Catholic Media Journal

One year ago today, March 14, 2007, I was in the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans with 8 Franciscan University of Steubenville students. We were on a Spring Break “Media Mission” to the areas hit by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Although a year and a half had gone by and much recovery and rebuilding work had been done along the Mississippi Gulf Coast and New Orleans by individuals and organizations, the impact on the people and the area were still so evident.

I wanted the students to observe, experience - and share their experiences through written, oral and visual stories. And I was looking forward to again seeing some of the people I’d met in October, 2005, when I first visited these areas 2 months after Katrina had hit. How were they doing? How were their friends and families? How was the recovery going?

We found just about everything - joy and sadness, hope and hopelessness, hearts of gold and hearts crying out to God. Unfortunately, our Media Mission wasn’t part of a class, and when we got back to Steubenville after Spring Break, we were caught up in our classes and projects - and didn’t get all of our stories out. There were several exceptions, including an excellent video documentary produced by Kristen Rainey as her Senior Thesis project, and stories in the University’s Franciscan Way magazine and the student newspaper, The Troubadour. We’ve been able to share our personal stories with our friends and families. And as a demonstration in one of my classes, I produced a short podcast (12-1/2 minutes long) about part of the trip. Here it is:

By the way, The Endless Road Podcast is a very-occasional podcast I produce, often to test new equipment and audio programs. And listening to this 2007 podcast, I’m glad we’re using better equipment now.

If you’ve checked the About page of this site or our earliest posts, you know that Catholic Media Journal began as an online diary of a 2005 Catholic Media Tour to Mississippi and Louisiana two months after Hurrican Katrina. It’s good to remember, to pray, and to support the people and the Church, however we’re called.

Jim Coyle