Faithful Turn to Our Lady for Protection from Storms

By Pamela Seal
Diocese of Lake Charles

CAMERON PARISH — It has been nearly 70 years since Hurricane Audrey roared ashore in the early morning hours of June 27, 1957, along the coastline of Southwest Louisiana. There are many still alive who will never forget the destruction and loss of life, nor that of catastrophic storms in recent memory.

The Most Reverend Glen John Provost, Bishop of Lake Charles, celebrated a “Mass to Avert Storms” in the Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish Life Center in Creole on Friday, May 30, to to pray for protection from storms during the 2025 Hurricane Season (June 1 – November 30). A vehicle procession followed to the Historic Shrine of Our Lady Star of the Sea for the “Blessing of the Coast.”

“Every year we gather for this pilgrimage to the Shrine of Our Lady Star of the Sea to ask for Mary’s intercession for protection during the upcoming hurricane season,” the bishop remarked to dozens who traveled from various areas of the diocese for the Mass and Blessing.

“When I came to the Diocese in 2007, I was immediately requested to visit the burial sites of those who had died in Hurricane Audrey in 1957,” he recalled. “You know better than anyone else what that catastrophe meant. More than 520 people were killed along the coast and some inland as well. It was a horrific event.”

The communities of Oak Grove, Holly Beach, Grand Chenier and Little Chenier bore the brunt of Audrey’s fury and were almost completely wiped off the map, according to a newspaper report. More than 400 were killed in Cameron Parish alone.

In the years following Hurricane Audrey, The Most Rev. Maurice Schexnayder, second Bishop of the Lafayette Diocese, commissioned a shrine to be built honoring the deadly storm’s victims. It was consecrated on October 6, 1963.

At the request of Bishop Provost in 2013, the Shrine of Our Lady Star of the Sea enjoys, with papal approval, the same spiritual privileges as would a pilgrimage to the Basilica of Saint Mary Major in Rome, one of the four major basilicas in the Eternal City. The diocesan shrine is also one of six local pilgrimage sites for the Jubilee Year of Hope that will conclude on December 28, 2025.

Russell and Paula Hanks, parishioners of St. Theodore Catholic Church in Moss Bluff, made the hour-long drive to Creole for the Mass and were excited to be a part of the Jubilee Year pilgrimage.

“This was our first time to attend the Mass to Avert Storms. Especially because of the Jubilee Year of Hope, we wanted to make the pilgrimage to the Shrine,” said Paula, who was a child when Hurricane Audrey hit.

“When Bishop Provost spoke of how the Shrine came to be, it brought back memories for me,” she continued. “I was eight years old living in Welsh at the time. Even though we have lived through several powerful hurricanes since then, a lot of my memories of hurricanes date back to Audrey. I recall my dad going down to Cameron to help with the bodies.”

Russell said his father also assisted with burying countless bodies after Audrey. “My family was living in Lafayette, and my daddy was a truck driver for Herrin Transportation on Highway 90,” he recalled. “My dad helped haul a lot of the bodies.”

In offering the Mass for the hundreds who were killed in Hurricane Audrey and also many others who have survived subsequent storms and rebuilt, Bishop Provost acknowledged those who have shared in the Calvary of Our Lord by suffering and death.

“As we recall the dreaded storms that destroyed life and property on this very coast over the centuries, we come as Mary’s adopted children to implore her intercession,” he said. “Many on this very spot have pleaded with Mary, Mother of the Church and Star of the Sea, to protect them as her children. This is what we do today.”

At the Historic Shrine of Our Lady Star of the Sea, which was left miraculously unscathed from Hurricane Laura in 2020, Bishop Provost led those gathered in praying the Litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Loreto before he sprinkled everyone with holy water.

Concelebrants of the Mass with Bishop Provost were Rev. Jerish George, M.O.C.; Rev. Monsignor James Gaddy; Very Rev. Matthew Cormier, V.F.; Very Rev. Raju Mathew Panackal, M.O.C., J.V.; Rev. Arvind Minz, H.G.N.; Rev. Paul D’Sa, M.O.C.; Rev. Anil Alexander, M.O.C.; and Rev. Prabhakar Kowtiki, M.O.C.

Also assisting were Deacon Patrick Lapoint and Deacon Dale Deshotel, with Seminarians Philip Seilhan, Luka Hagen, Nicholas Poncho, and Cameron Fontenot. The Very Rev. Joseph Caraway, Chancellor, served as Master of Ceremonies.

Prayer for Protection during Hurricane Season

By The Most Reverend Maurice Schexnayder
Second Bishop of Lafayette
Written in 1957 following Hurricane Audrey

O God, Master of this passing world, hear the humble voices of your children.
The Sea of Galilee obeyed your order and returned to its former quietude; you are still the Master of land and sea.
We live in the shadow of a danger over which we have no control. The Gulf, like a provoked and angry giant, can awake from its seeming lethargy, overstep its conventional boundaries, invade our land, and spread chaos and disaster.

During this hurricane season, we turn to You, O loving Father. Spares us from past tragedies whose memories are still so vivid and whose wounds seems to refuse to heal with the passing of time. O Virgin, Star of the Sea, Our Beloved Mother, we ask you to plead with your Son in our behalf, so that spared from the calamities common to this area and animated with a true spirit of gratitude, we will walk in the footsteps of your Divine Son to reach the heavenly Jerusalem where a storm-less eternity awaits us. Amen.