[Dixielandjazz] Some good news from New Orleans

[Steve Barbone]

list mate Kay Spencer sent me this. And list mate Norman Vickers also sent
it to his "Serious Jazz Musician" list. Lets all hope this church survives.
Sidney Bechet was baptized there in 1897.

Cheers,
Steve Barbone

Historic jazz church in New Orleans clings to life

By Gary Hill  Sun Apr 29, 8:24 PM ET

NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - A historic Catholic church in New Orleans, a
wellspring of jazz and other riches of African-American culture that has
fallen on hard times, is facing down a deadline for survival set by its
archbishop. 

St. Augustine Church was packed and rocking with brass bands and
tambourine-shaking choir singers at a jazz Mass on Sunday -- an expression
of members' hope and nonmembers' support as the 166-year-old parish
scrambles to meet terms set by Archbishop Alfred Hughes for a reprieve from
closure.

"I think we're going to make it," Donald St. Charles, a 68-year-old former
hospital worker, said after the service, which was also a memorial for TV
newsman Ed Bradley.

"Our numbers are up, and our collections are up, so we're doing what we need
to do," said Sandra Gordon, a 51-year-old member who said nine generations
of her family had been in the church.

The archdiocese, staggered by losses from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in
2005, had to make hard decisions about which churches it could afford to
repair, reopen or keep open. At one point in a sometimes bitter
relationship, the archbishop ordered St. Augustine closed and the parish
merged into another.

He relented, but laid out 18-month targets for reversing the decline of its
membership, finances and religious activities and for making physical
repairs -- challenges all that much more difficult in a city still
devastated by the flooding from the bursting of levees after Katrina.

Katrina, which struck on August 29, 2005, killed about 1,300 people.

New Orleans' Times-Picayune newspaper reported last week that with six
months left until the deadline, the church still had quite a way to go to
make its numbers. "Threat of closure still looms," it said.

"We want to be one of the jewels in our diocese's crown. We're working hard.
We hope our archbishop will be with us keeping our church alive and open and
keeping our parish alive," Gordon said.

'WE WELCOME EVERYONE'

Pastor Quentin Moody would not comment on specifics of the church's recovery
but said Sunday's Mass, swelled by music fans in town for the New Orleans
Jazz and Heritage Festival and by Bradley's friends and family, could only
help,

"It is tremendously important for this entire community, particularly
post-Katrina, because it is a sign the community is still alive and the
faith of these people has not wavered," Moody, named only last November to
conduct the church's turnaround, told Reuters.

Appearing euphoric inside the church after parishioners and visitors
streamed out to join the legendary musician Dr. John in a traditional street
parade, Moody said he welcomed supporters and visitors from around the
world.

"They come from all faiths, and they are all welcome. We welcome everyone,
because this is a tourists' Mecca."

Founded in 1841, the church was multiracial from the start. Primarily for
so-called free people of color, it also had pews reserved for whites and,
unprecedentedly, slaves.

The church is in the Treme, one of the oldest black neighborhoods in the
country.

In jazz history, St. Augustine is where pioneer clarinetist Sidney Bechet
was baptized in 1897 and where the funeral parades of many great musicians
of predominantly Roman Catholic New Orleans set out from.