The threat of Hurricane Gustav has forced postponement of a Hurricane Katrina remembrance service originally scheduled for Aug. 31 at Trinity Church, New Orleans.
 
Bishop Charles Jenkins of the Diocese of Louisiana said the service will be rescheduled once the threat of the storm has passed, or after any required evacuation.
 
With the storm bearing down on the Gulf Coast, Bishop Jenkins asked diocesan staff to implement an emergency readiness plan.
 
“In addition to relocating staff, equipment, vehicles, and items of historical value to Baton Rouge, we are taking many other measures to ensure the safety of all in our flock,” Bishop Jenkins said in a message published on the diocesan website.
 
A group of volunteers from Calgary, Alberta, will help load equipment onto trucks for shipment to Baton Rouge on Friday. The canons and other staff members are contacting retired clergy to ensure they have made evacuation plans.
 
“Perhaps the most daunting task faces our case managers,” Bishop Jenkins said. “They are in high gear checking in with clients, both current and former, to verify that everyone our Rebuild program has helped over the past two and a half years has access to a ride out of the city. We are trying to tie into the citywide effort of providing bus transport to staging areas, which will then take citizens out of the area of danger.”
 
Federal, state and local government officials are making disaster readiness plans, according to Bloomberg News Service. Current predictions are that the hurricane could make landfall on the Louisiana coast on Sept. 2.
 
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