‘You are not alone’
WAYNESVILLE — Utilities are coming back online and cleanup is underway in Waynesville this week, after Helene’s catastrophic rainfall caused Richland Creek to flood the town’s Frog Level Historic District – so called because of its low-lying location (“frog level”) during floods.
Just up the hill from Frog Level sits St. John the Evangelist Church, where on Sunday parishioners gathered for Mass and organized relief supplies in the church basement they have turned into an aid distribution site.
Parishioners have organized online sign-ups to pick up, sort and deliver aid to homebound and still-inaccessible neighbors in need. On Sunday, they were unloading another truckload of donations and packing aid boxes into cars for delivery.
More than 10 families in the small parish that also encompasses the towns of Clyde and Canton were “catastrophically affected” by the storm, reports pastor Father Paul McNulty – suffering everything from minor damage to five who lost their homes and others who lost businesses.
Amid the activity, Bishop Michael Martin visited the parish to celebrate Mass and offer a message of encouragement.
“You’re not alone,” he told congregants at the English and Spanish Masses. “Know that the rest of the world is very much with you.”
“There are people all over our diocese, all over our country and all over the world who are reaching out now to let all of you know that you are not alone,” he said.
The devastation from Helene “may seem overwhelming,” Bishop Martin said, yet “that is never beyond the scope of the power of the Holy Spirit to transform into something greater.”
Western North Carolina’s scenic mountain streams like Richland Creek turned into “raging rivers of destruction,” he said, yet the Lord is always present – and that is a hopeful message for the world.
“The Lord is at the heart of everything that we do – in joy and in sorrow,” he said.
“No evil, no difficulty, no hurricane,” he said, “can stop the grace of God from taking that tragedy and raising it up to new life.
“That is the heart of the Good News,” he said. “Take that hope out into this community.”
“The Holy Spirit is powerful. Let’s blow the doors out, let’s get out there and bring that message of Jesus out into the world.”
“So many people over the last few days who have heard of North Carolina will know that because of you – more than for just a storm, but … because you will take this moment of tragedy and difficulty, and you will let the Holy Spirit raise it up.”
— Patricia L. Guilfoyle. Photos by Gabriel Swinney and Patricia L. Guilfoyle.
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