Activists Refuse to Leave Closed Historic Church

c. 2006 Religion News Service NEW ORLEANS _ Activists opposed to the closure of historic St. Augustine Parish who occupied its vacant rectory before dawn Monday (March 20) said they would not leave until the Archdiocese of New Orleans promises to reopen the parish, which had operated for 165 years. An activist inside the rectory […]

c. 2006 Religion News Service

NEW ORLEANS _ Activists opposed to the closure of historic St. Augustine Parish who occupied its vacant rectory before dawn Monday (March 20) said they would not leave until the Archdiocese of New Orleans promises to reopen the parish, which had operated for 165 years.

An activist inside the rectory in the Treme neighborhood declined to say in a telephone interview how many people were inside. He said they belonged to a hurricane relief organization not affiliated with the parish. Another man, speaking from a second-story window, said several hurricane relief organizations were represented.


Meanwhile, a small crowd of parishioners and supporters, sometimes numbering up to 50, chanted slogans in support of St. Augustine on the sidewalk outside the church. As of Tuesday afternoon, activists still occupied the building.

The Rev. William Maestri, a spokesman for the Archdiocese of New Orleans, said the archdiocese has not sought to have the rectory forcibly cleared. The church was closed March 15.

“The archdiocese has not formulated any intention of involving civil authorities at this point. We think that would be counterproductive,” Maestri said.

Maestri called the occupation “an unfortunate setback” in the archdiocese’s reorganization of worship in the region after Hurricane Katrina.

The archdiocese is keeping the St. Augustine Church open, but has closed the parish and given its territory to neighboring St. Peter Claver parish.

Archdiocesan officials said St. Augustine had too few families and could not offer the full range of Catholic educational and social ministries that families can get from St. Peter Claver.

St. Augustine parishioners countered that, with many parishes around them damaged, they were becoming healthier after Hurricane Katrina. More pointedly, they said for 15 years the unqualified hospitality of their pastor, the Rev. Jerome LeDoux, made the parish a model of Christian life in Treme, even if its ministries looked weak on paper.


In recent weeks increasing numbers of college students and other young people doing volunteer relief work in New Orleans have been drawn to St. Augustine by its heritage of music and faith.

News conferences called by parishioners in recent days to discuss their efforts to reopen the parish were attended by large numbers of sympathetic young relief workers.

An unidentified man in the rectory said they had taken possession because parishioners “asked us to assist.”

But Sandra Gordon, the head of St. Augustine’s lay leadership council, said none of its members was involved in the takeover. However, she and several other parishioners said they welcomed every effort by others to help save the parish, even as they continued to explore ways of seeking a reversal through church law.

“It feels good,” said parishioner Al Harris. “It’s youth connecting with their elders.”

(OPTIONAL TRIM FOLLOWS)

A sign fixed to the rectory door during the occupation said “Who’s house? Fr. LeDoux’s house. No other shall enter. You heard me.”

Harris said he and a few others helped LeDoux load his car with his belongings well after midnight Sunday. Even at that hour, he said, parishioners were coming and going, seeking a last contact with him. “The phone was ringing off the hook,” Harris said.


He said he walked a saddened LeDoux to his car and saw him drive away to a facility in Bay St. Louis, Miss., run by his religious order, the Society of the Divine Word.

Harris said many people remained around the church and the rectory remained open. He said he went home, and when he returned after dawn, the occupation was under way.

Communications between parishioners and the archdiocese have deteriorated steadily since the closure was first announced.

Gordon said parishioners sent Archbishop Alfred Hughes four letters but never received a written response. “That’s just a lack of respect,” Gordon said.

But Maestri said the appropriate channel for communicating with parishioners was through LeDoux, which is what the archdiocese did.

MO/PH END RNS

(Bruce Nolan writes for The Times-Picayune in New Orleans.)

Editors: To obtain a photo of an activist leaning out the window of the St. Augustine rectory, go to the RNS Web site at https://religionnews.com. On the lower right, click on “photos,” then search by subject or slug.


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