SYRACUSE – Approaching 501 Park Street in Syracuse, a visitor would see what looks like a Catholic church. Though this site was once home to the Holy Trinity Roman Catholic Church, the building is now being converted into a mosque.
As neighborhood demographics change, the need for specific religious spaces tends to shift as well. This summer, Shannon Boley, the daughter of Kathleen Shea of Westfield and Christopher Boley of Woodstock, N.Y., and a rising sophomore at Hamilton College, is working with two other students on a Levitt Group Research Project. “Sacred Spaces in Transition” is under the guidance of Assistant Professor of Art Robert Knight and Visiting Associate Professor of Religious Studies Brent Plate.
Boley and the others are examining religious spaces in the Second Ward of Utica’s (NY) downtown. Like 501 Park Street, the Second Ward is a transitional landscape that is responding to shifting neighborhood demographics. The Second Ward is the city’s immigration hub: first welcoming Welsh religious refugees, then a large influx of Jewish immigrants, followed by Muslims from Bosnia, Thailand and Somalia, and now accommodating Buddhists from Thailand and Vietnam.
Boley and another student are working closely with Plate in order to compile a comprehensive history of the religious spaces of the Second Ward. The two began by studying historical maps of the area, before shifting to primary sources, history books and various archives. They are looking at structural changes to the buildings, including renovations and remodeling, focusing on the motivations behind these changes.
Boley, a prospective religious studies major, is specifically examining the relationship between the ebb and flow of immigrant populations and the boom-and-bust cycle of particular religious spaces. Commenting on the presence of Christianity, she cited the Tabernacle Baptist Church, stating: “Utica, in particular, was in decline but now they’re being bolstered by the immigrant communities.”
Boley is a member of Hamilton’s All Beliefs Union and a part of an interfaith group in Utica; “the interviews are really why I’m doing this,” she revealed. “By making connections with people of different religious backgrounds, you get a more global understanding about what the world is like,” she added. Boley admitted that she “never thought about how important language is to a religion,” but now sees the intersection of identity and culture with spirituality.
The group is examining the relationship between the ebb and flow of immigrant populations and the boom-and-bust cycle of particular religious spaces. Certainly, not only sanctioned spaces are considered sacred. Although a building may have once been considered sacred for Christians, it may now house Muslims or Buddhists.
Whether it’s a Bosnian mosque turned Methodist church, or an Israeli synagogue converted to a Buddhist temple, sacred spaces are not in danger of death; rather they are always being reincarnated as one place of worship or another. A prime example of the “American melting pot,” Utica only becomes more diverse and continues to welcome refugees and immigrants with open arms.
