Nearly five years after Hurricane Ida tore apart its roof and sent water pouring into the sanctuary, St. Augustine Catholic Church in Tremé marked a long-awaited homecoming Sunday, celebrating its 185th anniversary with a Mass inside the historic building it had been forced to abandon. The congregation, recognized as the oldest Black Catholic parish in the country, gathered at 10 a.m. for the service that doubled as both a celebration of survival and a formal return to the sanctuary at the corner of Gov. Nicholls and Henriette Delille streets.
The parish's pastor, Emmanuel Mulenga, recalled that the church held Mass the very Sunday after Ida struck in 2021, even as the storm's damage became clear, according to NOLA.com. Hurricane Ida caused catastrophic roof damage that led to water seepage in the main sanctuary, as reported by Black Catholic Messenger. Windows were blown out and water damage crumbled plaster throughout the building, according to a 2023 report from nola.com, which found the church still shuttered two years after the storm, with repairs unfinished as of July 2023.
A Five-Year Wait Finally Ends
Mass moved into the adjoining church hall while repairs dragged on, and the congregation did not return to its historic edifice for its first Sunday service until June 7, per Black Catholic Messenger. Mulenga described the congregation's spirit throughout the ordeal as persevering, saying the parish had been tested, NOLA.com reported. Much of the cost fell on the parish itself: the church spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on repairs, and paid out of pocket more than $500,000 for work not covered by insurance or FEMA, per Mulenga's account to the paper, even as insurance and FEMA helped cover a portion of the hurricane repairs.
Covington-based Regal Construction carried out the repair work, the paper reported, and the church's 180-year-old iron steeple cross was reinstalled in 2024, according to Black Catholic Messenger. A $2.5 million fundraising campaign for maintenance and upkeep, launched in 2019, has drawn support from donors including Gayle Benson, Terry and Lynette Dufrene, and Miriam Gonzales, as well as the Friends of Tremé Culture, per NOLA.com. The National Trust for Historic Preservation's African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund separately awarded the parish a $200,000 grant, which St. Augustine Catholic Church says will support masonry and plaster repair and restoration. Black Catholic Messenger notes that further fundraising will still be needed to address peeling plaster and other age-related deterioration.
Nearly Two Centuries of Faith and Resistance
St. Augustine's roots stretch back to 1841, when free people of color received permission from Bishop Antoine Blanc to raise money and build a new church, according to NOLA.com. The building was dedicated on Oct. 9, 1842, per Verite News, and was named in honor of St. Augustine of Hippo, rising on land that had formerly been part of the plantation redeveloped by Claude Treme, NOLA.com reported. In what became known as the War of the Pews in the 1840s, free people of color purchased pews for themselves and for enslaved people, with congregation members buying seats to raise money for the fledgling church, per the paper's account.
The parish counts Henriette Delille, founder of the Sisters of the Holy Family, who provided care and shelter for orphans and died of tuberculosis at age 50 in 1862, among its historic ties, NOLA.com reported. Homer Plessy and jazz musician Sidney Bechet both attended the church, according to the same account. St. Augustine has fought for its survival before: Verite News reported the parish waged, and won, a hard-fought battle against archdiocesan post-Katrina closure plans, and NOLA.com notes that when the Archdiocese of New Orleans announced plans in 2006 to close St. Augustine and merge it with nearby St. Peter Claver, opponents occupied the rectory for 19 days before the archdiocese scuttled the plan.
A Smaller Congregation Faces What's Next
The church now has around 280 members, Mulenga told the paper, and he anticipates little growth in membership going forward, pointing to a long-declining congregation shaped by shifting demographics in the neighborhood. He said the parish will need to have difficult conversations about those demographic and membership challenges. The strain echoes a broader pattern across the city: the Archdiocese of New Orleans has pointed to financial pressures and declining Mass attendance in explaining past parish closures, and has said more may follow, according to nola.com.
Still, Sunday's Mass drew a parish community determined to mark the moment. New Orleans Mayor Helena Moreno attended the anniversary Mass and presented the church with a proclamation, per NOLA.com. Longtime parishioner Monique Brierre, 68, who was born in Haiti, grew up in Shreveport, and has lived in New Orleans for 40 years aside from a stretch after Hurricane Katrina, was married at St. Augustine in 1989 and described returning to the sanctuary as coming home, telling the paper that St. Augustine is her home and family. Parishioner Linda Harris described the church as welcoming to everyone regardless of race, gender, or economic means, while Blake Cass, who became a parishioner after moving to New Orleans, joined the congregation that has now carried this 185-year-old parish through its latest test.
