Even though Father Joe Benson grew up in Belfast, a sometime witness to the bombings and chaos of the Irish troubles, he was not prepared for the devastation caused by the floods of Hurricane Katrina. He has lived in New Orleans for 18 years, tending to a parish that caters to deaf, Hispanic, and disadvantaged communities. He was in his rectory when Katrina tore the roof off of  the neighboring St. Gerard building, sending rain pouring through three floors that housed all of the church’s vital ministries.  As volunteers rebuild, Father Joe works to bring his scattered parishioners back.

Arthine is an ex-Marine sergeant and Father Joe’s second-in-command.  She is an expert in American Sign Language, the communication lifeline between the deaf parishioners and the speaking members of Blessed Seelos Church.  She leads the deaf choir, when she’s not tending to power outages or finding lost keys for the volunteers rebuilding next door. Arthine’s rental house was flooded by the rains of Katrina and nearly everything in it damaged beyond repair.  But life goes on: she and her fiance, a New Orleans police department veteran, are planning to marry, deepening their roots in a city still suffering from Katrina’s wrath and government neglect.

Jack van Hartesvelt is fond of asking volunteers from his Presbyterian church in Mercer Island, WA to fly to exotic, challenging locations to build, renovate, or renew buildings that are central to a community’s social network. While he’s at it, he enlists local union workers to lend their expert help. And he usually gets them to do the work in a few weekends of 12-hour, back-breaking days.  Crazy?  Or just committed?  His most daunting project turned out to be the St. Gerard building in New Orleans.

Dana Colombo has been working as a plumber since he graduated from high school, learning from his Dad, Angelo, and all the other pros in Local 60.  He and his father were also neighbors in St. Bernard Parish, which was hit by a 30-foot wall of water on August 29th.  Dana gutted his house and moved on, but Angelo’s house-- and the furniture and the swimming pool and the photo albums-- are still caked in dry gray mud.  Both men volunteered to help Father Joe and Arthine work on their church building, believing that by giving back they can help the community heal from the devastation of Katrina.