St. Elizabeth Seton Catholic Church Advent 2012 | Carlisle, Iowa
But when these signs begin to happen, stand erect and raise your heads because your redemption is at hand. Luke 21:28
Finding Redemption in the Midst of Chaos By Fr. James Kirby Earlier this advent I told the story of flight 232 which crash landed in the Gateway Airport in Sioux City Iowa. Gary Brown was appointed Woodbury County Emergency Services Director in 1987. He was responsible for organizing the first local rescuer response drill in that area and indeed one of the first of its kind in the entire country. The scope of their rescue drill was designed to deal with a catastrophic event where multiple lives would be lost and multiple injuries would result. It was a plan to deal with communication, logistics, triage and the mobilization of professionals, volunteers and first responders in responding efficiently to a tragedy in order to save lives. In Gary Brown's mind at that time he was thinking of how he would deal with an airshow tragedy, something much smaller than any type of air disaster which he would eventually have to face only months later. Many people criticized Gary Brown when he first began to reveal and put his plan into action. They said it was over the top, unnecessary and way too expensive for the likes of Woodbury County. The thinking was, that they type of disaster for which Gary Brown was preparing would likely never happen in the Sioux City area. Nevertheless, Brown and his team worked diligently in preparing, practicing and drilling for all the possible scenarios of a catastrophic disaster. It's one thing to have a plan in place, and it's quite another thing to put that plan into action. It's also about being vigilant and being prepared at a moment’s notice because even the best plan can be worthless if it isn't effectively and efficiently put into action. Continued on page 2...