This is, after all, New Orleans where good days are hard to find and where America's worst natural disaster is barely a year old. A number of Episcopal churches are still digging out from heavy water inundation; tens of thousands of homes are being rehabilitated, half the population has still not returned and government bureaucracy ties up progress and sin in the streets, runs rampant.

For this orthodox bishop who still feels a certain amount of disappointment at losing a run for Presiding Bishop, he is taking time off, a sort of sabbatical and focusing on what he can do to bring hope and renewal to his diocese of 52 churches. He has closed one parish, but another is being born. It's been a roller coaster year for the bishop and the diocese, and it is far from over.

Bishop Jenkins took time out to sit down with David W. Virtue of VirtueOnline to talk about himself, his church and the way forward.

VIRTUEONLINE: Where were you when Katrina hit, and when did you realize the depth of what happened here?

JENKINS: I was in Shreveport, Louisiana having just flown home from Hawaii. We had hoped to fly to New Orleans but were prevented from doing so. Shreveport was the best we could do and so we drove south to New Orleans. Two or three days later after the levees had broken we were told by the Chief of Police that enormous damage had been done to the cathedral and diocesan offices with looting and burning. The reports turned out to be false. I was pleasantly surprised by what we found of our home and office. Six Episcopal churches had been flooded, one disappeared and several others were damaged by wind and/or falling water, with a total of 16 congregations being moderate to severely damage from Katrina including six totally flooded.

VITUEONLINE: Can you compare the faith based response to Katrina with the governmental response?

JENKINS: One could see that the faith based response even before the government had its act together. One of the things I got into trouble (With President George Bush) was how we could manage to get troops into Baghdad faster than we could get them into New Orleans. The faith based response to those living in the Diaspora was immediate and the interfaith groups in Baton Rouge tried to bring dignity to the River Center in Baton Rouge. The government was caring for their physical needs but no one was meeting their emotional and spiritual needs. We established a "no rights zone". When we came together as a group we put up rules - no right to touch another person, the right to spiritual counsel, no right to take the picture of a mother on a cot without her permission. We saw human rights as basic. We were sheltering homeless in our parish halls, our churches were putting people up when you could not come back to the city. We were also feeding the army - the 82nd airborne - we fed them Jambalaya, a change from Army food. We had to bring the Military Police in because the local police could not do the job.

VIRTUEONLINE: How has this impacted your clergy? What was the initial response then and today?

JENKINS: A number of our clergy lost everything they had. A clergyman's private possessions are not covered by the insurance's church policy. We had some clergy who had no insurance at all. In terms of the spiritual impact we have lost a number of clergy to other dioceses and more will go. There is no dishonor in that. Our experience in other disaster areas is that you will have high rate of turnover.

VIRTUEONLINE: How has Katrina impacted your own faith? Did you ever question God's goodness?

JENKINS: I have never questioned God's goodness and when I am at the point of questioning His goodness, I will know I am doing better. There are no atheists in this fox hole.

When you rely on God for basic day to day concerns, you don't question God's goodness. This was a man made disaster. The storm was a glancing blow at New Orleans, the storm surge on Pontchartrain and the Mississippi Gulf outlet that broke the levees should have been contained by those levees. The design was faulty and the Army Corp of Engineers has publicly accepted responsibility.

VIRTUEONLINE: We were with a group of mixed clergy this morning who were talking about the necessity for tearing down old walls that divide and allowing God to bless the city. How did you feel about that? What does that mean for you and the Episcopal Diocese of Louisiana?

JENKINS: It means that the Episcopal Diocese is returning to its ecumenical roots. We are the first non Roman Catholic Church in the Louisiana Purchase to try to return to its ecumenical roots. We saw the necessary repair work in terms of racism, classism and economic issues.

VIRTUEONLINE: You offered these clergy your diocesan retreat center, Solomon, as a place for meeting "on your knees."

JENKINS: I hope we can place ourselves humbly before God and how he wants this effort to proceed. There is a lot of ego among clergy, and it is time to put that ego aside and to see how God wants to do things.

VIRFTUEONLINE: A film clip was shown about how God moved mightily in the drug-controlled city of Cali, Columbia, breaking down strongholds of wickedness and bringing spiritual revival to that city. How do you see this applying to New Orleans?

JENKINS: I thought the movie was about New Orleans. I think that NOLA is an American opportunity, and there is hope that many other ills in this country can be put right. Our hope is upon God and the churches that have stayed when the government has failed or ceased to deliver. The church is still working.

VIRTUEONLINE: How do things stand today in the diocese, and is it what you could have imagined one year ago?

JENKINS: No. It is not what I could have imagined. In the darkest days of gloom and depression after the storm, I could not imagine how we would move forward. I asked, why me; how am I going to move ahead. The truth is the diocese has emerged as a trusted leader in the transformation and rebuilding efforts in New Orleans.

