On a Saturday morning, men and women dressed in their best church clothes flock to services offered in Creole, French, and English. The popular French service is held in the church's majestic main room and attracts an older crowd, while a group of younger Haitians attend a simultaneous English service in the back room. After service, various ministries, among them a group of doctors and another of teachers, chat up both old and new generations of immigrants. Congregants catch up on the week and savor Creole dishes.
"The gospel is making its way into the Haitian community," says Pastor Jean-Baptiste Thomas, "There are more Protestant churches than Catholic churches serving the Haitian community in New York City."
More than one-hundred Haitian Protestant churches dot the city's landscape, reflecting the growing evangelical movement among Haitians in the United States. New York, followed by Florida, Boston, and Chicago, is still home to the largest Haitian community in the world. But as the cost of living rises in the New York state, Haitians are looking for greener pastures elsewhere - and Protestant evangelicism is moving along with them. Pastor Jean-Baptiste Thomas, a church planter, will travel to Florida and Georgia in the next months to open new churches.
Since the ousting of "Papa Doc," Jean-Claude Duvalier, the Haitian constitution has allowed for religious freedom. Although there is no official, state-sanctioned religion, the country retains its 1860 Concordat with the Catholic Church. According to the U.S. Department of State, the overwhelming number of Haitians are Roman Catholic. Baptists form the largest among the Protestant denominations. Voodoo, decreed a religion in 2003, is also practiced alongside Christianity. But Protestant church leaders say official numbers are misleading--there are no available statistics for Protestant congregations. Instead, the proliferation of new churches and the roster of new faces attest to the spiritual and communal support Haitians of all classes are seeking from evangelical churches.
"I am American and I love New York, but sometimes, I feel by myself. And when I finally meet another Haitian, I feel more comfortable than when I meet a Chinese for example. And the same goes for the Chinese," says a churchgoer.
A radio program and ministry in Haiti help immigrants seek out the church upon arrival on U.S. soil. "They know us in Haiti already because of the work we do," Pastor Thomas says. Although the number of parishioners at his church is decreasing, Thomas says he'd rather see Haitians stay in Haiti.
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Évangélisme en Haiti Brooklyn, NY February 28, 2006 3:58 Days after Rene Perval was declared the president of Haiti , parishioners of the French Baptist Speaking Church, Église Baptiste d'Expression Française, gathered to attend services in New York. |