New York: In Chinatown, a Church Speaks in Several Languages

[Harold F. Schiffman]

December 25, 2007

In Chinatown, a Church Speaks in Several Languages, but With One Strong
Voice
By JENNIFER 8. LEE

At the church, pots of red and white poinsettias were carefully arranged
for midnight Mass. With the funeral service for an 82-year-old
Irish-American parishioner completed in the morning, the Italian-American
priest spent part of his afternoon on Monday reviewing his homily, to be
delivered in Cantonese and English. A sign announcing a Christmas Eve
vigil for Fujianese immigrants was taped to the window.

The preparations to celebrate Christmas at the two-century-old Church of
the Transfiguration in Chinatown, like the history of the church itself,
were multilayered, reflecting the nimble adaptation of a church once
dominated by Irish and Italian immigrants that now claims the largest
Chinese Roman Catholic congregation in the United States.  The
English-language Mass, scheduled in part for the Italian-Americans, was
said early, at 6 p.m., because those parishioners are now old enough that
their children have long since grown up and moved away to Long Island or
Staten Island. They do not like to stay out too late.

The Mass in Cantonese, which still prevails on the stretch of Mott Street
where the church stands, was said at 8 p.m. And at 9:30 p.m., immigrants
from the southern Chinese province of Fujian, holding Catholic prayer
books printed secretly in China away from the watchful eyes of the
government, gathered for their vigil to await the midnight Mass, to be
said in Mandarin and English. The vigil reflects the tradition of their
worship back in China, where they would often gather, furtively and
without priests, in parishioners homes. Catholicism in Communist China has
historically been split between the state-sanctioned organization and the
Vatican-based church.

With practices passed down from the Dominican order of Catholic
missionaries, who achieved significant influence in Fujian in the 17th
century, the Fujianese style of worship is more isolated from the changes
wrought by the Second Vatican Council in the early 1960s. Even as many
Catholic churches and schools in other parts of the city have been
shuttered in recent years because of dwindling membership, Transfiguration
Church has continued to evolve and flourish. The church baptizes more than
three dozen adults, almost all Chinese, each Easter. It celebrates Masses
in three languages, drawing 800 to 900 people each Sunday. Its schools
kindergarten class has a waiting list 150 names long.

We're bursting at the seams here, said the Rev. Raymond Nobiletti, a
Brooklyn-born Italian-American who worked in Hong Kong for 15 years and
speaks fluent Cantonese. When he first joined Transfiguration in 1991, at
the request of Cardinal John J. OConnor, Cantonese was enough to
accommodate the Chinese parishioners. Since then, he has been joined by
the Rev. Joseph Lin, a priest originally from Fujian Province, who can
take confession in four languages. For the midnight Mass, Father Lin
recruited two extra priests to hear the confessions of long lines of
Fujianese Catholics, whose worship includes making the sacrament
regularly. Now we like to teach them not to do it so often, because it is
a burden for us, Father Lin said.

Located just down the street from the once-infamous Five Points, now
reduced by development to only three and a half points, Transfiguration
Church was built in 1801 with the same stone that was used to build St.
Pauls Church on Broadway. It was used by Dutch Lutherans; as Manhattan
became less Dutch and more English, it evolved to serve an Episcopal
congregation. The Roman Catholic Church bought the building in 1853 to
serve a parish created by a Cuban exile, the Rev. Flix Varela, who
directed his services to poor Irish immigrants. As the Irish assimilated,
the pews came to be filled by Italians instead.  The real steppingstone
came when the Chinese came, because the church could have died, said
Father Nobiletti. The Irish and Italian immigrants came from a Catholic
heritage; many of the Chinese did not. We had to move and get out and get
them.

So the church worked on services for immigrants, including English
language classes, and expanded offerings for families with young children.
Like many other religious institutions, the church has continued to serve
as a bridge between government and immigrants. When the Golden Venture ran
aground in Queens in 1993, bringing nearly 300 desperate Chinese
immigrants to the shore, the Police Department asked the church if it had
any Fujianese speakers. And the earlier generations of Chinese immigrants,
mostly Cantonese, have themselves begun to assimilate, moving out of
Chinatown into the suburbs.  Wing Fong, 54, was married at Transfiguration
and his three children were baptized there. Though he now lives in Cream
Ridge, N.J., he brought his family back to the church on Monday for the 6
p.m. Mass. You have a constant flow of incoming and leaving, said Mr.
Fong, observing the changes in the church.

At the 6 p.m. Mass, Father Nobiletti recited the names of Jesus ancestors,
including Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and David. Looking out onto the
congregation, he said, We are all part of this genealogy.


http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/25/nyregion/25mass.html?_r=1&ref=nyregion&oref=slogin

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