.
What were your initial impressions?
It was worse than I had imagined. You can see the big oil slicks on the news, but to see it up close as the oil rolls into the marshes and literally kills the land is a powerful experience. The other thing I did not fully realize was how much destruction there had been from Hurricane Katrina five years ago. There’s been incredible damage to the marshland. Now, five years later, we’ve got oil in the marshland that was just beginning to regenerate, and we’ve got people unable to pay their mortgages on their houses and boats. The fishing industry is in peril and the environment could be upset for decades. What also struck me was the sight of a thousand people out there trying to fight the effects of the oil, and it seems like an infinitely bigger problem than we can humanly handle. When you see someone in a little bitty cubbyhole of the marsh just trying to protect that one little area – and then you look at the vastness of the spill – you realize how immense this challenge is.
Deacon Becnel said as he flies over the spill almost every day, he sees the cleanup efforts going on, but the frustration is that an area might be cleaned up one day and then hit with another wave of oil a day or two later.
It does seem like the task is infinite. The cleanup workers can do only so much. The solution is to cap the well for any real progress to happen. Yet, even though the people I spoke to at the funeral have a lot more questions than answers right now, they have a sense of hope and a belief in God. They believe their faith will lead them through tough times like these. It’s important for me to be there with them in these tough times and to share in their questions and suffering. I spoke to one man who had retired from his job and had taken up oyster fishing, which has now become his livelihood. Now he’s saying that at his age – and with a possible moratorium of two to three years on his oyster leases – he’s not sure if he can recover. We have to continue to work and pray to help our sisters and brothers recover. We are pleased that Catholic Charities is present in five locations on the Gulf Coast and offering assistance to those affected. It is a tough time. We must pray. We must act in charity. God is faithful and walks with us in this storm.
Archbishop Aymond welcomes questions from readers. Please e-mail questions to clarionherald@clarionherald.org.
Tags: Archbishop Gregory M. Aymond, archdiocese of new orleans, BP oil spill, clarion herald