Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church was one of the heaviest-damaged churches in Slidell after Hurricane Katrina, but on the third anniversary of the disaster the congregation got together to remember the victims and celebrate their survival.

The congregation gathered in the makeshift church that used to be the cafeteria of Our Lady of Lourdes School. Co-Pastor Father Frank Lipps said after Katrina turned the church and school into a mass of rubble, church members were able to gather pews, statues, crucifixes and stained glass and put them into the school’s gymnasium. However, the gym was so badly damaged by the storm the city of Slidell condemned the structure, and the congregation had to move again to the present location in the cafeteria.

“It’s kind of like living in a FEMA trailer,” Lipps said. But those who gathered Friday were not sad or morose over their loss. They joyously rang bells in memory of the victims of the storm.

One parishoner, Pattie Belcher, had every reason not to feel good. Three years later, she still doesn’t have a place to live. Katrina ripped her residence apart, and Belcher has been battling with Road Home for the past three years trying to get money to rebuild, but it has been an uphill battle. However, she is just happy to be living in a rental unit right now.

“But you know, Gustav might change that again,” Belcher said, shrugging her shoulders. Still, she had a big smile on her face as she rang her bell during the ceremony.

Fathers Lipps and Kyle Dave also have reason to smile. Construction crews are already busy rebuilding the church and the school. Lipps expects both to be opened by Christmas 2009.

One of the Our Lady of Lourde’s congregation is the famous chef and sportsman Frank Davis. He has been a member of the church for 45 years and was amazed at how resilient his fellow parishioners have been over the past three years.

“Even though this is a cafeteria, it still has the joy, the faith, and the aura of a church,” Davis said.