Navigation Back Search
Search

Mississippi church sheltered families during Katrina

By Lilla Marigza
Aug. 1, 2025 | BAY ST. LOUIS, Miss. (UM News)

A 150-year-old church withstood the wind and surge of Hurricane Katrina with church members sheltering inside. Video by Lilla Marigza, UM News.

E. Dwight Franklin helps with the gutting of his parents’ home in New Orleans six months after Hurricane Katrina. Virginia Tech student Ivy Gorman (background) was part of a team from her school working through the Louisiana United Methodist Storm Recovery Center during their spring vacation. A UMNS photo by Mike DuBose.

On Aug. 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina made landfall near the Louisiana/Mississippi border as a Category 3 hurricane. The eyewall, packing strong winds and significant storm surge, passed directly over Bay St. Louis. Several families in the coastal town had taken shelter on high ground in the sanctuary of the 150-year-old Main Street United Methodist Church.

Learn more about historic Main Street United Methodist Church in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi.

Marigza is a multimedia producer for UM News. Contact her at (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umnews.org. To read more United Methodist news, subscribe to the free UM News Digest.

Related Tags

Sign up for our newsletter!

Subscribe Now
Worship
Retired Bishop Peggy A. Johnson. Photo courtesy of the author.

Helping people ‘hear the Gospel’ in new ways
May is National Speech-Language-Hearing Month, a good time for United Methodist churches to examine ways to improve hearing accessibility.
Instructor Marion McAuley (center facing camera) teaches students how to drive screws with an electric drill at the Women in Construction program in Biloxi, Miss. An initiative of Moore Community House — a National Mission Institution supported by United Women in Faith — the program prepares women for careers in the skilled trades. Photo by Mike DuBose, UM News.

Program helps women build construction careers
In a job market rife with low-paying hospitality jobs, getting hired as a construction worker offers a path to a better life for women. An innovative Mississippi program, supported by United Women in Faith, helps them get there.
Faith Stories
Bishop Tracy S. Malone (far right) celebrates her oldest daughter’s wedding in 2023. From left are bride Alexis Malone Woolery and her sister, Ashley Malone Brown. Bishop Malone’s daughters say they have something special planned this year on Mother’s Day, since the day coincides with Woolery’s graduation and Woolery is the mother of a 1-year-old son. Photo by Sekoprince Studios.

Bishops’ children shed light on life with their moms
The daughters of four United Methodist episcopal leaders share what life is like when their mothers are the leaders of hundreds of churches.

United Methodist Communications is an agency of The United Methodist Church

©2026 United Methodist Communications. All Rights Reserved