Diocesan Profile
- Who We Are

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The logo of our Search/Nominating Committee symbolizes much about our history and culture. From the Brooklyn Bridge at the western end of Long Island to the Montauk Lighthouse at its eastern tip, these two monuments of our nation’s history have inspired millions to explore this land. When opened 125 years ago, the Brooklyn Bridge was the longest suspension bridge in the world and the tallest structure in the Western Hemisphere…as well as the only land passage between Manhattan and Brooklyn. The Montauk Lighthouse some 123 miles away is even older. Authorized by the Second Continental Congress under President George Washington in 1792, it was completed four years later and has served as an active aid to navigation ever since.

The beauty of these two structures – and their functional importance in the region’s commerce and development – are emblematic of divergent traditions: The urban magic of Brooklyn’s streets and the seafaring heritage of Suffolk County’s harbors could not be more different. Yet there are many parallels in the growth of both the east and the west of our island. Drawn from the city or the sea, generations have moved here, settled, and moved again, with the imprint of their creativity and vitality remaining as new generations succeed them. As so many nations’ citizens have made their homes on this island, we can clearly see common patterns of migration – not just immigration – in our history. Many of the vexing pressures of today, such as affordable housing, have affected people from Greenpoint to Greenport over the years in remarkably similar ways.

Of course, this being Long Island, nothing is ever that simple. We don’t even agree on what to call ourselves or where our boundaries are. As argumentative New Yorkers, it should not be too surprising that we define ourselves in negative terms as “Not New York City”: whether commuting into Manhattan, flourishing on its tourist dollars, or simply enjoying the many attractions of the booming metropolis to the west, many of us are very happy to be “from elsewhere.” (Whether we live in Brooklyn or in Suffolk, many of us tell our neighbors we’re going into “the city.”) This essential complexity is a product of our long history on this island, a history that’s sometimes quite evident in the massive urban structures built by the great churchmen of the 19th century, and sometimes below the surface in the rural past of the East End. The unity and vitality of our Diocese in fact comes from this very complexity. It’s part of our spirit, and like all things spiritual, it may not always be easy to see.

For proof, take a look at each of the four archdeaconries, corresponding to the counties of Brooklyn (Kings County), Queens, Nassau, and Suffolk, which together include more than 7 million people. �

The great playground of Coney Island with the Cyclone, the original Nathan’s, and the New York Aquarium has largely recovered from the decline of the 1960s and 1970s. Its pattern of decline and rebirth is a familiar Long Island story. What began as a destination for the elite became an amusement park for the masses, followed by steep decline and then recovery for an entirely new population. Brighton Beach is now heavily populated by Russian speaking immigrants from the former Soviet Union; the glistening sandy Coney Island beaches, open to everyone without restriction, remain a draw for the entire city. And the Labor Day parade in Crown Heights – by some accounts the largest street fair in the world – draws over four million spectators to the spectacular costumes and excellent calypso, steel band, and reggae music from the West Indies (click http://www.angelfire.com/ny/Playmas/index.html).

In its extremes of wealth and poverty, Brooklyn is similar to other parts of the U.S.: There are pockets resembling the worst parts of Camden, N.J. or downtown Detroit, and other sections as prestigious as Beacon Hill in Boston. Easy access to Manhattan and intense demand for housing have led to massive gentrification, with the consequent pressures on neighborhoods and their churches.

Our Diocese has not been a passive spectator: Working with the East Brooklyn Congregations (EBC), we played a major role in the building renaissance in the East New

York Brownsville sections of Brooklyn. Following neglect by the city and the devastating decline in housing, education and safety, the EBC’s grassroots organizing and negotiation led to thousands of affordable owner occupied homes – among the largest such reconstructions in the U.S. over the past 25 years. The renewal brought working class families back into the community, and institutions such as St. Barnabas Episcopal Church, in East New York, began to flourish: Church attendance has rebounded from an average 50 persons per Sunday in the early 1980s to around 240 today. Brooklyn Churches have some of the most vital congregations in our Diocese. With many having come to the

U.S. during a wave of Caribbean immigration in the 1970s and 80s, our sisters and brothers in Brooklyn have brought a rich and vibrant Anglo Catholicism that continues to enrich the whole Diocese.

