Skip to main content

St. Augustine Catholic Church, New Orleans, Louisiana (1841- )

By

St. Augustine Catholic Church of New Orleans was the first black church in Louisiana and the first black Catholic church in the United States. In the 1830's a group of free African-American New Orleanians began organizing to create a Catholic church in Tremé, a historically black and multicultural New Orleans neighborhood. With the blessing of Antoine Blanc, the first Archbishop of New Orleans, the parish was founded in 1841 and the first ceremony was held there on October 9, 1842.

A group of white Catholics, angered that a Catholic church aimed at black New Orleanians was to be built, began a campaign to purchase pews in an attempt to outnumber the black parishioners. This effort was unsuccessful, as free blacks still greatly outnumbered whites. Additionally, reputedly a first in American history, black members pooled resources to purchase pews for slaves.

In 2005 hurricane Katrina devastated the Archdiocese of New Orleans financially. Although St. Augustine was relatively undamaged, the parish’s numbers had been declining for some time. In order to save costs, in March 2006 Archbishop Alfred Hughes decided to close St. Augustine and merge its parish with St. Peter Claver in a neighboring African American area. This decision was met with resistance from St. Augustine’s parishioners and lay leaders. A group of community workers barricaded themselves in the church in an effort to force Archbishop Hughes to reverse his decision. The event attracted national and global press.

After a twenty-day standoff, Archbishop Hughes agreed to put St. Augustine on probation on condition that the parish would improve its finances, education, and attendance in eighteen months. The parishioners were successful in meeting these goals and acquired a $75,000 grant to help renovate the building. In March 2009 the Archdiocese took St. Augustine off probation. Today St. Augustine Catholic Church of New Orleans continues to hold church services and sponsor community cultural events.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Pressure Points

By
Pressure points are vital points or weak points of the body where a blood vessel or a nerve is very close to the skin. Pressure on these points can cause pain, injury or even death if an atemi (blow) is applied. Only some martial arts as Hapkido, Aikido, Jujutsu, Karate, Kyusho Jutsu, and certain styles of Kung Fu include pressure points in their teachings. There are about 300 pressure points on the human body, but very few are used in martial arts. http:// www.martialartsdo.org/ articles/humanbody/ pressurepoints.php
Post a Comment
Read more

Yolande Cornelia "Nikki" Giovanni, Jr. (born June 7, 1943 - )

By
Nikki Giovanni was born in  Knoxville, Tennessee ,   to Yolande Cornelia, Sr. and Jones "Gus" Giovanni. She grew up in  Lincoln Heights , a suburb of  Cincinnati, Ohio , though she returned to Knoxville to live with her grandparents in 1958, and attended the city's  Austin High School . In 1960, she began her studies at her grandfather's alma mater,  Fisk University  in  Nashville, Tennessee . She had a difficult time adjusting to college life and was subsequently expelled. However, she realized that she needed an education, drove back to Nashville, spoke with the Dean of Women, and was readmitted. In 1967, she graduated with honors with a B.A. in History. She returned to Cincinnati and established the city's first Black Arts Festival. Giovanni also began writing the poems that are included in her first self-published volume,  Black Feeling, Black Talk  (1968). Afterward she went on to attend graduate school at the  University o...
Post a Comment
Read more

PHYLLIS LINDA HYMAN (July 6, 1949 – June 30, 1995)

By
Phyllis Hyman was born in  Philadelphia ,  Pennsylvania , and grew up in  St. Clair Village , the  South Hills  section of  Pittsburgh . Born to an Italian mother, (Louise), and African-American father, (Phillip),  Hyman was the eldest of seven children. Through her paternal great-grandparents Ishmael and Cassandra (Cross) Hyman, she was also the first cousin once removed of actor  Earle Hyman  (best known for his recurring role on  The Cosby Show  as Cliff's father, Russell Huxtable). After leaving Pittsburgh, her music training started at a music school. On graduation, she performed on a national tour with the group New Direction in 1971. After the group disbanded, she joined All the People and worked with another local group, The Hondo Beat. At this time, she appeared in the film  Lenny  (1974). She also did a two-year stint leading a band called "Phyllis Hyman and the P/H Factor". She was discovered in 1975 by...
Post a Comment
Read more