CNS photo/Stephen Yang, Reuters
Where do people often look for help in a crisis, regardless of whether they’re Catholic or not?
“They look for a priest,” says Father Michael Orsi, a priest of the Diocese of Camden who has been working in Naples, Florida, since 2000, first at Ave Maria Law School, and for the past three years as parochial vicar for Saint Agnes Catholic Church.
Ordained in 1976, he served as director of the Family Life Bureau in the Camden Diocse for several years.
As Hurricane Irma was approaching southern Florida recently, Father Orsi learned just how much people look to the church for spiritual comfort when threatened by uncertain forces. And he was determined to be there for them.
“By Thursday, it looked like Irma would hit Naples hard. We’re on the Gulf,” said Father Orsi, recalling the days of the storm. “I didn’t want to run—I’m a priest.”
Irma was the most intense Atlantic hurricane to strike the United States since Katrina in 2005, and the first major hurricane to make landfall in Florida since Wilma in 2005.
In his sermon the previous Sunday, Father Orsi had spoken of Maximilian Kolbe, the saint of Auschwitz who offered his life in exchange for that of another man. Saint Maximilian’s words, when asked by a prison guard who he was, were simple and direct: “I am a Catholic priest,” he said.
“That’s witness,” said Father Orsi.
And with Irma bearing down on the west coast of Florida, Father Orsi wanted to serve as a witness, in any way possible, to help the people in his community know that they were not alone. Invited by friends and family to leave the area and ride out the storm, Father Orsi decided instead to offer his help at Physician’s Regional Hospital-Pine Ridge, located in Naples.
As Father Orsi arrived at the hospital in the early afternoon on the Saturday before the storm hit, about 700 residents of the local community, along with their pets, had already filled up the hallways, lobbies, and any public spaces the hospital could spare. Everyone was prepared to camp out, with sleeping bags, coolers and flashlights.
As Father Orsi described the scene, “There was every color under the sun, and everybody helped everybody. They were praying together and sleeping next to one another on the floor.”
Many were concerned and frightened.
“And I told them, “God is bigger than Irma.”
At first, there was the calm as everyone waited for the hurricane to hit—they were in the eye of the storm. The animals were the first sign that the storm was quickly approaching. “The dogs were crying and howling. …they knew,” said Father Orsi.
When the winds and rain came on Saturday night and continued into Sunday, “It was really bad. We had to move everyone away from the windows.”
At first denied permission by the hospital administration to say Mass, later, Father Orsi was approached by some of the nurses, offering to help him gather what was needed. He decided, due to the “extraordinary circumstances,” to answer their request. On Saturday night, he helped with an ecumenical prayer service, and on Sunday morning during the storm, he offered Mass “in a lobby without windows.”
At 2 p.m., he led the rosary. Everyone “was worried about a surge of 9-15 feet of water. The people were terrified.”
When the storm passed, there was no loss of life in the immediate area.
Father Orsi was both grateful and inspired. “It was wonderful to see the Catholic Church give so much help in the community.”
In addition to his own work at the hospital, Saint Agnes had offered its parish hall as a shelter for a local senior citizens’ facility of 200 people.
As one hospital administrator told him, “You don’t know what this means to people.”
And Father Orsi experienced two days that he will never forget.
“I’ve never been so moved by the kindness of people and their gratitude,” he said.
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