Abstract
The US Gulf Coast region experienced unprecedented destruction in the 2005 Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. In this chapter, we examine the role of faith-based communities in helping individuals and families cope with catastrophic property damage and storm-related displacement. Participants were current and former residents of two coastal parishes (counties) in south Louisiana. We focus on their responses to an open-ended question concerning the role of faith-based communities in helping them cope with the personal challenges they faced after the storms. Based on qualitative grounded theory methods and team-based coding, four emergent themes were identified: (1) The Hunger for Faith Community, (2) My Church Family Kept Me Going, (3) I Felt Like My Church Abandoned Me, and (4) Helping Others: Am I My Brother’s Keeper? These themes are presented along with numerous supporting and illustrative data excerpts. Implications of these narrative data for disaster preparedness and collaborative relief efforts after catastrophic disaster are considered.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
The designation of participants by ID number instead of by pseudonym is unusual in qualitative work. In part, this approach has been adopted because of the very large ( N = 125) and varied nature of the sample (by qualitative standards). The ID numbers also indicate group membership in a larger scale project (see Chap. 12, this volume).
- 2.
Some names of places and other identifying markers are pseudonyms to protect participants’ anonymity.
- 3.
The authors have published several previous articles that present the Catholic faith very positively, based on participants’ reports. Including one article focused on the strengths of Catholic families (Batson & Marks, 2008).
- 4.
Hugo (1893) (trans.), vol. 1, p. 114, emphasis added.
References
Batson, M., & Marks, L. D. (2008). Making the connection between prayer, faith, and forgiveness in Roman Catholic families. The Qualitative Report, 13, 394–415.
Boss, P. (1999). Ambiguous loss. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Boss, P. (2002). Family stress management: A contextual approach. Thousand Oaks: Sage.
Burr, W. R., Marks, L. D., & Day, R. (2012). Sacred matters. New York: Routledge.
Cain, D. S., & Barthelemy, J. (2008). Tangible and spiritual relief after the storm: The religious community responds to Katrina. Journal of Social Service Research, 34, 9–42.
Cherry, K. E., Allen, P. D., & Galea, S. (2010). Older adults and natural disasters: Lessons learned from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. In P. Dass-Brailsford (Ed.), Crisis and disaster counseling: Lessons learned from Hurricane Katrina and other disasters (pp. 115–130). Thousand Oaks: Sage.
Cherry, K. E., Sampson, L., Nezat, P. F., Cacamo, A., Marks, L. D., & Galea, S. (2015). Long-term psychological outcomes in older adults after disaster: Relationships to religiosity and social support. Aging & Mental Health, 19(5), 430–443.
Dollahite, D. C., Marks, L. D., & Olson, M. M. (2002). Fathering, faith, and family therapy. Journal of Family Psychotherapy, 13, 263–294.
Dollahite, D. C., Marks, L. D., & Goodman, M. (2004). Religiosity and families. In M. J. Coleman & L. H. Ganong (Eds.), The handbook of contemporary families (pp. 411–431). Thousand Oaks: Sage.
Enstrom, J. E. (1998). Health practices and mortality rates among active California Mormons, 1980–1993. In J. T. Duke (Ed.), Latter-day Saint social life: Social research on the LDS Church and its members (pp. 461–471). Salt Lake City: Bookcraft.
Hugo, V. (1893). Les miserables. Boston: Little Brown.
Hummer, R., Rogers, R., Nam, C., & Ellison, C. G. (1999). Religious involvement and U. S. adult mortality. Demography, 36, 273–285.
Josselson, R., & Lieblich, A. (1993). The narrative study of lives. Newbury Park: Sage.
Koenig, H. G. (2002). Religion, congestive heart failure, and chronic pulmonary disease. Journal of Religion and Health, 41, 263–278.
Koenig, H. G., McCullough, M. E., & Larson, D. B. (Eds.) (2001). Handbook of religion and health. New York: Oxford University Press.
Koenig, H. G., King, D. E., & Carson, V. B. (Eds.) (2012). Handbook of religion and health (2nd ed.). New York: Oxford University Press.
Krause, N. (1992). Stress, religiosity, and psychological well-being among older blacks. Journal of Aging and Health, 4, 412–439.
Krause, N. (2012). Valuing the life experience of old adults and change in depressive symptoms: Exploring an overlooked benefit of involvement in religion. Journal of Aging and Health, 24, 227–249.
Krause, N., & Batista, E. (2009). Core religious beliefs and providing support to others in late life. Mental Health, Religion, & Culture, 12, 75–96.
Krause, N., & Tran, T. V. (1989). Stress and religious involvement among older Blacks. Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences, 44, S4–S13.
Laird, R., Marks, L. D., & Marrero, M. (2011). Religiosity, self-control, and antisocial behavior: Religiosity as a promotive and protective factor. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 32, 78–85.
Lantz, J. E., & Frankl, V. E. (1993). Existential family therapy: Using the concepts of Viktor Frankl. Northvale, NJ: Aronson, Inc.
