Concerned parishioners from lower Cameron Parish gathered in the church hall of Saint Mary of the Lake in Big Lake on Thursday for the second in a series of public meetings hosted by the diocesean leadership in regards to the controversy over its hurricane recovery response.

The churches of St. Eugene in Grand Chenier, Our Lady Star of the Sea in Cameron, Sacred Heart of Jesus Creole and St. Patrick in Sweetlake will be officially consolidated into the new Parish of Sacred Heart of Jesus of East Cameron.

Officials present at the meeting included the Most Rev. Bishop Glen John Provost; the Very Rev. Ruben Buller, vicar general and moderator of the Curia for the Diocese of Lake Charles; the Rev. Jeffrey Starkovich, diocesan spokesperson and pastor of St. Pius X Catholic Church in Ragley; the Rev. Jerish George, M.O.C and pastor of Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish in East Cameron; the Rev. Monsignor James M. Gaddy, senior priest and pastor of St. Mary of the Lake Catholic Church in Big Lake; Curtis Vincent and Justin Gautreax, principal architects of VSG Architects; and Stephanie Rodrigue, trustee for the parish of Sacred Heart of Jesus of East Cameron.

At the meeting, questions regarding funding were raised, including how the accounts of the various former parishes would be handled.

“When the parish was amalgamated … all of the funds for those parishes are still in control of the parish,” Starkovich said. “With the amalgamation, the new parish of Sacred Heart of Jesus of East Cameron will be receiving the various accounts from the other churches. This is a lengthy process which requires changing of signatures.”

He presented printed records of all of the accounts of the former parishes of Sacred Heart of Jesus in Creole, Our Lady Star of the Sea, and St. Eugene in Grand Chenier.

Sacred Heart of Jesus of East Creoles has seven accounts totaling $402,485.10. Our Lady Star of the Sea has six accounts, including CDs from the Vidrine and an investment at Oak Grove, totaling $621,501.04. St. Eugene in Grand Chenier also has six accounts totaling about $242,000.

“The total volume of the accounts for Sacred Heart of Jesus of East Cameron maintains a balance of about $1.4 million, and all of those funds are still there.”

Provost said trustees and councils are still in place; however, it is up to the pastor to call meetings involving those trustees and councils to discuss finances and the consolidation of accounts.

“It will all be managed by the pastor, trustees, and a single finance council for the parish of Sacred Heart of East Cameron,” Starkovich said.

There are two trustees who will be working with George and the finance council under canon law.

“You have every right to ask Father George to see those accounts,” Provost said. “As a matter of fact, it is the policy of the Diocese that the pastor issues an annual report to the parish of his account for the year. Under the circumstances, you understand, things are a little disorganized.”

Concerns over insurance funding were also addressed. Prior to the landfall of Hurricanes Laura and Delta, the Diocese of Lake Charles had a pooled, $30 million named-storm limit. This amount was set after Hurricane Rita.

Catholic Mutual, the insurance company in which the Diocese was insured, set this limit after actuarial studies. The diocese spent about $15 million in repairs after Hurricane Rita.

“With Hurricane Rita, we doubled our aggregate from $15 million to $30 million, because we didn’t complete an aggregate with Catholic Mutual,” Buller said. “The Diocese at that time decided that we were going to doucl the aggregate thinking that it was very prudent.”

To date, the Diocese has spent about $42 million since the natural disasters in 2020. The range of funding that will be needed for the 38 damaged parishes is $135 million to $150 million.

During the recovery process, the Diocese has spent $13 million in mitigation. Buller sais the expenses were “not under the control of the Diocese at the beginning of this whole process.

“Whenever Hurricane Laura hit, Catholic Mutual sent down mitigators, and those mitigators were not under our control,” he continued. “They were doing things that we did not ask them to do.”

The Diocese is unable to provide further information regarding mitigation issues, as legal action is being taken to correct these expenses.

The condition of the cemeteries in Cameron Parish were also addressed. Participating parishioners expressed concerns over the demolition of mausoleums in various cemeteries in the parish, as well as the poor maintenance of cemetery grounds.

Rodrigue said cemeteries fall under the purview of the Attorney General’s office, as cemeteries are considered land matters. Within the Attorney General’s office is the Cemetery Response Task Force, of which Ryan Seidmann chairs.

“He was tasked with making FEMA funds available to repair tombstones, to re-enter those who were unentered by the storm, and move remains from one cemetery to another,” Rodrigue said.

Many of the structures in the cemeteries were damaged, according to the engineering reports following Hurricane Laura. In these reports, it was also determined that rebuilding damaged structures would be inefficient.

“The engineer further said that no matter which direction … to rebuild them would be pointless,” she said.

For those who wanted to transport remains that were kept in the cemeteries, cemetery aid was provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency in 2020. Parishioners were required to apply for the aid program through FEMA. The deadline for applications was Nov. 27, 2020.

Following Hurricanes Laura and Delta, meetings were held to “every opportunity for everyone to get all the questions answered that they might have about how to take care of remains that are either in the cemeteries or in the mausoleums.”

Bishop said that due to the state involvement of cemetery maintenance, the Diocese is unaware of some goings-on in Cameron Parish cemeteries.

“There are laws governing cemeteries, which I do not know about. It is a very highly specialized area,” Provost said. “The cemeteries are a particular concern. I would say that I’m unaware that there was a lack of attention given to them.”

He said the treatment of the cemeteries was “uncalled for,” and the Diocese will be investigating these conditions.