Belding banner. (Belding, Mich.) 1889-1918, 1897-06-03
IN MANY tongues.
The Strange Languages In Which Services
Are Held In New York.


No loophole of an excuse for not attend
ing religious services on the plea of unfa-
miliarity with the language I'm which they
are held Is now left open for the foreigner
In New York. Let him come from what
ever country he will, he can be- taken, al
most without exception, to some church
or mission in this city where the tongue of
the preacher will not be strange To his
cars. Some Of these foreign congregations
are well known and have been many years
established, while others are obscure little
bodies, almost never heard of In a general
way, and many of them are Of recent
formation. German, French and Swedish
churches have long existed in New York,
and many OF them have made their infiu-
ence powerfully felt In the charitable work
of the city. The great number of Hebrew
synagogucs forms class by themselves,
but I'm addition To these there are several
Christian mission churches in the different
Jewish quarters where the services are
conducted in Hebrew.
The majority of Italians, being Roman
Catholics, attend the various churches Of
that faith which happen To be in their
neighborhood. There are, however, II few
Protestant Italian communities, one of
the most fourishing being the church in
Broome street under the control of the
New York City mission. The services, en-
tirely in Italian, arc under the charge OF
the pastor, Antonio Alright The Judson
| Memorial Baptist church and St. Barna
has chapel, Episcopalian, have regular
| Italian services, and the Methodist denom
| ination maintains two congregations, one
| in Blocker street and the other in East
One Hundred and Twelfth street, the
heart of Little Italy"
The Armenian language from the pulpit
| may be heard in Second street, near the
| Bowery where the Oliyet Memorial church
| has mission, and ut st. Bartholomew s
Parish house, I'm East Forty second street.
| Services in modern Syriac dialect arc al
| SO held in the latter place for IL little colo
ny of Syrians from Mount Lebanon. An
| other Armenian mission IL under the
charge of the Adams Memorial (Presbytc
| ran) church and is AT Thirtieth street and
| Third avenue. This neighborhood, by the
way, has become the rallying point for
most of the Armenians in the city, and
| large numbers of them live thereabout
within IA few blocks radius While the
| Spanish are as nation Roman Catholics
! there are at least two Spanish Protestant
| churches i'm this city. The Congregational
and Presbyterian denominations have each
sturdy Welsh congregation where the
peculiarities of the Gaelic tongue sound
| strangely to American ears. Religious in
struction in Arabic To II little band Of
Christians who speak that as their native
tongue goes on every Sunday down in
Washington street. The Russian Orthodox
church in Second avenue is attended by
the few Russians ana Greeks in New York
Regular preaching services in Chinese are
carried on ut st. Bartholomew Parish
house, and probably elsewhere, in connec
ton with the many Chinese Sunday
schools. And even after this list, which
seems n considerable one, has been given
there doubtless remain other places in the
city where Christian religious worship Is
held in languages yet more unfamiliar. -
| New York Tribune.