A Visitor Brings The Spirit

Of The Gulf Region To Newtown

By Shannon Hicks

Residents of the Gulf Coast of the United States still need a lot of help. That was the message offered by The Reverend Edward F. O’Connor during a recent visit to Trinity Episcopal Church. He was a guest at Trinity for a dinner event with church members on October 20 and was then their guest pastor on October 22.

More than one year after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita ripped through the Gulf region of the country, killing more than 1,800 people and displacing hundreds of thousands from their homes, the Gulf region is still struggling to return to what life was life before August 29, 2005 — the day Katrina arrived. Small Mississippi cities on the sea, Gulfport and neighboring Biloxi “essentially lost” all of their sewage and water facilities for months. Wal-Mart and a few of the grocery stores have reopened, but most houses up to two miles inland were destroyed or significantly damaged.

Homes and businesses continue to rebuild, as do many of the churches in southern Mississippi. One of the churches damaged, but not destroyed, was St Peter’s By The Sea Episcopal Church. Parishioners of the church must have been heartbroken to arrive at their church after the hurricanes last year, when they discovered that Katrina had done considerable damage to their church building. Hymnals and bibles, even church records, robes and stoles that had been within the building were found strewn outside, reduced to the status of rubble and debris.

“After Ivan [a major hurricane in September 2004] we developed a hurricane plan, but even then we thought we would have [at worst] three or four inches of water,” Mr O’Connor said.

The walls of the church’s lower half were completely ripped off by the force of the storm. Windows were blown out, pieces of the altar — the gates and rail, and even the lectern — either were heavily damaged or missing.

Inside, the baptismal font was knocked over either by winds and water or debris striking it. The granite font today stands within the church’s nave near the altar rail, a little beaten up with nicks and scratches all over it but still usable and probably even more symbolic to the church’s members.

Even a substantial granite sign at the end of the church’s driveway was damaged. Donated to the church to honor a late family member, the large sign was toppled like dominoes and broken into three large pieces.

Mr O’Connor’s church is still a beautiful building, even with its lower half missing. From afar the church looks like it was a two-story building but up close, one can see that it was in fact a single story building with grand walls reaching skyward. Visitors to the church today will find the upper walls of the building intact, and even many of the upper windows fully intact.

A beautiful stained glass window facing toward the Gulf (southward) survived the storm, and it stands as one beacon of hope for the small church on Route 90 — the only church that is still standing on the beach in Gulfport.

“The footprints of our church remained,” said Mr O’Connor. “The steel remained, and has served as the shell around which we will rebuild.”

Architect Errol Barron has redesigned St Peter’s, expanding its size to easily accommodate a capacity of 300 people. “That’s a very good size,” Mr O’Connor said. Before Katrina, St Peter’s saw an average gathering of 160 people for Sunday services; now the average is about 110 people each weekend.

Mr O’Connor said even his first thoughts for the future of his church were not entirely optimistic.

“I admit it, I remember thinking ‘We are not going to recover. This is it. We’re done,’” he told those assembled at Trinity for a dinner in his honor. Following a potluck meal, Mr O’Connor spoke about his church, it members and some of its history, and shared two short videos of what the church’s life has been like since last August.

“I was dead wrong,” he continued. “We are staying, rebuilding. We are passionate about our church. We have become an idol to our parish, the state, and even the world. We have learned what it means to be bound together through the virtue of our baptisms. We are the very definition of Resurrection.”

Errol Barron’s new plans for St Peter’s include walls that are designed to break way from the steel. The first construction of St Peter’s also incorporated this style of construction, “and it did its job,” said Mr O’Connor.

There is a silver lining to what happened last year. “Ecumenical efforts abound,” Mr O’Connor said.

While St Peter’s is located at 1912 East Beach Boulevard in Gulfport, services since Katrina have been held at nearby Hansboro Presbyterian Church, which is about four miles off the beach but still within Gulfport.

When people ask him what they can do to help, Pastor O’Connor said, “I tell them ‘First and foremost, pray for us.’ We’re still grieving. We’re going through the stages — anger, denial, bargaining… we’ve gone through all of that. Right after the storm especially, there were layers upon layers of emotional stuff that we had to get through just to get through every day.”

Churches within The Episcopal Diocese of Mississippi have been adopted by sister churches across the country. More than 20 churches across the country, including Trinity Episcopal in Newtown (and also St Francis Episcopal in Stamford), have adopted St Peter’s By The Sea, and Mr O’Connor was visiting as many of his partner parishes as he could last month.

“Trinity in Newtown is helping us rebuild, and helping us be who we want to be,” Mr O’Connor said. “It’s been a real blessing for all of us to have partner churches. We’re one year into this reconstruction, but we’ve got so far to go.”

St Peter’s has received a $2.3 million settlement from Church Mutual Insurance Company. The church will use a fraction of that money on itself. It has four-point plan to follow for its insurance money. Topping that list is helping “the poorest of the poor,” said Mr O’Connor, along with people within his parish and creating a disaster response team to help others in the future. The fourth point in the plan addresses the new building fund.

The building that is home to St Peter’s By The Sea is damaged, but the teachings and lessons of the bible still resonate for the members of the church. They will rebuild and eventually will return to East Beach Boulevard. Their spirit, according to Pastor O’Connor, is already strong.

Carolyn Legg, a deacon at Trinity Church, has a committee set up to receive donations and coordinate efforts. The St Peter’s By The Sea Committee is made up of church members, but will welcome donations from the community at large. For additional information about the committee or to make a donation, send email (preferred) to Trinity@TrinityNewtownCT.org or call the church office at 426-9070.