It may not have made the evening news, but, when Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast, several Catholic colleges and universities stepped in to help survivors recover.

From second collections to benefit concerts to free tuition, the schools’ students, professors and administrators put their Gospel mission into motion.

Ave Maria University in Naples, Fla., held a benefit concert featuring the university choir as well as five guest soloists. After listening to the music of Beethoven, Corelli, Chopin and Schubert, the more than 175 people who attended the concert donated more than $6,000, according to a recent press release. The school forwarded the funds to the American Red Cross and Catholic Charities.

“In the aftermath of such devastation it is inspiring to see how incredibly giving people are, and how they are able to organize so quickly to aid their fellow man,” Ave Maria University President Nick Healy said in the statement. “I know that many members of Ave Maria University, as well as members from the surrounding Naples community were in some way affected by this hurricane, and it gives me great joy to know that everyone was able to come together in support of the relief efforts.”

Branden Blackmur, media contact for Ave Maria, said that one of the school's students, whose name he withheld for privacy reasons, had family living in Gulfport, Miss. After the hurricane, he packed up his truck with food and water and headed home to pick up his family. Once there, he withdrew from Ave Maria and offered to volunteer for Catholic Charities in Baton Rouge for the remainder of the school year.

Thomas Aquinas College in Santa Paula, Calif., took up a second collection after their Sunday Mass — and collected four times the amount of their average Sunday collection. This money was sent directly to Archbishop Alfred Hughes of New Orleans, according to Anne Forsyth, director of college relations. She also said that each of the chaplains offered up special Masses for Katrina victims.

Joseph Wurtz, dean of student life at Christendom College in Front Royal, Va., said the campus there wrapped up a two-week, campus-wide fund-raiser that collected more than $6,000. They will be sending their money directly to Kepha, a youth group in the hurricane-affected area, started by the father of one of the students at Christendom.

Kepha (which is St. Peter's name in Aramaic; it means rock) has been reaching out directly to the hurricane victims through the local parishes. They in turn, will take the money they receive from Christendom and help a family who has lost a home or job.

Franciscan University of Steubenville, Ohio, has opened up its doors to 10 students who were displaced by the hurricane. From a senior nursing student attending Louisiana State University who only had one semester to go, to freshmen who were evacuated in their first days of college life, they have all found a new, even if temporary, home for the semester.

Seven of the students studying at Franciscan were attending Our Lady of Holy Cross in New Orleans. According to Joel Recznik, dean of enrollment management at the university, Chris Baglow, chairman of the theology department at Holy Cross, and also a graduate of Franciscan University, contacted his alma mater to see if there was anything they could do to help out. After many phone calls back and forth, the details were worked out and Franciscan offered to let the students attend tuition-free for the semester.

Once they knew the details had been ironed out, the students had to drive 17 hours straight in order to make it in time for classes early Monday morning. Most of them came only with the clothes on their backs, having been evacuated in a rush as the storm closed in.

“One young man had been put up [during the evacuation] in a hotel,” says Recznik. “They took shelter in the hallway when the hurricane hit. When he went back to the hotel room, the ceiling had collapsed. If they had been in there, they would have been killed.”

Recznik, who was instrumental in making this opportunity possible for the students, has been deeply inspired by the optimism and joy he has seen in these transfer students.

“They have been just wonderful students. They haven't lost their joy. It's clear that their faith commitment has held strong and is solid. They're just glad that they can continue their education. Our students have welcomed them with open arms.”

‘Friendly, Welcoming’

Catholic institutions of higher learning aren't the only schools that have helped families hurt by the hurricane. Catholic grade schools and high schools also have students studying there free of charge.

In a September statement to his archdiocese, Cardinal Francis George, archbishop of Chicago, asked all elementary and high schools in his diocese to welcome students displaced by Hurricane Katrina. He also advised school administrations to waive tuition and to complete the normal admission paperwork once the students were enrolled.

According to the archdiocese's website (www.archdiocese-chgo.org), they have more than 107 Gulf Coast students studying in their schools. St. Kieran School in Chicago Heights is one of these schools. Anthony Simone, principal of St. Kieran, says his school welcomed a family whose home was only 20 feet away from Lake Pontchartrain. They lost everything when the levee broke.

The students who are in grades 1, 5 and 7 have been warmly welcomed by the school community. Simone has been impressed by the response to this family. “The kids have been dynamite,” he says. “They've been friendly and welcoming.”

Members of the school's parish have reached out to the family as well. “I can't tell you how many people have come to me wanting to know how they can help, what they can give,” says Simone. “People have been remarkably kind and generous. I think it gives you great faith in human nature that people have been so kind and open and so ready to help people in need.”

Veronica Wendt writes from Steubenville, Ohio.