More than three weeks after Hurricane Katrina struck Louisiana the ripple effects are being felt throughout the nation. Here in Chicago, Saint Patrick High School recently welcomed Kendall Butler, a Hurricane Katrina evacuee from Louisiana as the newest member of the Saint Patrick family. Butler was about to begin his senior year at Saint Augustine High School in New Orleans when Katrina hit, now he and his parents are staying with friends in Franklin Park and trying to get some degree of normalcy back into their lives.

Since Francis Cardinal George, Archbishop of Chicago, issued a statement asking Catholic school administrators to waive tuition and fees for displaced students, Chicago Catholic schools have been a common destination for Katrina evacuees. Over the last three weeks, Archdiocese of Chicago elementary and high schools have welcomed nearly 100 students from the areas devastated by Hurricane Katrina.