Mass at Saint Augustine Church, October 20, 2013, and the Second Line Parade

October 20, 2013,

The Historic Saint Augustine Church in the Treme, New Orleans, Louisiana.

This was a wonderful Mass on Sunday October 20, 2013.  The date was the 201'st anniversary of the Treme neighborhood in New Orleans, one of the oldest black free and mixed neighborhoods in the United States.  The Mass was celebrated at St Augustine Church in the Treme, New Orleans.

St Augustine is the oldest black Catholic church in the United States.

Father Moody spoke the Mass.  In celebration of the Mass and the Treme festival, there was an all-women's brass band, who played amazing songs with the choir.   Every pew at the church was full that Sunday.

After the Mass, there was a second line parade down into the French Quarter.  There were four tiers of the parade, each with a lovely parade and its own brass band.  It was a really great festival, with people following each line, and folks dancing on the sidewalk as the bands passed.

There had been a parade from the church the night before in support of Amnesty International, Herman Wallace and Albert Woodfox, the Angola 3, who have collectively spent over 80 years in solitary confinement in Louisiana prison.

Quite an emotional weekend at Saint Augustine Church, in the Treme, New Orleans, LA.