VIRTUEONLINE: Do you see this as a new beginning and a new opportunity for the gospel and if so how are things going to be different in your diocese?

JENKINS: It is a new opportunity for the gospel. An opportunity to make manifest the Good News of the resurrection. We are going to be different in the diocese, more engaged with the region around us. I want to see more missionary work - evangelism and ministries of compassion and service, than in the past. I want us to be less concerned with survival and more concerned reaching out to the unchurched and spiritually needy. I can personally be needy and not poor. It is an odd thing to stand in line to get a bottle of clean water, either receiving or giving, but I have been there. To depend on a stranger just to get a bottle of water was a new experience for me. We had gracious hosts in Baton Rouge. You eat what someone else eats; you don't get to make those basic decisions yourself.

VIRTUEONLINE: What do you see as the greatest obstacle towards reaching people for Christ, and the diocese embracing a new vision?

JENKINS: I think the greatest obstacle is institutional survival rather than the institutions survival by the grace of God and us getting on about the work of the kingdom. Every congregation that got flooded, or not, thinks it is going to survive and thrive, but those that have turned inward, and are not about the work of God, will not survive. The City is now half its former size, the math alone speaks for itself.

VIRTUEONLINE: How many Episcopal churches have closed?

JENKINS: Just one closed.

VIRTUEONLINE: What about church growth?

JENKINS: There is great work being done at the Church of the Annunciation, by Fr. Jerry Kramer and Trinity Episcopal in NOLA by Fr. Dabney Smith. There is also great growth in Baton Rouge and the North shore.

VIRTUEONLINE: I gather you have one new church plant, All Souls in the Lower 9th ward.

JENKINS: I think it is fantastic. I am grateful for Fr. Kramer's shepherding Fr. Shola in that ministry and it is my hope is that the diocese can, in an appropriate way, be a support and encouragement to them both.

VIRTUEONLINE: Are their particular ministries in NOLA that has done an outstanding job that you wish you could replicate across the diocese?

JENKINS: There are so many. St. Thomas clinic which was started by Trinity Episcopal Church - the first and only free clinic to open after the storm. Its resident physicians live sacrificial lives. They accept little government aid. It is a holistic approach treating the whole person. It is a wonderful clinic. We have now a mobile medical unity with St. Anne's Episcopal Church funded through the diocese. They are working through Tulane University Medical School. We are also taking health care to people who need it. We are also supporting a counseling center at Trinity Episcopal Church in NOLA. This is truly an important ministry as there are only 24 psychiatrists left in the city, so this is a very important ministry. We support a suicide prevention group in Covington where we have a mental health unit and suicide prevention and feeding program. Our Lord's admonition to feed the hungry started The Dragons Café with diocesan support. We have the mobile loaves and fishes unit which takes meals into the 9th ward. We are feeding relief workers. I have more trucks than any other bishop - three units including a motor home in the 9th word, working each day. Our Jericho Road Episcopal housing initiative is second to none. We are building homes for the working poor to purchase, based on the Jericho model in New York City with a grant from Episcopal Relief and Development (ERD). We obtained a $2 million initial grant from ERD but we are still waiting for the city of NOLA to move its adjudicated properties seized for unpaid taxes. We went out and bought houses and we are working with a central city pastors group for education on how to make a budget, repair credit and apply for mortgage loans. ERD has provided us with money for a compassion center and welcome home centers where case managers' help returnees return to the city. They direct returnees to resources and programs to help them. ERD also gave us a big grant to run a distribution center in front of the cathedral.

VIRTUEONLINE: We saw a movie today showing community development as it relates to the gospel in Cali, Columbia. It was a powerful movie how did that impact you?

JENKINS: I had been praying for some time both for personal rebuilding and what my Episcopal Diocese would look like and what I am hoping to see in the coming years. I ask myself what is the city going to look like. What will the role of the church be in the coming years? There is a certain prophetic role I am ill prepared for in the central city pastors group, but I have to speak ready or not.

VIRTUEONLINE: A group of pastors including yourself will have a day of prayer and fasting for the churches, what would you like to see come out of that?

JENKINS: I would like to see us expand our spiritual energies to transform our neighborhood and city. We have a song, "Baptized in dirty water"...we were all in this together, both the rich and the poor got flooded.

VIRTUEONLINE: Whose responsibility is it in the final analysis - church or government that should be fixing the problems? A lot of your clergy feel the church should be fixing the problems and not the government.

JENKINS: Both the church and the government should do it. The government has got the financial resources that the church hasn't. But the problems cannot be fixed without the church. We have a more holistic approach.

VIRTUEONLINE: If there is one thing you would like the rest of the world to know about what is happening in south Louisiana right now what would it be?

JENKINS: We cannot ignore the basic Christian principles of a society and expect that society to do well in the face of a disaster or a challenge.

VIRTUEONLINE: How do you think of New Orleans a year later?

JENKINS: This is a place of great faith, and though our faith has been tested, no one questions God's goodness and mercy.

END