BISHOP GREG HOMEMING - Lismore Floods 2022 Message to the People

as you all know we here in lismore and indeed in the diocese of lismore have had a very tragic few days so much of the diocese is flooded you've probably seen on television how extensive the flooding of our city has been even i as the bishop was evacuated by boat at the peak of the flooding so much is underwater so many houses have been destroyed we've seen our people waiting on the roofs of houses for hours upon hours waiting to be rescued this has all happened at a time when we were hoping that 2022 would be a year of hope a good year our first flood in lismore was in 2017 and i don't know that we've really as a community recovered from that flood covert hit fires hit and we've been in i suppose a state of hope looking to the future where's it going and now we've been hit again at a time when our hearts were already heavy with the many things that have happened i even as bishop don't know what can we do we all feel absolutely helpless in many ways i suppose some of us feel that god hasn't been with us we feel overwhelmed and that's coming from me yesterday i was at one of the evacuation centers and i saw the people there and these people have lost everything that they have helpless despairing no doubt there will also be mental health issues coming up this is where we are at the moment and the first thing that i want to say is everybody in lismore suffers with those who have lost everything in fact everyone in the diocese because i've received messages from everywhere even around the world they are with us they wish they could help so in that sense we are not alone the only problem is we don't know where to go how to get out of this as the church even we've lost so much so much of what we've got is underwater that severely limits what we can do but we will begin raising what money we can and use what we've got to find ways to help those who've lost everything it's not obvious yet what can be done but we will work in with those that have expertise to see what we can do the last flood we simply gave mattresses in the diocese now there are too many mattresses for me to be able to replace and i don't know that that's the main need food care of people the reinstatement of hope of trust this is our task and we are in it together as the people of lismore the people of lismore diocese i can say that everyone is in this together everyone is helpless but we will do our best to make sure we come out of this having been here for five years i know that lismore people are resilient and strong that has supported me for five years and i'm quite sure that together we will come out of this horrible spot and perhaps one day many years later look back on this time and talk about the goodness which this terrible flood has brought out of each of us i offer you my prayers ongoing support and let's work together in the future

Channel: Lismore Diocese

Views: 7,497

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Id: 0Nnb46IAMgY

Length: 4min 41sec (281 seconds)

Published: Tue Mar 01 2022