Edmund in NOLA: MIDDLE SEPTEMBER 2013

Renovations at Lantern Light Ministries at the Rebuild Center where Erika and Br. Charles work with the Presentation Sisters has complicated the delivery of meals to guests since the kitchen is out of commission and will be for weeks. In addition, construction of new roads and services in the immediate neighborhood has included frequent interruptions to the water supply. Add unseasonable heat and the question: “How did your day go?,” seldom elicits much more than a groan.

So it came as a happy change that on Saturday the 14^th we all piled into the van and visited Laura Plantation which has the most realistic and honest depiction of life on a Creole plantation. We followed it up with lunch at a neighboring venue which has a great and reasonable restaurant. The hour long drive gives newcomers a good sense of the watery landscape that surrounds the city on all sides.

TJ and Lauren in a tree. It seemed a good idea at the time.

John hosted a meeting of the House of Charities’ advancement committee in the Map Room on the 12^th and on the 15^th we all went to the House of Charity [an extended stay home for groups associated with the Daughters and Sisters of Charity who come to do mission work for a week or so and wish to include prayer and reflection during their time in New Orleans]. Sr. Renee Rose is moving to a new house in New Orleans so it was a modified going away enlivened by an all too typical heart attack inducing Saints game—which they won! Oh, the drama!

On Monday morning, September 16, John attended the dedication of the new multipurpose building at Resurrection of Our Lord Parish and School which was named after Father MichaelJoseph Vinh Ngoc Nguyen who died before this dream of his was completed.

In August we welcomed a group of Ursuline students for an evening. They brought the food; we cooked and served it and they had a movie about the Sisters’ communities and their response to Hurricane Katrina and a short reflection. We have done this for several years and appreciate having a UK Connection. PICTURES FOLLOW! [All photographs courtesy of Erika Enlund]