On a nippy Sunday evening in mid-January, about 20 people filled the pews of St. Joseph's Co-Cathedral lower chapel in Burlington as Reverend Lance Harlow performed mass in French. White fluorescent lights shone brightly from the low ceilings. Incense wafted through the air. "Hosanna, hosanna, hosanna." Christelle Bakala's voice rose above the clanging pipes. The Congolese woman held a song sheet and swayed slightly as she intoned the words. The rest of the mixed-age and predominantly Congolese congregants sang after Bakala and clapped their hands to the beat. Harlow waited for them to finish singing before he performed the Eucharistic Prayer. The African congregants are members of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington's newest ministry, La Maison Blanche. French for "the white house," the ministry takes its name from a nearby building owned by the diocese. It's one of a growing number of local gathering spaces created by and for New Americans. These regular meet-ups may range from a church service to a citizenship class to a more casual hangout, but they all reflect a community's traditions and heritage while offering opportunities for social interaction. And they were all initiated by members of that community itself. The first time Harlow performed mass in French was in September of last year, two months after he was appointed rector of two Burlington parishes. "I was very nervous, because that's not my native language," Harlow recalled. The clergyman used Google Translate to look up some vocabulary. "And I prayed a lot," he added. While Harlow presides over the services, the driving force behind La Maison Blanche is Congolese ophthalmologist Jules Wetchi. He formed the group in November 2016 to help French-speaking African immigrants and their children preserve their Catholic faith and native culture as they adapt to the ways of their new home. Wetchi, now a Burlington resident, was president of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of the Children and Youth ministry in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo. In Vermont, to which he emigrated in 2013, he was dismayed to find that some African Catholics no longer practice their faith. One reason, he said, is the language barrier. Few churches offer services and classes in any language but English. Some Catholics, Wetchi added, had started attending an African Protestant church that offers services in English and French in addition to social assistance. To remedy that situation, in 2015, Wetchi started…
On a nippy Sunday evening in mid-January, about 20 people filled the pews of St. Joseph's Co-Cathedral lower chapel in Burlington as Reverend Lance Harlow performed mass in French. White fluorescent lights shone brightly from the low ceilings. Incense wafted through the air. "Hosanna, hosanna, hosanna." Christelle Bakala's voice rose above the clanging pipes. The Congolese woman held a song sheet and swayed slightly as she intoned the words. The rest of the mixed-age and predominantly Congolese congregants sang after Bakala and clapped their hands to the beat. Harlow waited for them to finish singing before he performed the Eucharistic Prayer. The African congregants are members of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington's newest ministry, La Maison Blanche. French for "the white house," the ministry takes its name from a nearby building owned by the diocese. It's one of a growing number of local gathering spaces created by and for New Americans. These regular meet-ups may range from a church service to a citizenship class to a more casual hangout, but they all reflect a community's traditions and heritage while offering opportunities for social interaction. And they were all initiated by members of that community itself. The first time Harlow performed mass in French was in September of last year, two months after he was appointed rector of two Burlington parishes. "I was very nervous, because that's not my native language," Harlow recalled. The clergyman used Google Translate to look up some vocabulary. "And I prayed a lot," he added. While Harlow presides over the services, the driving force behind La Maison Blanche is Congolese ophthalmologist Jules Wetchi. He formed the group in November 2016 to help French-speaking African immigrants and their children preserve their Catholic faith and native culture as they adapt to the ways of their new home. Wetchi, now a Burlington resident, was president of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of the Children and Youth ministry in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo. In Vermont, to which he emigrated in 2013, he was dismayed to find that some African Catholics no longer practice their faith. One reason, he said, is the language barrier. Few churches offer services and classes in any language but English. Some Catholics, Wetchi added, had started attending an African Protestant church that offers services in English and French in addition to social assistance. To remedy that situation, in 2015, Wetchi started…