15819: (Hermantin) Miami-Herald-A NEW CHURCH ON BISCAYNE BOULEVARD (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>

Posted on Tue, Jun. 10, 2003

A NEW CHURCH ON BISCAYNE BOULEVARD
Mormons reach out to Haitians
By WILLIAM YARDLEY
wyardley@herald.com




The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Mormons, is nearing
completion of a $3 million house of worship on Biscayne Boulevard that will
be a prominent addition to the changing face of the historic street but also
a piece of history unto itself:

The building, at 8515 Biscayne Blvd., is expected to open late this summer
as home to the Mormons' first independent Haitian branch in Florida.

Members of what will be called the Morningside branch will read from a
Creole translation of the Book of Mormon and use their new home as a base
for reaching deeper into the Haitian communities that surround it -- Little
Haiti to the south and the Haitian neighborhoods of North Miami several
blocks up Biscayne Boulevard.

''We are looking to have 300 members within two years,'' said branch
president Wesley Laurent, who currently is a ''shepherd'' to about 100
members. ``We know we have a lot of church members from Haiti [now in South
Florida], who for lack of communication, don't know where we are.''

Driven by church policy requiring young men to spend two years as
missionaries, an emphasis on family closeness and by rigorous devotion to
tithing -- members give 10 percent of their income to the church -- Mormon
membership is growing dramatically in the United States and across the
world. Of the church's 12 million members, slightly more than half live
outside the U.S. ''So you can't really say it's an American church,'' said
Michael Michaud, first counselor of the Fort Lauderdale district or stake,
referring to the church's strong association with its Salt Lake City
headquarters. ``It's a worldwide church.''

As they grow internationally, Mormons have become the fastest growing
denomination in the United States, increasing membership by 19 percent from
1990 to 2000, according to a survey sponsored by the Association of
Statisticians of American Religious Bodies.

REVELATION

Growth in the Caribbean has accompanied a revision in policy of what critics
considered racist restrictions: In 1978, the church began allowing black men
to become priests.

''That was a great day for the church. Since then there has been tremendous
diversity,'' Kim Farah, a church spokeswoman based in Salt Lake City, said
in a telephone interview. ``We believe that was a revelation given from
God.''

Two years later the church sent its first missionaries to Haiti. Two years
after that, Laurent was baptized, an early convert. Now the church says it
has more than 10,000 members in Haiti, including some who have migrated to
Florida.

HARD TO MISS

For those who pass this bend of Biscayne Boulevard, just inside the city of
Miami's northern boundary, it will be hard to miss the steepled,
35,000-square-foot new church being built around the concrete-block skeleton
of an old warehouse. Stucco arches have been troweled into relief along the
exterior and, to make sure the message is clear, said Laurent, ``We will
have a sign in Creole.''

Mormons share many beliefs with Christian denominations, but they also
believe things some consider controversial. Mormons, for example, believe
their leader, currently President Gordon B. Hinckley, is a prophet who takes
instructions directly from God.

They also believe that Joseph Smith, who founded the church in 1830, did so
on the basis of divine revelations to restore in the United States the
ancient church Jesus started.

Mormons do not drink coffee, tea or alcohol, nor do they smoke. They spend
three hours in services each Sunday. They believe members who obey
commandments and serve the church will be reunited with their family in
Heaven.

''We are very bound in terms of family,'' Laurent said of some Haitians
drawn to the Mormon Church. ``When the church came to Haiti, the church
started talking about the family. It's one of the main reasons that myself
and a lot of others came to the church.''

GROWING IN S. FLA.

In addition to the new Haitian branch in Miami, the church is growing among
Spanish and English-speaking residents of Miami-Dade and Broward. Michaud
said there are about 20 Mormon churches in Monroe, Miami-Dade and Broward
and between 12,000 and 13,000 members in the two northern counties.

In Florida overall, the church says it had 115,800 members at the end of
2001, up from 82,400 in 1994.

Michaud said at least 200 Haitians worship at Mormon churches in South
Florida. He expects a second independent Haitian branch to open in Fort
Lauderdale about a year from now. ''It will probably take another 12 months
to have a complete leadership base,'' he said.

Branches in Pompano Beach and Boca Raton offer Sunday school classes in
Creole.

'BEST' LOCATION

The Morningside branch building sits directly across from Big Daddy's
Liquors and seven blocks up from the Black Gold strip bar, but Laurent said
the location ''is the best we can get,'' between the area's major Haitian
populations and right on county bus routes.

''Meeting houses'' like the one rising on Biscayne are simple structures
compared to elaborate Mormon temples, the closest of which is in Orlando.
The new building on Biscayne, however, might seem an architectural marvel
compared with some other Haitian Protestant and Catholic churches nearby
that often occupy inconspicuous storefronts.

''You have very few freestanding Haitian churches in Miami,'' said Terry
Rey, an assistant professor of African and Caribbean Religions at Florida
International University. ``The storefront phenomenon is basically a
tradition among immigrant groups.''

Rey, who is working on a book about Haitian religions in Miami, said he did
not know the Mormons were launching such a bold and expensive endeavor among
Haitians. But he was not surprised.

`IT'S A FORCE'

''It's the new world religion. It's a force,'' Rey said. ``When every member
of your church has to be a missionary for two years, you've got an
extraordinary network.''

At Catholic Notre Dame D'Hati at Northeast Second Avenue and 62nd Street,
home to a large Haitian school and several social-service operations,
Monsignor Gerard Darbouze said he was unaware of the momentum the Mormon
Church says it has in the Haitian community.

''I have been here for 22 years and never have I met any [Haitian]
Mormons,'' Darbouze said.

Nor does the new church and the sober lifestyle its members cultivate appear
to be an immediate threat to the indulgences offered along this stretch of
Biscayne Boulevard.

Bayard Cortez, working the counter at Big Daddy's Liquors one morning last
week, with the new steeple visible through the window behind the register,
said the store's newest neighbor probably will not help business, ``but it's
not like we're going to close anytime soon.''

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