A church, a priest, two kindred spirits, and the kindness of strangers. In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, when nearly all hope was drowned in the flood, one church in the Upper Ninth Ward of New Orleans did not give up.

This is a story about Father Joseph Benson, a Northern Irishman, and Arthine Vicks, an ex-Marine fluent in American Sign Language: two unlikely allies working to reunite one of New Orleans' most unusual, most independent congregations. Their church, Blessed Seelos, is home to the city's deaf Catholics and to many Spanish-speaking immigrants, making it trilingual and not like any other church in New Orleans.

It's a story about a businessman from Seattle who witnessed the desperation in the faces of the people in New Orleans and brought together more than 160 volunteers to do something about it, including dozens of New Orleans union laborers, many of whom lost their own homes to Katrina.

But more than anything this is a story about home, and the mysterious, powerful allure of New Orleans. When your roots grow deep, sometimes not even a hurricane can pull them up.

Thursday, 8/28/08 from 3:30-4:30 a.m. ET