IF BROOKLYN IS A CITY OF NEIGHBORHOODS, QUEENS IS A UNITED NATIONS OF NEIGHBORHOODS. THE ARCHDEACONRY OF QUEENS HAS 29 CONGREGATIONS. IT IS THE HOME TO JUST UNDER 10,000 EPISCOPALIANS WHO WORSHIP IN MANY LANGUAGES AND STYLES FROM ALL SAINTS’ CHURCH IN LONG ISLAND CITY, WHERE MODERN CONDOS NOW DOT THE SKYLINE TO GRACE CHURCH, JAMAICA, WHICH WAS FOUNDED IN 1702 BY THE SOCIETY FOR THE PROPAGATION OF THE GOSPEL. ONCE LARGELY AGRICULTURAL LAND (IT INCLUDED MOST OF TODAY’S NASSAU COUNTY THROUGH MOST OF THE 19TH CENTURY), QUEENS TODAY IS THE BEDROOM COMMUNITY TO THE WORLD, WITH OVER 100 LANGUAGES SPOKEN, BY SOME ESTIMATES. IT RIVALS LOS ANGELES AS THE MOST ETHNICALLY DIVERSE COUNTY IN THE U.S. LEAVE THE #7 TRAIN AT 74TH STREET AND WALK EAST ALONG ROOSEVELT AVENUE IN QUEENS. YOU WILL SEE WOMEN IN SARIS, HEAR MUSIC FROM COLOMBIA, EAT FOOD FROM PAKISTAN AND MALAYSIA, EXPLORE A CHINATOWN AND A KOREATOWN MUCH LARGER THAN THOSE IN MANHATTAN, AND VOYAGE TO ANY OF 100 CITIES IN THE WORLD JUST BY RESTING YOUR EYE SOMEWHERE.

Queens became a place of escape when Brooklyn became “too urban” not long after New York City voted to consolidate the five boroughs in 1898 (a very close vote, by the way). The only sizable county in the country where black household income exceeds that of white households, Queens is a haven for economic opportunity and upward mobility for scores of different ethnic groups. Its religious traditions are similarly varied, and overlapping, St. George’s, Flushing, one of four royal chartered churches on Long Island, dates to 1702 but today offers services in Chinese, Spanish, and English.

Though highly residential, Queens was always more than that. In 1872,William Steinway moved his piano factory from Manhattan to a 400acre site east of Astoria; Steinway Village included foundries, a factory, a post office, employee housing, a kindergarten, library, ball fields, and a park. Astoria was also the center

of American filmmaking in the 1920s and 1930s,withValentino,W.C.Fields, the Marx Brothers, Edward G. Robinson, Tallulah Bankhead and many other Broadway stars working here – and some building summer cottages in Queens or Nassau.² (The Kaufman studios in Astoria are still actively used; “The Cosby Show” was filmed there, among other recent films and television shows.) Some of the greatest musicians of the 20th century also lived in Queens, such as Louis Armstrong and Count Basie.

Queens comes by its international character naturally: JFK Airport is the nation’s largest international passenger gateway and one of its biggest air freight hubs. (LaGuardia, also in Queens, is much smaller but still ranks 20th in total

U.S. passengers boarding.) Two of the largest World’s Fairs, in 1939 and 1964, are still fondly remembered by some residents. Flushing Meadows Park, the fairgrounds site, was neglected for years by New York City after the 1964 fair, but as one of the city’s largest parks it is heavily used for recreation today – the much visited Hall of Science is also located there – and recently opened a new indoor pool.

The story of use and reuse, of heavy migration and population change, remains a defining story of Long Island. Despite their relative success today, Queens residents have often voiced resentment at relatively poor service from “The City” of which they are a part. Changing neighborhood demographics fuel resentments in many parts of the world, and Queens is far from immune: Some persons of color have vivid memories of bitter demonstrations over school integration in the 1960s. �

² Wikipedia describes the origins of Astoria, Queens in a way characteristic of much Long Island history: Originally Hallet's Cove, Astoria “was renamed after John Jacob Astor, who never set foot in the neighborhood, in order to persuade him to invest $2,000 in the neighborhood. He only invested $500,but the name stayed. A bitter battle over naming the village was finally won by supporters and friends of Astor who had become the wealthiest man in America by 1840 with a net worth of over $40 million. Astor did live in a place called ‘Astoria’ (his summer home), built in Manhattan on what is now East 87th Street near York Avenue, from which he could see across the river the new Long Island village named in his honor.”

From farmland to manors to suburban sprawl of some 1.3 million, the development trend seems banal. But that would be misleading. One of the earliest English settlements on Long Island was a Puritan community in Hempstead, which was for many years a center of commerce and society. Since the 1960s the village – the largest incorporated village in New York State – has struggled with urban ills such as deteriorating schools and street crime, although signs of improvement have appeared in recent years.

Other small urbanized areas in Nassau County have been similarly afflicted. With more than 900 separate but overlapping governmental institutions in Nassau and Suffolk Counties, fragmentation has brought not only high costs and inefficiency but also, some argue, an institutionalized segregation that isolates the poor and marginalized. Thanks to economic growth and continued migration, Census Bureau data show that Long Island has grown less segregated over time and compares favorably with other areas in several measures of integration. However, the high cost of housing remains a critical issue for Nassau and Suffolk, driving out old and young alike as well as keeping communities divided. And as an island, pressures on land use and especially groundwater have become acute.

Yet despite the problems it has in common with other aging suburbs across the nation, Nassau has an educated, passionate citizenry who have turned our rich history and great natural resources into assets for all. It is often ranked among the top places to live in the U.S., with many excellent schools, and the museums, parks, and farms that have been saved from development across the county are vital treasures. Many private and public groups work to preserve Long Island Sound and the beautiful bays, harbors, and shorelines on both the north and south shores for fishing, boating and swimming. The politics may be feisty and fractious, the crowds get cranky from time to time, but Long Island grows on people.

