In some dioceses, parish-closings are caused by either clerical greed or demographic need, according to whoever you talk to, but in New Orleans Hurricane Katrina is to blame… although lack of insurance is a factor.
The Archdiocese of New Orleans says it will have to close parishes in order to deal with $84 million in uninsured losses to schools, churches, and other buildings due to the hurricane. Unfortunately, some parishes that were relatively undamaged are being closed because parishes in more far-flung areas were destroyed. No sense keeping open two parishes relatively near each other when the one parish serving a large area needs to be rebuilt.
I have to wonder, though, about the uninsured losses. Why were they uninsured? Was this a case of someone being penny wise and pound foolish? After all, if you live in New Orleans you’ve got to know that someday the flood will come.
Technorati Tags: Catholic, Katrina, New-Orleans, parish-closing
