In New Orleans, praying for a miracle

Hat tip to Deacon Greg on this one. The people of New Orleans and the Gulf are praying for a miracle:

That's exactly what many are doing in and around New Orleans, and Ron Thibodeaux looks at how faith and prayer are pulling people together in the face of what might be an unprecedented disaster:

St. Tammany Parish President Kevin Davis was organizing a midday briefing at Fort Pike, in eastern New Orleans, where he and other public officials would discuss vital efforts to prevent the Gulf of Mexico oil spill from entering Lake Pontchartrain.

First thing Tuesday morning, he recruited (Rev. Randy) Craighead, executive pastor of Church of the King near Mandeville, to begin the event with a weather prayer.

Davis described the threat posed by the BP oil spill as "really severe." Craighead was happy to oblige.

The minister arrived at the command response center near the Rigolets bridge late Tuesday morning, prepared to pray extemporaneously. When Davis informed him that Gov. Bobby Jindal, New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu and other high-profile officials would also be taking part, he decided to write it out beforehand rather than "wing it."

With the governor, U.S. Sen. David Vitter, Davis, Landrieu and a handful of other politicians and emergency preparedness officials arrayed behind him, Craighead kicked off the event by asking God, quite bluntly, for a miracle.

"We call on you for divine intervention in stopping the oil slick and to keep the oil back from the shores of this great state and the surrounding states," the pastor said. "We pray for a prevailing north wind to drive the oil slick southward."

Invocations are commonplace for many public events, but they are highly unusual for press conferences, which tend to avoid most trappings of ceremony.

On the other hand, Louisianians are no strangers to invoking a higher authority when it comes to facing down the elements.

New Orleans-area Catholics have a long tradition of asking God, through the intercession of Our Lady of Prompt Succor, for protection during hurricane season.

In southwestern Louisiana, Catholics have their own "Prayer for Safety in Hurricane Season," composed after Hurricane Audrey killed hundreds of Cameron Parish residents in 1957.

"We live in the shadow of a danger over which we have no control: the Gulf, like a provoked and angry giant, can awake from its seeming lethargy, overstep its conventional boundaries, invade our land and spread chaos and disaster," the prayer says.

It goes on to ask the intercession of Mary Star of the Sea, "so that spared from the calamities common to this area, " the faithful might "reach the heavenly Jerusalem where a stormless eternity awaits us."

Like most everyone else in St. Tammany Parish, Craighead said he understands the level of worry about the oil spill. Many Church of the King's 5,000 parishioners are personally impacted in some way, and everyone shares a concern about the economic impact the disaster could have on the state and its people.

In the face of such a crisis, he said, containment booms aren't the only option: "We really feel there is power in prayer."

Check out the rest.

And: pray.