As many of you have probably seen on the news, North Dakota and other parts of the Midwest have been ravaged and significantly impacted by historic flooding. Here at Catholic Stewardship Consultants, the disaster hits close to home, as two of our parish clients in Minot, N.D. — St. John the Apostle and St. Therese, Church of the Little Flower — have been hit hard by the Souris River flooding. Many followers of The Catholic Steward blog are already familiar with the pastor of St. John’s, Fr. Dave Zimmer, who is a regular contributor here and is scheduled to speak at our Msgr. McGread Stewardship Conference next month. The pastor at Little Flower, Fr. Fred Harvey, spoke at our last Msgr. McGread Stewardship Conference this past February.
Unfortunately, a large number of parishioners from each of these parishes have lost their homes, businesses, and personal property, and many continue to deal with floodwaters all around their city.
As for the parish facilities themselves, St. John’s was fortunate with the water level coming up to their driveway, but no further. Little Flower wasn’t so fortunate. The day before they were scheduled to evacuate, they were told that the public dike being built was taking a different turn. The dike was originally supposed to have been built down the full length of the street, which would protect Little Flower school and church. The change in plan meant Little Flower School and church would most likely be flooded.
So, on the morning after they heard the news about the dike, parishioners from Little Flower gathered for Mass in the church, unsure if it would be the last time they would be able to celebrate Mass there. Or, if they were lucky enough, that their church would somehow be spared of total destruction, it would at least be the last Mass there for a long time, as subsequent cleanup and renovation would be necessary to restore the church building.
The Gospel for that day was as follows:
Matthew 7:21-29
Jesus said to his disciples:
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’
will enter the Kingdom of heaven,
but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.
Many will say to me on that day,
‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name?
Did we not drive out demons in your name?
Did we not do mighty deeds in your name?’
Then I will declare to them solemnly,
‘I never knew you. Depart from me, you evildoers.’
“Everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them
will be like a wise man who built his house on rock.
The rain fell, the floods came,
and the winds blew and buffeted the house.
But it did not collapse; it had been set solidly on rock.
And everyone who listens to these words of mine
but does not act on them
will be like a fool who built his house on sand.
The rain fell, the floods came,
and the winds blew and buffeted the house.
And it collapsed and was completely ruined.”
When Jesus finished these words,
the crowds were astonished at his teaching,
for he taught them as one having authority,
and not as their scribes.
After the Mass, parishioners began to build a dike around the school and church. After being informed of the new, higher river crest level, they realized they would not be able to build a dike tall enough to save the school. So, they began a last-ditch effort to build a dike around only the church, one that many thought had little or no chance of success. The parishioners worked as hard as they could through the day.
Shortly thereafter, the Souris River began to crest.
The next day, the floods came. Believe it or not, the dike Little Flower parishioners built around the church held strong. Two days later, they realized they needed to do more reinforcing of the dike. So parishioners worked through a severe midday thunderstorm, and then continuing on until late afternoon. That was when the National Guard ordered them to stop because of a tornado warning. Although there was some minor leakage, the dike did its job, and the floodwaters have receded to just below the church.
A day later, we received a note — the first communication we received from one of the parish members. The note read:
“Keep praying… we have only survived the flood battle so far, there is much work to be done and so much to cope with. But Father found a way to have Mass on Sunday! We are being drawn to God and to each other, so I have to be grateful for that. I have much to be grateful personally as my home sits with 5-6′ of water on the main floor, but we have so many resources to recover, unlike so many others. And we are safe.”
What a witness of gratitude in the face of so much destruction. What a wonderful example of stewardship in action.
The parishioners at Little Flower continue to help each other as the floodwaters slowly recede. They continue to celebrate Mass on Sundays at the local Knights of Columbus hall. And, the parish continues to operate, although they have had to take up residence at a temporary location in the office at Bishop Ryan High School. And they continue to be a solid witness of stewardship in faith and action for those of us who are praying for them from far away.
I recently received a note from another friend in the region, Ron Schatz, who is the Director of Stewardship and Development with the Diocese of Bismarck. As he updated us on the situation in Minot and other areas in the diocese affected by flooding, Ron closed with what I thought was another powerful message:
So it goes. A great stewardship lesson: we are not owners of anything nor can we control anything, other than our own spiritual lives!
