St. Ann again will pray for calm waters before hurricane season

St. Ann Catholic Church, Gulf Breeze, and Our Lady of the Assumption Mission, Pensacola Beach, invite all to join them in praying for a safe hurricane season this year on May 19 and 20. The parish will pray at all Masses for courage and safety for our community before the hurricane season begins. Members will bring a small item from home to Mass that weekend to be blessed as they pray.

Last year at Our Lady, the parish held a special prayer service, and invited the community to bring an item from home to be blessed. This year, the parish will repeat the new tradition with prayers during Mass, and ask the entire community to join with them, either at St. Ann and Our Lady, or at their own houses of worship.

"After we realized the toll the busy hurricane seasons had taken on our parishioners, we soon realized that only prayer would be able to calm the fears we were seeing daily. So a prayer service, aptly named "Calm the Waters' was instituted last year," said Susie Spencer, parish administrator.

Msgr. Luke Hunt, pastor at St. Ann Catholic Church said,"It was gratifying seeing our local people come to church with a most precious possession from their home to have it blessed. It was most edifying when I realized that some of the items were the only thing saved from the previous hurricanes."

Parishioner Stephanie D. McNeill, who had the original idea, said she was inspired by the book, "When The Wind Blew."

"Students at Gulf Breeze Elementary School published a book of their reflections on Hurricane Ivan," McNeill said. "Brimming with quirky observations, full of hope and humor, it made me look at my memories of the storm's aftermath in a much different way. The idea of coming together in prayer, with the true treasures of family and friends, came from that children's book. Truly - children do lead us to the best of ourselves!"