Jesuit Parish Helps Flood Victims in Australia

The Jesuit parish of St. Ignatius in Toowong, Brisbane, is helping coordinate some of the volunteers that are responding to the floods in Australia.

Jesuit Father Greg Jacobs, assistant pastor, said the disaster was bringing out the best side of people.

“There has been a great sense of people coming together. It’s been amazing, particularly for those of us who didn’t go through the 1974 floods,” he said.

Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria have been devastated by flooding over the last month, and Brisbane was the biggest urban area hit by the floods.

The floodwaters are now receding in Brisbane, leaving a massive clean-up task for the community; none of the parish’s buildings were affected by the waters.

The parish offered the church hall as a place for people to take shelter, and parishioners provided rooms and beds for families in need. These accommodations will continue while the clean-up takes place.

“We had a family who had lost everything, and who won’t be able to get back in their house for at least six months,” said Fr. Jacobs.

Volunteers from the parish and primary school community have been organizing themselves to clean the mud and damaged items from the affected houses.

“We do have a number of volunteers … so we’re looking at how we can be with people as they look to the next stage of the recovery process,” said Fr. Jacobs. [Australian Jesuits]