Why New Orleans? Can New Orleans handle a large Gathering?
New Orleans has been host city to previous youth gatherings (1976 and 1997) and was in consideration for 2009 prior to Hurricane Katrina (2005). After many meetings and discussions with city and convention officials, consulting with congregational leaders, and careful consideration, we faced the question, Why not New Orleans? The question that followed was, How can we not go to New Orleans? The Morial Convention Center, Louisiana Superdome, and downtown areas have all been rebuilt and improved since 2005; the city is ready to go and has already been successfully hosting large conventions. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and other denominations have been instrumental in the relief and community recovery work in New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina. Its work that will need to continue for many years to come. The commitment to hold the 2009 ELCA Youth Gathering in New Orleans was made with these underlying convictions: that the wider church needs to listen and dwell with those w
