NEW YORK–At St. Fortunata Roman Catholic Church in East New York, Brooklyn, some of the parishioners worshiping on Sunday afternoon bang on African drums and shake a tambourine and an osha sekere — a hollowed-out gourd covered with rainbow-colored beads. Then, their eyes shut tight, they raise their voice to the heavens in Igbo, a language of southeastern Nigeria.
But at the end of this month, the music at the Igbo-language Mass may abruptly soften.
That is when some of the hundred or so Nigerians who have worshiped at the church for the past 18 months will move out, in response to continual run-ins with the St. Fortunata community, whose approximately 600 families are mostly Caribbean and Latino, and the pastor, the Rev. Vincent Miceli. Starting next month, some Nigerians will begin celebrating Mass in Igbo at St. Anthony of Padua in South Ozone Park, Queens. Others, loyal to St. Fortunata, will remain in the East New York church.
The decision to relocate came in response to an incident on June 17, when the Rev. Damian Umeokeke, a Nigerian priest in residence at St. Fortunata, preached for more than half an hour. The Nigerians among his audience, wearing loose-neck shirts and colorful head scarves, expected a homily of that length. Some of the English-speaking parishioners, though, eager to get on with their Father’s Day plans, were upset.
When Father Umeokeke finished, Father Miceli took to the lectern and issued a public rebuke. “Thank you, Father, for your thoughts,” he said. “In the future, please limit your preaching to 20 to 25 minutes.”
A general ruckus erupted. Some of the Nigerians stood and shouted in defense of the preacher. A small contingent applauded Father Miceli.
The Mass resumed after a few tense moments, but only after Father Miceli, who has served at St. Fortunata for five years, stepped down from the altar and frenzied ushers hushed the crowd. The African drums were banged, the tambourine and sekere were shaken, and the faithful in the pews sang once again.
But the repercussions lingered, so much so that the Rev. Christopher Ezeoke, head of the Nigerian apostolate of the Diocese of Brooklyn, asked the diocese to relocate the Igbo Mass. “It is against the Catholic Church to interrupt Mass,” Father Ezeoke explained later in an interview. “The Nigerian apostolate has to move.”
According to the City Planning Department, New York has about 15,000 Nigerian-born residents, many of them Catholics from Igboland, a region in southeastern Nigeria. They worship in various parishes around the city, of which the most prominent are St. Fortunata, on Linden Boulevard, and St. Paul the Apostle Roman Catholic Church, in Corona, Queens. The last Igbo Mass at St. Fortunata before the split will be held on July 29.
Though Catholicism binds the Igbo community with other Catholic New Yorkers, cultural differences separate them. In Igbo Catholicism, the priest’s homily is less a pronouncement from on high than a spirited conversation with parishioners. At a recent Igbo Mass, for example, Father Umeokeke, a quiet man outside the church but thundering when delivering homilies, asked the congregation in whose name they had been baptized: “The Father, the Son, and the ——?”
“Holy Spirit!” the congregation shouted back.
And instead of collecting money by passing baskets in which parishioners can deposit spare change or envelopes containing cash, at an Igbo Mass, the faithful dance their way to the altar to drop offerings in a community basket.
Speaking in St. Fortunata’s rectory after the incident, Father Miceli said that he welcomed the Igbo practices but would like to see the community work harder to blend into the larger life of the Catholic Church.
“Every group wants to hold on and say, ‘This is our piece of the pie,’ ” he said. “People forget that there is a whole other world out there. And it’s not just us. It’s not just our needs, or my group, or my family or my particular tribe.”
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