I've been following this thread and realize it is a very sad and frustrating situation. I feel very close to you New Orleans. My son attends college in New Orleans and since I was a child New Orleans has held a special spot in my heart. It may seem to some that the Archbishop is unfeeling regarding some of the parishes, but the situation regarding shortage of priests and closing of churches is not unique to New Orleans. For most of my life the majority of the priests in our diocese were Irish priests sent to the "American Mission". Now Ireland is facing a shortage of priests. Our diocese recently had listening sessions with our bishop because of the priest shortage. They have grouped our churches in the diocese into clusters of similarities, with the idea that we are going to have to share resources in the next few years, meaning we are going to have to share a priest between two or more churches because there just aren't the priests.There are very few vocations. My parish is quite small and we just lost our priest ( he came from Ireland about 10 years ago) because the bishop promoted him. We were fortunate and a retired priest from New York who is the hospital chaplain will be our parish priest, but the larger parish in town which usually has three priests is down to one priest and they can't find a replacement. Last summer the bishop was able to recruit a priest from South Africa for our diocese. There are some priests which have been recruited from another country but they are dictating to the bishop and seem not to be aware of Vatican II and some are quite unresponsive to the needs of their parishioners. We are facing a major crisis because of the lack of vocations. It is a tragedy that with everything else you have had to face in New Orleans that you are now faced with the additional stress of church closures and shortage of priests. It amazes me how our president and politicians managed to let an American city be damaged so badly and not do everything in their power to revitalize New Orleans. Have the Franciscan friars returned to New Orleans? Beannachtai, (Blessings in Gaeilge) Margaret K. ----- Original Message ----- From: "PB Delery" <dmjjsmecm@carolina.rr.com> To: "*LAORLEAN-L@rootsweb" <LAORLEAN-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Friday, April 11, 2008 3:03 PM Subject: [LAORLEAN] Letter to Editor of TP > my sister sent this to me > pbd > > > "Friday, April 11, 2008 > > Archbishop Alfred Hughes neglects to explain why property now adequately > insured (we are informed) was grossly under-insured during Katrina. > > The archbishop neglects to explain why his clergy shortage has not been > answered by inviting into the archdiocese orders known for their orthodoxy > and > reverence for tradition -- the sort that do produce vocations. > > If finances and demographics require the suppression of certain parishes > in > the flood zone, the archbishop neglects to explain why solvent, viable > parishes > closer to the river can't be spared. > > Indeed, neglect is something of a theme here. > > And now the second-oldest archdiocese in the country styles itself > "mission" > territory. > > In the infamous words of President Bush, you're doing a heckuva job, > Alfred. > > Mary Ramirez > > >