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CRIMSON SHIELD
THE ONLINE MAGAZINE OF BROTHER MARTIN HIGH SCHOOL |
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| February 2011 |
‹‹ Front page Next article ››
Susan Cooper
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Katrina turned Susan Cooper's life upside down, as it did everyone in the area, especially those who, like her, lived in St. Bernard Parish.
- Seven years earlier, Susan moved into the first house she ever owned. Her father supervised the workers, and, when they finished, Brother Ray Hebert, an ordained brother then serving at Brother Martin, blessed her home.
- Susan's parents still lived in the house where she grew up, only five minutes away from her.
Like many of us, Susan remembers exactly what she did as she evacuated two days before the hurricane hit.
- She left everything in her home except for Brother James's painting of Chatawa, where she went to high school, and all her pants, since she found it difficult to find pants that fit her.
- She blessed the house with holy oil before she left. "I just knew it was the last time I was going in the house."
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Her 82-year-old father drove the car to Baton Rouge, where they stayed in the apartment of Susan's niece, an LSU student.
- Within days of the storm, Susan knew from the satellite pictures that the family houses were destroyed.
- "I only cried one time because I felt like God had given me my house and, for whatever reason, He had decided to take it away, and I was not going to question His decision."
- When her sister and friends went back to St. Bernard to inspect the houses, Susan told them she wanted only two things: her Brother More Schaefer Award from the shelf in the bathroom and the statue of the Blessed Mother that had stood in front of the home.
- Family members and friends waded through marshland to get to her house and found the living room ceiling caved in. Water had covered the roof. Snake skins were everywhere. A dead blackbird hung upside down in the eaves.
- The search party cleaned the two items she requested and brought them to her. They are even more prized now.
Susan needed to find out what was happening with Brother Martin.
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After learning about the plans for a night school at Catholic High, she got a ride to the campus. "Gene Tullier was in tears when he greeted me."
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She needed a place to stay while teaching at Brother Martin of Baton Rouge. She would have been happy to have just a room of her own. "I've never had prayers answered so fast." The sister of Gene's daughter-in-law had a house in the Arrowood subdivision. Soon the home was filled with Susan and eight other extended family members plus two dogs.
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The residence lacked a washer/dryer, but more prayers answered – people in the neighborhood donated those appliances. "God was just so good because He took my house away, but He gave me an incredible home to live in."
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Her two nieces went to school with Susan at BMBR in a van her sister obtained.
This is where St. Philomena comes into the story.
- One day, Susan looked everywhere for a lost gold earring. Finally, she took out a pack of holy cards next to the chair where she prayed. She found a St. Philomena prayer card that she did not remember acquiring. When she opened the double-page card, there was her earring.
- The picture showed the saint holding an arrow in her hand. "And I was living in a place called Arrowood."
- According to legend, Philomena was a 14-year-old saint martyred under the Roman Emperor Diocletian because she refused to be impure. "And I'm teaching boys that age."
- Susan went to a store to find a book about Philomena. The clerk said they didn't have any. However, she checked a box that had arrived that very day. Inside were two books on the saint. She also asked for a picture of Philomena. You're in luck – one left.
- Reading the book, Susan learned that, if you pray to St. Philomena and promise her anything, you'd better deliver on your promise.
- Susan obtained a statue of the martyr that she brought to a priest to bless before giving it to her brother-in-law for the house he planned to buy. The priest, a childhood friend, cautioned against buying in that area. Soon, the family found a much nicer residence in a better Slidell neighborhood.
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St. Philomena
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Since Brother Martin returned to Elysian Fields, Susan prays each morning to St. Philomena before leaving her Slidell home.
- She tells all her classes the Philomena story on All Saints Day and gives each student a holy card.
- One year at student orientation, Susan told her Philomena tale to Cyndi Bellina as they worked together at one of the stations. Susan wondered if her Philomena ritual was having any impact on the students.
- When Susan returned from a break, a women in line thanked her because her son took his holy card to college and prays to Philomena regularly.
- Naturally, Susan resolved to continue as Philomena's apostle. "I don't fool around with this saint. She means business, honey."
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Susan has no retirement plans.
- Her classes provide an anchor point in her life. Utilizing technology presents her biggest challenge.
- "I'm gonna do whatever God leads me to do. My parents are older, and I don't know where that's heading. I pray on a daily basis that I make the decisions I have to make when I need to make them. I don't know what the future will bring. I could probably teach 'till I die. I love it that much. But it's up to God."
- Sure, students get on her nerves, but that's part of the job. "I think they give me something that I need. I don't think I'm going to go into full retirement. I have to do it gradually."
- She watches her own health so she can help her parents face their health problems.
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