Marks, L. D. (2005). Religion and bio-psycho-social health: A review and conceptual model. Journal of Religion and Health, 44, 173–186.
Marks, L. D. (2006a). Religion and family relational health: An overview and conceptual model. Journal of Religion and Health, 45, 603–618.
Marks, L. D. (2006b). Mental health, religious belief, and “the terrifying question.” Journal of Child and Family Studies, 15, 133–139.
Marks, L. D., & Dollahite, D. C. (2001). Religion, relationships, and responsible fathering in Latter-day Saint families of children with special needs. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 18, 625–650.
Marks, L. D., Dollahite, D. C., & Freeman, J. J. (2011). Faith and prayer in family life. In T. W. Draper, A. J. Hawkins, & D. C. Dollahite (Eds.), Strengthening our families (2nd ed., pp. 185–195). Provo: BYU.
Marks, L. D., Dollahite, D. C., & Barker, K. (2012). Don’t forget home. In J. Hoffman (Ed.), Understanding religious ritual (pp. 186–203). New York: Routledge.
McCullough, M. E., Hoyt, W. T., Larson, D. B., Koenig, H. G., & Thoresen, C. E. (2000). Religious involvement and mortality: A meta-analytic review. Health Psychology, 19, 211–222.
Marks, L. D., Nesteruk, O., Swanson, M., Garrison, M. E. B., & Davis, T. (2005). Religion and health among African Americans. Research on Aging, 27, 447–474.
Putman, K. M., Blair, R., Roberts, R., Ellington, J. F., Foy, D. W., Houston, J. B., & Pfefferbaum, B. (2012). Perspectives of faith-based relief providers on responding to the needs of evacuees following Hurricane Katrina. Traumatology, 18, 56–64.
Phillips, B., & Jenkins, P. (2010). The roles of faith-based organizations after Hurricane Katrina. In R. P. Kilmer, V. Gil-Rivas, R. G. Tedeschi, & L. G. Calhoun (Eds.), Helping families and communities recover from disaster: Lessons learned from Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath (pp. 215–238). Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association.
Silva, J. L., Marks, L. D., & Cherry, K. E. (2009). The psychology behind helping and prosocial behaviors: An examination from intention to action in an adult population. In K. E. Cherry (Ed.), Lifespan perspectives on natural disasters: Coping with Katrina, Rita and other storms (pp. 219–240). New York: Springer.
Smith, R. P., Taylor, J., Larkin, G. L., North, C. S., Ryan, D., & Holmes, A. (2010). On reentering the chapel: Models for collaborations between psychiatrists, communities of faith, and faith-based providers after Hurricane Katrina. In G. H. Brenner, D. H. Bush, & J. Moses (Eds.), Creating spiritual and psychological resilience (pp. 125–132). New York: Rutledge.
Tausch, C., Marks, L. D., Silva Brown, J., Cherry, K. E., Frias, T., McWilliams, Z., et al. (2011). Religion and coping in the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita: Qualitative themes from the Louisiana Healthy Aging Study. Journal of Religion, Spirituality, and Aging, 23, 236–253.
Taylor, H. (15 Oct 2003). The Harris Poll #59: While most Americans believe in God, only 36 % attend a religious service once a month or more often. Harris Interactive. http://www.harrisinteractive.com/vault/Harris-Interactive-Poll-Research-While-Most-Americans-Believe-in-God-Only-36-pct-A-2003-10.pdf. Accessed 8 October 2014.
Taylor, R. J., Chatters, L. M., & Levin, J. (2004). Religion in the lives of African Americans. Thousand Oaks: Sage.
Acknowledgments
We are grateful to Sr. Mary Keefe and Fr. John Arnone of Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church in Violet, LA, and Gayle Buckley, Judy Chiappetta, and Catherine Serpas for their assistance with recruitment. We thank Susan McNeil of the St. Bernard Council on Aging and Sean Warner of the Gulf Coast Trust Bank in Chalmette, LA, for providing space for interviews. We thank Kelli Broome, Susan Brigman, Ashley Cacamo, Pamela Forest Nezat, and Mary Beth Tamor for their help with data collection and Robert Pressley, Penni Fontenot, Sarah Finney, Lauren Edwards, Allison Kennedy, Amy Goff, and Graham Belou for their assistance with transcriptions. We also thank Emily Allen, Savannah Ballard, Timothy Benedetto, Sarah Hebert, Trevor Johnson, Keri Kytola, and Bethany Pinkston for assistance with data coding and qualitative analyses.
This research was supported by grants from the Louisiana Board of Regents and the BP Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative, Office of Research and Economic Development, Louisiana State University. This support is gratefully acknowledged.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2015 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Marks, L., Hatch, T., Lu, Y., Cherry, K. (2015). Families and Faith-based Communities After a Disaster: Successes and Failures in the Wakes of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. In: Cherry, K. (eds) Traumatic Stress and Long-Term Recovery. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-18866-9_14
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-18866-9_14
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-18865-2
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-18866-9
eBook Packages: Behavioral ScienceBehavioral Science and Psychology (R0)