The Midwest is facing widespread flooding following record rainfall in parts of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, and Wisconsin last week. Although most Episcopal parishes were able to celebrate Sunday services in their churches, worshipers at St. Paul’s Cathedral in Fond du Lac, Wis., had to move services to the parish hall.
 
St. Paul’s, which is located within a few blocks of the Fond du Lac River, appears to be the only church in the diocese affected, according to Canon Matthew Payne, diocesan administrator. The cathedral basement flooded and the food pantry items stored there have been declared a total loss. Grafton Hall, also part of the cathedral campus, had about four feet of standing water on the first floor, Canon Payne said. Prior to relocating to Appleton, Grafton Hall was used as the diocesan headquarters and it still contains most of the diocesan archives. Canon Payne did not know the extent of damage, but officials hope to recover the records.
 
In Iowa, river levels may crest at nearly three times flood stage.
 
“We gather today in difficult circumstances,” said Bishop Alan Scarfe of Iowa in a pastoral letter read during services in diocesan churches June 14, “We may have spent hours on the sandbag lines, saving our city downtown, or seeing our efforts less successful. We have homes suddenly caught in the middle of rivers-turned-lakes. Our farmers are faced with an uncertain crop and livelihood from their mud-filled, lake-like fields. Our houses have taken on a distinctive odor as we continue to bail out our basements or worse.”
 
Bishop Scarfe said some Episcopal churches were reporting water in their basements, but otherwise no damage, but the same cannot be said for businesses and property owned by Episcopalians. As of last Friday afternoon all of downtown Des Moines was under a voluntary evacuation order. As a precaution, staff at St. Paul’s Cathedral were encouraged to leave early. The cathedral is located about four blocks from the Des Moines River.
 
The Cedar River has come within a block of Grace Church, Cedar Rapids, but the church is located on a bluff and should remain dry. In addition to Des Moines and Cedar Rapids, the communities of Cedar Falls, Mason City, Ottumwa, and Waverly suffered significant flooding and destruction.
 
The Rev. Pat Genereux, rector of ChristChurch, Burlington, is coordinating information and relief efforts for the Diocese and the Iowa Interfaith Relief Council. Bishop Scarfe has established a crisis relief fund.
 
Many of the larger communities in the Diocese of Quincy are under state of emergency or flood warnings. Christ Church, Moline, is only about four blocks from the Mississippi River. St. John’s Quincy, the mother church of the diocese, is seven blocks from the Mississippi River. St. Andrew the Apostle in the see city of Peoria is only two blocks from Peoria Lake, swollen by the Illinois River. On June 14, Bishop Keith Ackerman of Quincy reported no damage to any churches, but many members of those and other congregations have sustained significant losses, he said. The Rev. Phil Fleming, deacon, is coordinating disaster relief efforts for Quincy, Bishop Ackerman added.
 
The Diocese of Indianapolis has also asked members to assist with flood relief efforts. Parishes from throughout the diocese began mobilizing in a special project to provide frontline disaster response for flood victims in Owen, Morgan, Brown and Bartholomew counties. The diocese hopes to deliver 300 clean-up buckets full of cleaning supplies to the four-county Emergency Management Agencies. No churches or church property appear to have sustained significant damage, according to information published on the diocesan website, but  a number of parishioners in flooded areas have been affected, including those at St. Mary’s, Martinsville; St. Paul’s, Columbus; St. Luke’s, Shelbyville and St. Thomas’, Whiteland.
 
Steve Waring
 
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