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Faith and a tale of three churches - Rising from Ruin - MSNBC.com
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Rising from Ruin is an on-going MSNBC.com special report chronicling two coastal Mississippi towns. Bay St. Louis and Waveland. as they rebuild after Hurricane Katrina.
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Faith and a tale of three churches
Posted: Friday, October 28 at 02:34 pm CT by Mike Stuckey
BAY ST. LOUIS, Miss. - If there is a lifeblood to the rich and storied culture of this community, it is faith. As constant as the summer heat and as strong as the ancient oaks that withstood Katrina?s wind and water, it is everywhere. Faith runs through the people here as thick and sweet as Waffle House syrup, filling them with the certainty that their towns will rise again, that what was destroyed will be rebuilt, that what was lost will be found.
It is a faith that in some cases has nothing to do with God or Jesus or Jehovah or any other Higher Power, just an ingredient as vital to Southern living as com is to grits.
But it is a faith that finds its loudest, clearest voices in the pews and pulpits and fellowship halls of the churches, from the simple white wooden chapels to the giant ornate brick sanctuaries that were everywhere before Katrina hit.
The phone book lists more than 50 churches of all stripes in Waveland and Bay St. Louis: Baptists, Catholic, Episcopal, Methodist, Mormon, Presbyterian. How their houses of worship fared in Katrina varies as widely as the ways in which they pay homage to their God. Some were untouched. Some were wiped off the map.