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The United Methodist Church's bishops are launching an appeal aimed at helping the denomination's congregations in Louisiana and Mississippi recover from the devastating impact of Hurricane Katrina.

The Council of Bishops approved the Katrina Church Recovery Appeal during its Oct. 30-Nov. 4 fall meeting. The appeal will focus on building new ministries, rebuilding facilities and addressing a wide range of other local church and conference needs, such as paying clergy salaries and covering an untold amount of uninsured losses.

During presentations Nov. 2, Bishops William Hutchinson of Louisiana and Hope Morgan Ward of Mississippi shared updates and thanked the council for the support provided by the church.

'You have responded in beautiful and strong, strong ways to an unheralded kind of disaster on the shores of the United States,' Hutchinson said.

Evacuees from Hurricane Katrina are in every state, Hutchinson said. 'This is the largest diaspora of persons in the history of the United States.' The evacuees have included 1.5 million people from Louisiana and several hundred thousand from Mississippi and Alabama, he said. Those evacuees include entire congregations and clergy.

The appeal is being developed with support from the General Council on Finance and Administration, United Methodist Communications and the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries.

In its focus on church recovery, the appeal will be distinct from the work of the United Methodist Committee on Relief, which has raised $20 million so far in humanitarian relief related to the hurricanes.

In their discussion, several bishops emphasized the importance of not simply rebuilding what had already existed on the coast but building ministry in a new way.

In Louisiana, as many as 30 churches may have to be torn down and rebuilt, Hutchinson said. In the New Orleans District alone, 78 churches will need major work, he said.

'We are looking at a need through May of some $1.3 million to deal with salary and benefits,' Hutchinson said. That doesn't include housing.

There will also be a cost in lost apportionment dollars that would have been paid by the affected congregations. One of the biggest ways churches in unaffected areas can help is by paying their apportionments in full, Hutchinson said.

In Mississippi, six churches are considered destroyed, Ward said. About 300 have filed insurance claims, and of those, 20 probably have extreme damage, she said. Twenty-seven pastors are living temporarily in campers, she said.

Other church-related institutions in Mississippi that were affected included historic Gulfside Assembly in Waveland, which was destroyed, and Seashore Assembly in Biloxi, which sustained heavy damage.