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By Kent Larsen
Staten Island Mormons Make Local News
STATEN ISLAND, NEW YORK -- A reporter for the Staten Island Advance looked
at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the newspaper's
Saturday edition, discovering, to some surprise, that the island has two LDS
congregations. The article tells about those congregations, gives an
overview of LDS history, doctrine, worship and life, while providing a view
of Mormons in this part of New York City.
Reporter Palma-Simoncek says that while everyone has heard of Mormons, the
likely reaction from Staten Islanders is "There are Mormons on Staten
Island?" In fact, the island has both an English-speaking and a
Spanish-speaking congregation meeting in two separate buildings. The
English-speaking congregation meets in a chapel on Rockland Avenue, renovatd
in 1995 at a cost of $1.3 million, while the Spanish-speaking congregation
has met since 1992 in a building on Cebra Avenue in the island's Stapleton
neighborhood, but is planning to move soon to the West Brighton neighborhood.
While Church members have lived in New York City and surrounding towns since
1837, Staten Island has been something of a laggard. The first Staten Island
branch, a dependent branch, was formed in 1950 as part of the New York
Stake, and the Church then purchased the Rockland Avenue property for a
chapel in 1959. But it wasn't until 1990 that a building was completed and
in use on the site. At that point the congregations on Staten Island were
still branches. The Rockland building now includes a gymnasium with a
half-court basketball court and a family history center, giving the general
public and Staten Island access to the Church's genealogical records.
Local members and missionaries are trying to let the public know that there
are Mormons on Staten Island and give the public a better idea of Mormon
beliefs. Last month the Rockland chapel hosted an open house, but the event
drew little interest from the community. However, a Memorial Day picnic at
the chapel brought in more people, and missionaries have now invited the
public to hear New York South Mission President Grant Lawrence Spackman
speak at the building on Thursday, June 7th at 7 pm.
Source:
Family comes first
Staten Island NY Advance 2Jun01 D1
By Leslie Palma-Simoncek: Advance Religion Editor
Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints on the Island are eager to get to know their neighbors
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