On Mother'S Day 2007, First Church of Christ, Scientist, New Orleans, held an unofficial open house celebrating the completion of renovations to their church building. First Church sustained considerable damage from hurricanes Katrina and Rita in the fall of 2005. Members also held an official opening for the community on Saturday, June 9.
Why two open houses? The first one came about spontaneously when church members realized Mother's Day would be the last Sunday that a group of Principia College students and professors would be with them. The students, including two from Africa, had come to the city to study New Orleans culture and roll up their sleeves to help with the city's clean-up project. During the ten weeks the students studied and worked in the city, they became closely knitted to this branch church family.
Sharon Perlis, a member of First Church's Board of Trustees, said, "We wanted the Principia students and professors to rejoice with us as a family when our doors reopened. One could feel the reverence on that Sunday as the congregation trickled in, each person feeling the harmony, light, and joy of reuniting in our new/old building whose interior, destroyed by the hurricanes, has now been reconstructed fresh and new."
