NATCHEZ &8212; Tuite Hall at Assumption Catholic Church was abuzz with activity Saturday, as volunteers with sewing machines, embroidery hoops and steam irons worked to replace lost vestments and altar linens at Catholic churches on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.

The 13 women, most of them from Assumption and St. Mary parishes in Natchez, made albs, purificators, corporals, chasubles, stoles, funeral palls, altar cloths and tabernacle cloths for churches damaged or destroyed during Hurricane Katrina.

Some of them had never heard of the names of the altar linens and said the project is giving them a renewed connection with what takes place at the altars in their churches.

Linda Upchurch of Louisville, who is coordinator of the statewide project of the Mississippi Knights of Columbus Auxiliary, said she, too, has benefited from her involvement.

&8220;We&8217;re learning what they are called, how they are used and what they mean. It gives us respect for what goes on at the altar,&8221; Upchurch said, showing off a neatly pressed stack of linens that will go to St. Thomas church in Long Beach.

&8220;Our goal is to provide the Catholic priests on the Gulf Coast with all their altar linens and vestments,&8221; she said.

&8220;It&8217;s a year-long project, and we&8217;ve been all over the state,&8221; Upchurch said.

Nine priests will receive complete sets of the materials, a huge undertaking, Upchurch said. But the rewards are huge, also.

Maureen Irby of Assumption Church, who helped to organize the workday, said it was not difficult to find volunteers. &8220;This work is rewarding to the heart,&8221; she said.

The goal on Saturday was to complete three chasubles, work on two funeral palls and four corporals. &8220;We have ironed 48 complete purificators today, and we&8217;re going to embroider baby baptism stoles,&8221; Upchurch said.

&8220;We made our own cape patterns today and I hope we&8217;ll get to the humeral veils that are used around the shoulders during benediction.&8221;

The volunteers want to feel connected to the Katrina victims on the coast, said JoAnn Brumfield, who is active in the local Knights of Columbus Auxiliary and also helped to set up the Saturday work schedule with Upchurch.

&8220;You feel so helpless. You can&8217;t go down there and do the physical work. But we can do this,&8221; Brumfield said.

Irby and Brumfield were embroidering for the first time in years, they said. Rose Borum made it clear she was not a seamstress but came to help as she could.

&8220;It makes you feel good that you can help even in little ways,&8221; Borum said. &8220;I&8217;m not a sewer, but I&8217;m here to iron.&8221;

Statewide, the program caught fire early on, Brumfield said. &8220;It&8217;s like fishes and loaves. It has grown and grown and taken on a life of its own. This project was sent to Linda&8217;s hands. She has what it takes to do it.&8221;

Upchurch, a Red Cross registered nurse, has a small fabric shop that she closed for the year in order to take on the project.

&8220;I&8217;m getting calls from everywhere,&8221; she said. &8220;People hear about what we&8217;re doing and want to help.&8221;

Upchurch has had people from all over the country calling to volunteer to make vestments and altar cloths. One is making a complete Franciscan suit of clothes for a priest who is in that order.

Irby said the Natchez volunteers came prepared to work. &8220;We have had some that iron, some that pin, some that sew and some that mark. Then some of them just walk around and say, &8216;can I get you something?&8217;&8221;

Upchurch said she had no idea the program would grow to such proportions. &8220;This has brought the women of the auxiliary together,&8221; she said. &8220;It is absolutely astonishing the money, time and talent that has come together, blossomed and bloomed.&8221;