Singing God’s praises

Stephen Lee has not stopped counting his blessings since Aug. 28.

That was the day he left his New Orleans home—a wood frame house in the Mid-City neighborhood—with his mother, his wife and their three children.

Lee and his family visited Chicago in September so Lee, who owns a New Orleans music business—underwater, along with his home—and does music therapy, could participate in a planning meeting for the National Catholic AIDS Ministry Network’s 2006 conference.

“I called them from Houston, and told them I wasn’t comfortable leaving my family,” said Lee. But with a day or two making phone calls, the network was able to fly all six family members to Chicago. “That was a real blessing.”

Lee gave back by performing a concert of Gospel music and spirituals on the campus of Loyola University Chicago Sept. 15.

The Cenacle retreat house put the family—Lee, his mother Mattie B. Lee, his wife Olgarita Lee, and children Stephen-Michael and Christopher, both 13, and Renae, 10—up for the week they spent in Chicago, and the Pasta Bowl, a neighborhood restaurant, provided a meal each day. One afternoon, the family bought new sneakers for everyone. “We only had one pair of shoes each,” Lee said.

After the meeting, Lee and his family were headed back to the Houston area, where they are staying with his brother, sister-in-law and their three children. His children are being home-schooled, as they were in New Orleans—with the help of a Texas home-school bookstore, which gave them a voucher for $400 worth of materials, another blessing.

“All their books were in the house,” Lee said. “We just packed for a few days. We didn’t even take any of the important papers.”

The family has not yet decided what it will ultimately do. Lee said he enjoys being close to his brother’s family, where they can support one another—another blessing—but he still has ties to New Orleans, where he taught at Loyola University and served as music director at St. Paul the Apostle Parish as well as running his business.

“We have to trust in God, and it will work out,” he said. “The blessings are so clear and present. I keep telling people how really blessed we are.”