ARCHDIOCESE OF NEW ORLEANS REVERSES DECISION TO CLOSE HISTORIC BLACK ST. AUGUSTINE CHURCH AFTER KATRINA

Priests celebrate Mass at St. Augustine Catholic Church in New Orleans on April 9, 2006. From left, the Rev. Jerome LeDoux, St. Augustine pastor; deacon Jesse Wattey; New Orleans Archbishop Alfred Hughes; deacon Ronald Guidry and the Rev. Michael Jacques, pastor of neighboring St. Peter Claver Church. The 164-year-old St. Augustine, a center of New Orleans African-American and Creole culture, was reconsecrated and reopened on Palm Sunday. The archdiocese had tried to merge St. Augustine with St. Peter Claver in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, but agreed to an 18-month delay while parishioners try to restore the church's numbers and vitality. (UPI Photo/A.J. Sisco)