NEW YORK CITY (RNS)– On a Thursday mid-day early this summer season, seven individuals beinged in a circle in the basement of St. George’s Episcopal Church in downtown Manhattan, facing a white boards covered with statements about an upcoming Deaf arts celebration and the date for regional political elections. Opah Gordon, a high, 57 -year-old deaf lady, stood at the board authorizing her weekly information update on other happenings in the city and around the world.
Like hundreds of various other Deaf people in New york city City over the years, Gordon has found in St. Ann’s Church for the Deaf, in the basement of St. George’s Episcopal Church, a room for support, neighborhood and solidarity.
“I really feel that I can breathe below. It’s a warm setting and I really feel comfortable here. I really feel that right here we can share exactly how we really feel,” stated Gordon, making use of Sign language. She adds that she considers herself more of a spiritual individual and not an Episcopalian, yet that St. Ann’s is more than a church to her.
She is not alone in discovering community at St. Ann’s regardless of specific religious beliefs technique. Rebecca Aranow, 60, that is Jewish, has been a member of St. Ann’s for 10 years. Among the main factors she determined to go to, she said, is the accessibility. “There’s no indication language interpreter at the synagogue. It’s hard to follow without an interpreter. That’s why I chose to visit this church,” claimed Aranow.
Like numerous other mainline Protestant congregations, St. Ann’s is considering an uncertain future, with few young congregants. The very first church for the deaf in the United States, established in 1852, it as soon as combined greater than 300 deaf congregants in its very own church. Today, most of its 15 members, varying in age from late 40 s to 80 s, rely on daily assistance from assistants or assistive technology to communicate and navigate daily life chores.
On Sundays, the basement space at St. George’s transforms right into a shelter, with a main table established with high candles, a cross and symbols of the resurrection to end up being an altar for a solution held in indicator language. Next to the altar, a tv presents the faces of the five people adjusting in to the service via Zoom.
A poster of congregants at St. Ann’s Church for the Deaf, Sunday, Aug. 17, 2025, in New York City City.( Photo by Leyrian Colón Santiago )
For a hearing person, the noise of the artists playing and the footsteps of St. George’s congregants in the church upstairs in addition to honks from automobiles outside filter into the silence of the cellar room, yet the churchgoers remains rapt on the gestures and the company indicators of the solution. Hand movements and faces are essential, not simply for recognizing words, but for feeling, picking up and fully realizing what is being connected.
According to Jannelle Legg, an assistant professor in background at Gallaudet University who created her doctoral thesis on the church’s founding and early life, St. Ann’s once acted as a center for the Deaf area in New york city, offering not just worship but networking for job applicants, shared aid and real estate support.
Yet after The Second World War, the church was affected by the city’s market and architectural adjustments thus that its West 18 th Road church, developed to pay for deaf people clear sight lines during the solution, needed to be marketed.
After the war, the country in its entirety likewise moved far from religious affiliation and toward various other types of public involvement and participation, and communication solutions for deaf people additionally advanced, implying that most of them no more relied on the church as a central factor of control and assistance for housing, work or common help. Both patterns have contributed to the decrease present at St. Ann’s today.
“St. Ann’s was a vital space, supplying redemption and mutual help to adherents. Church leaders intervened on issues of employment, economic scarcity or experiences with the regulation. Today, most of the solutions and support that parishioners gotten are offered beyond the church,” stated Legg regarding how the church has actually had to continuously redefine itself. At the very same time, technological advancements have actually provided more communication tools for the Deaf area.
Melissa Inniss interacts with virtual participants at St. Ann’s Church for the Deaf, Sunday, Aug. 17, 2025, in New York City.( Picture by Leyrian Colón Santiago )
But obstacles still exist, stated Legg, and St. Ann’s still plays an important duty for its today.
Melissa Inniss, a volunteer congregant and hearing person who leads the solutions, believes St. Ann’s lot of money might alter once more and that it can proceed being a secure area for the city’s Deaf community. Because 2012, Inniss, an audiologist, has been helping lead Sunday solutions, that includes preparing the celebration, organizing events for the churchgoers, making follow-up telephone calls and initiating programs to assist the church grow. “This is my way of staying attached to the work I used to do as an audiologist,” stated Inniss.
Yet in June, the Rev. William Erich Krengel ended up being just the seventh deaf pastor in St. Ann’s history, its initial full-time clergy person since 2007, giving the members hope that it can expand again.
Erich Krengel, who was ordained in 2001, has offered part time given that 2012, checking out the church twice a month to lead services and assistance congregants while working as a social employee and serving in the Episcopal Diocese of Connecticut, where he lives. But his part-time standing prevented him from making home visits or entailing himself deeply in pastoral treatment.
Erich Krengel, who is deaf, grew up in a hearing family members where his moms and dads refused to let him discover sign language, so he counted entirely on lip-reading and did not create indication language abilities until later on in life His lack of ability to connect effectively affected his development in your home and everywhere he went. “At the church I attended as a kid, I couldn’t understand anything the pastor was saying. There were no interpreters or anything to assist explain what was going on in the church,” stated Erich Krengel, who claimed the experience led him to end up being a priest.
The Rev. William Erich Krengel, left, and Melissa Inniss indicator with attendees at St. Ann’s Church for the Deaf, Sunday, Aug. 17, 2025, in New York City.(Picture by Leyrian Colón Santiago)
In the 19 th century, according to Legg, St. Ann’s demonstrated the demand to transform the prayer area with innovations such as American Sign Language. Today, the chronicler stated, a long-term rebirth “would certainly entail an improvement and extension of those makeovers,” stated Legg, that would react to the modern requirements of deaf people in New york city and past.
Erich Krengel claimed his very first focus will certainly get on restoring neighborhood. “I want to start slowly and take my time with individuals. I intend to discover more individuals and build more powerful connections,” claimed Erich Krengel in a video meeting with an indicator language interpreter.
Erich Krengel’s objectives may seem moderate, however, for Claudine Bastien, a 43 -year-old that comes to St. Ann’s, the clergyman’s appointment has acted as inspiration to proceed going to.
“I intend to stay at this church because it assists me to have a clergyman who is likewise from our neighborhood and understands indication language,” said Bastien.
A pedestrian passes an indicator for St. Ann’s Church for the Deaf, which fulfills in the basement of St. George’s Episcopal Church in midtown Manhattan. (Image by Leyrian Colón Santiago)