Floods ‘shattered’ Texas as nation still grieves lives lost

Crosses hang on a wall marked by a silt-marked flood high water line inside a cabin at Camp Mystic in Kerr County, July 7, in the aftermath of the deadly flooding. What is usually a holiday of vacation and fun turned into an overnight nightmare when flash floods killed more than 100 people over the Fourth of July weekend, including girls attending the Christian summer camp. (OSV News photo/Sergio Flores, Reuters)

HOUSTON — Nearly 50 days after, Texans and Americans still join dozens of Central Texas communities in grieving the loss of all who died when flash floods surged through cities and towns like Kerrville, Hunt and Ingram. 

Unexpected heavy rainfall became 26-foot-tall walls of rushing water in 45 minutes, sweeping debris with tree trunks, entire mobile homes and double-cab trucks far past the banks of the Guadalupe River and nearby creeks and branches and into people’s homes, camps and property, according to reports.

Many Fourth of July revelers, either living or vacationing in the Hill Country, and more than 35 children, most at a Christian summer camp, were among the 135 people who died during the tragic flood. As news trickled out from Texas to the nation and even the Vatican when the sun came up on July 5, people began to learn of family and friends who were among those lost in the floodwaters. Everyone seemed to know someone.

Stories of heroic bravery from young and older people in the flood, where officials said more than 440 were rescued, were met with deep grief and heartbreak when the toll of those who died still grew.

In Galveston-Houston, several Catholic schools and parishes grieved their own, including Anna Margaret Bellows, 8; Molly Claire DeWitt, 9; Katherine Ferruzzo, 19; Virginia Hollis, 8; and Lainey Landry, 9. Beyond the Archdiocese, parishes and Catholic schools in Austin, Beaumont, Dallas and Fort Worth also mourned those from their communities lost in the floods.

Theresa Omeludike attended a July 9 Mass celebrated by Archbishop Joe S. Vásquez at the Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart that was offered specifically for those affected by the Central Texas floods. 

“I knew I had to be here,” she said. “These families need us to stand in prayer for them. That Fourth of July started off very well, but the floods just shattered us. It was a dark day.”

For Meris Bridger, director of faith formation in the Catholic Schools Office of the Archdiocese, the disaster struck close to her husband’s family, who live in Hunt. She said their family survived the flood, but while cleaning up the family property in the days after the storm, they kept finding items from Camp Mystic in their front yard. 

At DeWitt’s July 11 funeral Mass at St. John Vianney Parish in Houston, Father Troy Gately, pastor, encouraged her family to remain hopeful in Jesus.

“In the midst of heartbreak, anguish, loss and confusion, we grieve,” he said in his homily. “But we do not grieve like those who have no hope. We have hope in Jesus, and so we keep our eyes fixed on him, just like Molly did at her First Communion.”

Several of the young girls had just received their First Communion, including Bellows, who attended St. Vincent de Paul Parish near the Texas Medical Center. In her First Communion portrait, taken in front of the church’s altar, her cheerful face was adorned with a white baby’s breath flower crown.

Landry was a third-grade student at St. Michael Catholic School in The Galleria, where the parish hosted arrangements for Landry and Ferruzzo.

In Bellville, located on the western edge of the Archdiocese in Austin County, Sts. Peter and Paul Parish hosted Hollis’ funeral arrangements. A somber procession through downtown included a riderless horse — which was loved by and belonged to the young girl — following her hearse. Her parents also followed on foot.  

Back in Houston, the Bellows’ family requested “bright colors and smiling faces” for all events honoring their daughter. At many of the funeral Masses, visitations and Rosaries, fellow classmates of the young girls wore bright and colorful dresses with bouncing hair bows that seemed to shimmer in the sun, and some boys sported colored bowties. 

Holding their parents’ hands, the young students were excited to see classmates in the summer, but they seemed almost hesitant or unsure when they greeted the grieving families. They appeared to understand that their classmate was no longer with them, but struggled to understand the weight of the loss. 

Also, among the young people lost along the Guadalupe were two young parishioners and students of St. Rita Parish and School in Dallas. The two Harber sisters, 13-year-old Blair and 11-year-old Brooke, were found with hands locked together, both holding their Rosaries, some 15 miles away from their grandparents’ home in Hunt, where they were staying. 

Father Josh Whitfield, pastoral administrator of St. Rita in Dallas, where the Harber sisters attended school, reflected on the difficult question: “Why do bad things happen?”

“There is no answer to that question,” he said to OSV News. “The only experience that awaits the person who asked that question is the experience of Job, who asked God the same question. And God basically says, ‘I’m God.’ And Job ends in silence.”

“The answer is Easter, because the core of the Gospel is not an explanation for why things happen. The core of the Gospel is the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, suffered as one of us, died as one of us and rose again as one of us,” Father Whitfield said. 

Michelle Miller, a bilingual licensed professional counselor in Houston and owner of Luz de Luz Counseling, agreed.

“Our faith reminds us of the universality of grief as a shared human experience,” she said. “We are not alone in our grief. Grief is even part of our faith, as we unite our own suffering to the suffering of Christ on the cross and with the Blessed Mother, suffering in her grief over the loss of her own Son.”

She said that Catholics who are grieving in any manner, especially after the tragic Texas floods or with the death of a loved one, can lean on their faith, with its traditions, prayers and Sacraments like Reconciliation to provide healing and clarity as an anchor to ground grief, but people should not use their faith as an emotional or spiritual bypass to avoid or suppress emotions and pain. 

“When we bypass emotions, or distract, numb or dismiss them in the name of faith, we hurt ourselves,” Miller said. “This can lead to anxiety, depression, disconnection to ourselves, to others and to God. But when we deal with our grief and emotions, the Lord can transform them.”

Platitudes and clichés, like “Don’t be sad; God has a plan, we just need to move on,” or “Everything happens for a reason,” are well-intentioned, but they can shut down emotions and disconnect people from each other and from God, she said.

“Our faith should integrate our emotions, not replace them,” she said. “Faith invites us to name our pain in honesty with God through prayer, like we hear in the Psalms. We can sit in that sorrow or hold the sorrow of somebody else, like Christ did for so many. He held space for the Mystery, where both grief and hope can be together.”

Miller also encouraged thoughtful use of social media, which can be filled with 24/7 news coverage that can desensitize anyone who is not careful about what they are consuming online. 

She also said that in the Eucharist and Communion, Catholics are in eternal union with loved ones still living and those who have died. 

“One of the final stages of grief is making meaning of our suffering, and our faith is a place to do that,” Miller said. “Our faith gives grief meaning and depth and takes us beyond what we can see in this life into the eternal.”