It was like something from the Book of Exodus, Bro. Norbert Bertram says of his first glimpse of post-Katrina New Orleans.

“All these empty houses. Piles of furniture and clothes. Drywall from walls, everything people owned lying in piles. All the vegetation was destroyed,” poisoned by toxins unleashed by the flood. But the most searing image was the writing on the buildings. “Every house had a marking from a big paintbrush, ‘NE,’ no entry. It reminded me of the blood on the doors” protecting the firstborn Israelites from the Angel of Death at Passover. “It was sad. It made me stop and cry.”

And after that, he went to work.

In February, Norbert accompanied electrician and former friar John Gerke, a parishioner at St. Clement’s, on a work trip to St. Mary of the Angels.     “John is studying to be a deacon and needed to do some volunteer work,” and re-wiring the gutted friary seemed like an ideal project. “John got suppliers to donate almost everything. The province paid for gas and food.” Pastor Bart Pax was delighted with the offer of help. “But there was some question about where we would stay” in New Orleans, Norbert says. “A neighboring parish (which already had electricity) graciously took us in.”

Overwhelmed by the desolation they saw in the Ninth Ward, they asked Bart, “Where do we begin?” And Bart replied, “We already have,” describing the roof work and drywall removal in progress.  John and Norbert spent five days replacing phone lines and rewiring the friary offices on the first floor. Except for a few hardy souls who scraped by without electricity for six months, the neighborhood was eerily quiet. “Every day at 2 p.m. the Red Cross would come with food for the people still there,” Norbert says. Throughout the week, people would trickle in, asking, “Where’s Father Bart? Can we see our church?” Based on what he’s seen, Norbert says, “I really believe that the people around St. Mary of the Angels will come back.”

At the end of each 8-5 workday, “I was damned tired at night. But it was just so uplifting to keep pushing yourself.” He and John accomplished a lot—about half of the wiring work that needed to be done. Nevertheless, when the day of departure rolled around, “We wanted to stay and keep going.  I’m glad I was young and healthy enough to do it. It was a great, great experience.”

What most impressed the volunteers from St. Clement’s was “Bart’s commitment to the place; it’s just amazing. He is there every day, doing what he can do.” Norbert is likewise proud of the friars’ commitment to New Orleans. “We didn’t just say, ‘Let’s move out of here. Let somebody else pick up the pieces.’ ”

The trip left a lasting impression. “It was the first time I’ve seen people this helpless. It makes you want to do something. There’s just so much stuff we take for granted.” But in terms of actual assistance, “You can’t predict when there will be something to do.” In the meantime, “Just pray for them and think about all they’re going through,” Norbert says. “People lost people. People lost everything.” And like the longsuffering Israelites, many of them are still wandering in the desert, hoping to find their way home.

In a ceremony held March 26, the Knights of Columbus in Harrison, Ohio (Council 2633), honored Bro. Jerry Beetz as “Religious of the Year."  The event was “part of an overall awards banquet for their members celebrating anniversaries of membership,” Jerry says. “They also selected a Youth of the Year and gave a ‘Blue Jacket Award’ which goes to a firemen or police officer. My brother Paul got a 20-year membership pin and Dad celebrated 55 years with the K of C.” Jerry received a plaque that reads: “Religious of the Year Award presented to Brother Jerome Beetz, OFM, for extending the work of the Church by following in the footsteps of St. Francis, serving those in need both physically and spiritually.” In acceptance remarks, “I pointed out how the connection between the Knights of Columbus and the friars goes back to Columbus' second voyage when he was accompanied by two friars, both of whom were lay brothers. I also pointed out the connection we have with them through the twinning shared between Holy Cross and St. John the Baptist Parish in Harrison, Ohio.”

On March 9, Fr. Tom Speier gave the invocation at a Farewell Reception for St. Vincent-Sarah Fisher Home for Children in Farmington Hills, Mich. After 77 years in operation, the agency was closing its doors. “The work with needy children will go on at various decentralized locations,” Tom says.  “It was actually an uplifting experience to meet many of the Sisters and children I worked with for 10 years as chaplain from 1965 - 1975. Several kids mentioned the years there were the happiest of their lives. The children (now adults) recalled many of the liturgies we celebrated together: the white donkey which I rode as part of the Palm Sunday Procession (I NEVER rode it!); putting out the Paschal Candle as Christ ascended to heaven on a white cloud of carbon dioxide from a fire extinguisher; and on and on! Needless to say, time has a way of magnifying the stories (and making them better)!” A number of young friars at Duns Scotus volunteered at Sarah Fisher for their “apostolic work.” The home was founded by the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul.

Bro. Tim Lamb and Bro. Tom Gerchak will represent SJB Province at a Chapter of Mats in July 2007 in the Holy Land. The Order has requested that each province send two friars solemnly professed for less than 10 years.

A reminder: The mission sending ceremony for Tom Gerchak is at 4:30 p.m. on Sunday, July 2, at St. Clement’s. A reception will be held in the parish/school hall.

Fr. Nick Lohkamp is sitting at a desk at the Archives in Cincinnati, flanked by a row of angular gray boxes identified by titles that would put most of us to sleep. Since last year he has been working his way through hundreds of newsletters, chronicles and council reports. Today he’s scouring “General Meetings of Plenary Council 1970-1977,” but he doesn’t seem the least bit bored.

Like the History Detectives on public TV, Nick is pursuing a very tangible goal: producing a document on the History of Renewal in St. John the Baptist Province. There are two things you need to know: 1) It is not a general history of the province; and, 2) It covers the years 1960-1985, a time when the earthquake called Vatican II shook the foundations of the Church. All of this is extra work for Nick, who travels from Canton periodically to do his research and will somehow distill mountains of material into one coherent and readable report. But, as he’s quick to admit, he brought it on himself.

“About a year or more ago—I think it was the visitation with Fred in 2004—I brought up the subject that a lot of younger friars didn’t know where we were coming from,” Nick says. A review of the process that led to renewal seemed in order, and Nick seemed the right man for the job. As a teacher and Director of Formation at St. Leonard’s for 20 years, he guided young friars through an era of upheaval. As a provincial definitor from 1966-’69 (re-elected three times), he helped shape the province’s response to the issues raised by Vatican II. “I was gung-ho to get us moving on implementing it,” he says.

It’s easy to forget how different life was before the seismic shift created by the participants of Vatican II, and one of Nick’s aims is to remind them. “They sought to achieve a return to the Gospel, and live it in terms of the world today,” he says of their ambitious mission. For Nick, Vatican II meant “rediscovering Jesus in the Gospels. If you want to be a Christian, you have to go back to the Gospels and discover how Jesus lived his life.”

So far he has produced 19 pages in a chronology that will document the dynamics that would forever change the way friars lived, governed themselves and pursued their ministry. As readers will see in vivid detail, the evolving process of renewal has affected every aspect of Franciscan life, from prayer to elections to education. Nick hopes a review of the highlights will “offer guidance for the future direction of the province.”

His enthusiasm for this painstaking work is obvious. “It’s kind of exciting for me, being pretty much involved in most of these things from the ‘60s to the mid-‘80s,” says Nick, now an energetic 80-year-old. After all, it was “the most critical time in the history of our province.”