SHAKE THE DEVIL OFF!

Yesterday, in my last post about the way the Catholic Church is engaging in self destructive behaviour, I mentioned the struggle of the Parish of St. Augustine in New Orleans. I was made aware of the events there by the award winning documentary, Shake The Devil Off, by Swiss Director, Peter Entell which I saw on the German/French network, ARTE on Sunday night.

It told the story of the Parish which had existed for almost 200 years, originally a church for the wealthy. The slaves were allowed to sit outside and there is a famous slave cemetery in back of the church.

Over the years since the Civil War, the church became a bastion of creole culture and had evolved services which reflected the cultural heritage of Jazz and Gospel.
The spititual leader of the church for the last 30 years had been Pastor Jerome Le Doux, a handsome charismatic man who during and after Hurricane Katrina rises to heroic proportions as he struggles to keep the faith and the bodies of his parishioers fed.
Meanwhile, as the St. Augustine struggles with the day to day problems of the poor and their needs, the arch diocese of New Orleans has decided that because so many of the parishioners have been "displaced" from this valuable piece of real estate, they can assert their control and suppress the unique culture that emanates from the souls of St. Augustine.

The film focuses on the battle by the parishioners to keep their church and their pastor. Pere Le Doux is shown as the real performer he is and the spiritual lion he must be to calmly navigate the tricky waters of ecclesiastical protocol and out and out greed.
He emerges as a fierce but gentle, wise human who knows the limits and the role he must play in this drama.

The film is full of great music, the Marsalis family plays at the church and there are many great performances from members of the church and local New Orleans supporters.
I would most heartily recommend this film to anyone who believes in the power of the human spirit.
The ending may not be what you want, but the energy of this film is uplifting.
The politics and manipulation go a long way to explain what happened and is continuing to unfold in New Orleans with the deliberate dispersal of the real culture!

The above film is a performance of a Gospel Mass by Pere Jerome, last year in New Orleans, not in St. Augustine Church. Here he is perhaps 78 years old and beginning to be a little tired from the struggle. Go to the website for the film and check it out!