FROM ONE ST. MARY’S (AMITYVILLE) TO ANOTHER (SHELTER ISLAND), THERE ARE ALMOST 15,000 EPISCOPALIANS IN 42 CONGREGATIONS (INCLUDING FIVE SUMMER CHAPELS) IN SUFFOLK COUNTY. THE ARCHDEACONRY IS HOME TO ST. JOHN’S, SOUTHAMPTON (WHOSE ST. ANDREW DUNE CHAPEL OFFERS OCEANFRONT WORSHIP FOR THE WEALTHY WHO CALL DUNE ROAD THEIR SUMMER HOME), THE CAROLINE CHURCH IN SETAUKET (ANOTHER ROYAL CHARTER CHURCH), A VILLAGE NAMED AFTER A PARISH (ST. JAMES), AND ST. PETER’S BAY SHORE (THE HOME OF ONE OF FIVE DAY SCHOOLS IN OUR DIOCESE).

Suffolk County was part of Connecticut for years and sometimes feels closer to New England than to New York. Occupying the eastern and by far largest portion of Long Island, it has distinct traditions and preferences. Just as the Dutch were colonizing Brooklyn, English settlements were forming at the eastern end of Long Island – the first of which, Gardiner’s Island, is still the largest privately owned island in the U.S. – and some say the area still has some of that rural English character.

No more than a few thousand workers are employed on Suffolk’s fertile soil and productive bays but their impact remains significant. The county has the largest agricultural sales in New York State and has moved far beyond the traditional Long Island potatoes and ducks. The wine industry ranks second only to California in US grape production, and its nurseries and truck farms are the state’s largest. But tourism and the quality of life have become paramount to the economy, and winery tours, the fabulous beaches on the north and south shores, boating and fishing all depend on maintaining the environment. In the 1970s, the county decided to buy up farmland development rights – not solely for the sake of the scenery but also to preserve some of Long Island's last great forest – the Suffolk pine barrens, located on terrain formed by the glaciers that created the Island 20,000 years ago – and the vital fresh water supply beneath

it. So far, however, the farmland preservation program has succeeded in saving only 9,000 acres, well below the goal.

The pressure for land continues unabated, and with it the conflict between new immigrants and existing residents. The Algonquin peoples alternately fought and welcomed the first Europeans nearly 400 years ago, and they have not entirely left their land: The Shinnecock Indians (whose language was recorded by Thomas Jefferson) continue to live in Southampton and still struggle to assert their rights. But other conflicts continue today, particularly with the wave of Spanish speaking newcomers, many undocumented, facing racial and economic conflict with “locals” (many of whom did not arrive very long ago themselves). For those familiar with Long Island’s history of population movements from Brooklyn to parts east, this latest episode of social change is very familiar. So, too, is the traditional influence of the “big man.” Arthur W. Benson bought 10,000 acres in Montauk and evicted the few remaining Montaukett Indians following a government auction, but his ambitious plan for an oceangoing transportation hub foundered. (The land was later condemned by Robert Moses for state parks.) In the 1920s, Carl Fisher, the developer of Miami Beach, built a luxurious hotel and “skyscraper” in Montauk as part of ambitious plans for a similar development there – plans that were thwarted (fortunately, to some) by the stock market crash of 1929.

But Suffolk County is not just a playground concealing a struggle over land rights. Its economic strength is diverse, with important software, defense, and aerospace industries building on the Island’s aviation heritage – the lunar module was built in Bethpage – as well as topnotch schools and research facilities, such as Brookhaven National Labs, Cold Spring Harbor (across the border in Nassau), and Plum Island animal disease research. Its artistic heritage is even greater, with painters from William Merritt Chase in the 1890s to Pollack, DeKooning, Warhol, and many others in the postwar era flocking to the beautiful surroundings and soft light.

In the summer of 1861,Walt Whitman wrote an early tourist review in The Brooklyn Standard:

…the east end of Long Island, for a summer journey, affords better sport, greater economy, and a relief from the trammels of fashion, beyond any of the fashionable resorts or watering places, and is emphatically a good spot to go to, as many of our Brooklynites have long since discovered.

Times have changed: the trammels of fashion have decidedly moved east, and one needs to look very carefully to find the economy Whitman spoke of. But the natural beauty is still undimmed by tourist hordes or suburban sprawl. Visitors seeking spirituality can contemplate the call to prayer as the bell tolls at Little Portion Friary, children’s treble voices that echo over the bluffs at Camp DeWolfe, or the horn of the Orient Point Ferry sounding as it turns southwest past St. John’s Church on Fisher’s Island. Most of us on Long Island come from “somewhere else,” but despite the push and pull of 7.5 million people on this island, there are many places where we hear the Spirit calling quietly to us.  

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