Church Of All Souls

For some time, I have been trying to put together a post on the Church of All Souls in the Ninth Ward in New Orleans.

From Episcopal News Service:

In a part of New Orleans that is still reeling from the effects of Hurricane Katrina, a new sign of hope has appeared.

In the midst of the Lower Ninth Ward, the Diocese of Louisiana and the Church of the Annunciation in New Orleans have launched a mission station named the Church of All Souls to minister to the many working class families who are trying to return to their homes -- where some have lived for generations.

Located downriver from the Industrial Canal, the lower Ninth Ward received between four to 20 feet of floodwater following Katrina.

The Rev. Shola Falodun, an Anglican priest from Nigeria who moved to the United States to be a missionary to African Anglicans, began assisting with the relief work in the diocese immediately after the hurricane. He helped deliver supplies through the diocesan Mobile Ministry Respite Unit, a recreational vehicle that carried necessary items to the lower Ninth Ward on a regular basis.

Fr. Shola visited our parish as a supply priest on a couple of occasions while we were searching for a rector. He preaches lively sermons and likes a response from the folks in the pews, perhaps as proof that we're not sleeping through the sermon. Take my word for it. His sermons are not the kind that would be likely to put us to sleep. We're not accustomed to the call and response type sermon at my church, but we tried - somewhat lamely, I'm afraid.

When he visited us, he was trying to get his green card to establish permanent residency and bring his wife over to New Orleans from Nigeria. I hope that by now he has his card, and his wife is with him.

While Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams was in New Orleans, he visited the site of a former Walgreens pharmacy, which will be renovated and used for church services by the congregation of All Souls.

From Webwire.

Arriving after an all-day session with the House of Bishops at the Intercontinental Hotel in downtown New Orleans, Williams visited one of two mobile respite care units that had made their routine stop in the parking lot of the former Walgreens. He also briefly toured the inside of the building before speaking to the members of All Souls and other neighborhood residents.
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"I want you to know that the Anglican church worldwide knows about you, cares about you, prays for you and we won’t leave you alone" he said.
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The Diocese of Louisiana and the Church of the Annunciation in New Orleans launched the Church of All Souls as a mission station to minister to the many working-class families who are trying to return to their homes.
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[Fr. Shola] Falodun proposed planting a church and received the diocese’s blessing to start All Soul’s. Falodun has said he chose the name to honor the new souls who will be coming to worship and those souls who were lost in Katrina’s waters. When it began, the church was housed in the garage of a parishioner during a time when few homes on the street were occupied. The congregation now rents space at a nearby Baptist church.

"If we are here, we are a light to the world" he told reporters September 20, adding that the light of Christ could banish the darkness felt in the neighborhood since Katrina and her aftermath.

Such efforts, Jenkins said, are part of the diocese’s new-founded role in racial reconciliation in the city and the state. There was a diocesan presence earlier in the day in Jena, Louisiana, at a rally that drew some 60,000 people to protest the treatment of six black teenagers arrested in the beating of a white schoolmate last year.