Religion, Faith, and Religious Experience in the Little Sisters of the Assumption Food Pantry
by Christopher Mendez
One can often find religion in New York City in its great churches or places of worship. Yet, one can also find religion where they least expect it, like in a food pantry.
Throughout most of the Spring 2022 semester, I volunteered at the Little Sisters of the Assumption, or LSA, Family Health Service’s food pantry located in East Harlem, on Wednesday mornings. LSA offers various services and support, like a food pantry and child development program, to those in need in East Harlem, especially as many Mexican immigrants settled in the neighborhood (Kasten and Moore, Unpublished “Book Prospectus…” 1-4). I have also helped Professors Brenna Moore and Carey Kasten compile data on their ongoing Fordham research project that seeks to document LSA’s history and share the experiences of its founding religious nuns and nineteen Mexican immigrant mothers and former clients of LSA’s social services (Kasten and Moore, Unpublished “Book Prospectus…” 2). Despite being founded by the Little Sisters of the Assumption, a Catholic religious order, much of LSA is now run by laypeople, with and without a religious affiliation (Kasten and Moore, Unpublished “Book Prospectus…” 2). Thus, LSA runs in a seemingly secular or non-religious manner.
Yet, in my community-engaged research experiences and Professors Moore and Kasten’s interviews with former LSA clients, religion remains present in LSA through client and volunteer language and potentially through client experiences and its rooted religious mission.
I spent a majority of my community-engaged research signing in LSA clients as they waited to receive their bags of food and produce. I greeted clients kindly and sparked conversations with them about the weather or their day. I began to notice common phrases used among LSA clients. When asked about their day, some clients would respond, “I am well, thanks be to God.” Others would say “God bless you” as they thanked me while exiting LSA with their food. Some clients said phrases that mentioned God casually, while others, like one older gentleman, would mention God or offer him praise in language through a sincere tone.
In his essay “Religion as a Cultural System,” Clifford Geertz partly defines religion as “(3) formulating conceptions of a general order of existence” through a “system of symbols” (Geertz 90). In this definition, Geertz reveals that through a system of symbols, religion guides an individual’s life by establishing their ideas about their orientation in the world and reality. Thus, I believe, in accordance with Geertz’s definition of religion, language can be considered a system of symbols that can reveal one’s orientation and beliefs in their “general order of existence.” For example, when clients sincerely utilize phrases like “God bless you,” they seemingly profess their belief that a higher power can bestow blessings upon another individual, perhaps in return for their service. Or, as some clients wholeheartedly respond that they are doing well, “Thanks be to God,” clients allude to a belief that God plays a role in their well-being as they offer Him praise in return. Overall, LSA clients’ use of religious language reveals how religion remains present in LSA’s food pantry, among client conversations, despite the organization’s secular atmosphere.
My conversations with LSA volunteers also revealed the presence of religion in LSA. For a few weeks, I helped in the kitchen in LSA’s food pantry with volunteers Belinda and Maria, two Mexican mothers, and former clients of LSA (Belinda and Maria are pseudonyms used to protect their identity). Belinda, Maria, and I often had casual conversations about our shared Mexican heritage, our families, their life goals and aspirations, and their personal lives. However, in one instance, while speaking with Maria, Belinda said, “It’s good they’re giving fish. You know, since you can’t eat meat on Fridays.” Maria seemingly agreed with her. Through this discussion, Belinda seemingly shared her belief and observance of the then ongoing season of Lent, in which many Catholic or Christian Mexican families, like my own, abstain from meat as a religious observance.
In her book Heaven’s Kitchen: Living Religion at God’s Love We Deliver, Courtney Bender discusses her experiences volunteering at God’s Love We Deliver or GLWD, a non-religious food kitchen serving those in need in NYC similar to LSA (Bender, 2003). Bender details how some volunteers discussed their commitments to religious holidays in conversations during Easter and Passover (Bender 99-103). Bender later writes, “Volunteers developed their understanding of their own and others’ religious views and obligations as they talked about holidays” (Bender 103). In these lines, Bender argues that everyday discussion about holiday observances revealed one’s religious ideas and commitments, seemingly allowing religion to enter GLWD’s non-religious space. Thus, similar to the volunteers Bender discusses in Heaven’s Kitchen, LSA volunteer Belinda’s mention of her refusal to eat meat on Fridays during Lent alludes to her possible religious commitments and observance through casual conversation in the pantry. Furthermore, Belinda’s conversation allows religion to remain present in LSA’s secular volunteer space.
Additionally, religion seemingly remains present in the experience of clients that receive LSA services. The Little Sisters of the Assumption followed a mission of “mutuality” when serving LSA clients, a mission of “mutual empowerment and growth,” that remains in the organization today (Kasten and Moore, Unpublished “Book Prospectus…” 3-4). Drs. Kasten and Moore’s ongoing research outlines that Sister Margret Leonard began focusing on “mutuality” in LSA to empower East Harlem families in need to reach a place of great potential and stability in their lives. Furthermore, Dr. Moore and Kasten argue that the term and active mission of “mutuality” allowed the Little Sisters to carry out their deeply rooted spiritual and biblical service without explicitly religious language (Kasten and Moore, Unpublished “‘The Power of Growth…’” 18-19). Thus, religion seemingly plays a covert role in the ongoing mission of LSA.
What’s more, in one interview conducted for Professor Kasten and Moore’s research on LSA, Hilda Sanchez, a mother and former client, explained how she came to understand the Little Sisters’ mission that nurtured her spirituality through their actions of service for the most vulnerable (Hilda Sanchez is a pseudonym to protect the interviewee’s identity). Sanchez continues to explain that the Little Sisters were, in her words, “an example,” that helped guide her to strengthen her family relationships and continue to serve her community through service (“Translated Interviews”).
Sanchez’s designation of receiving services from and witnessing the mission of LSA as spiritually uplifting suggests that LSA may produce religious experiences among clients. In William James’ lectures titled The Varieties of Religious Experience, James outlines a “faith-state” that results from religious experience and provides an individual with a powerful and uplifting sensation (James 389-91). James argues that when one disregards the notion to prove that a religious experience is authentic, one can recognize its importance based on the “extraordinary influence upon action and endurance” (James 391). In his lecture, James seemingly emphasizes the need to acknowledge religious experience through its positive effects, like a call to action or positive sensations. Thus, utilizing James’ theories of religious experience, one can argue that Sanchez’s feelings of empowerment in her family and motivation to community service resulted from a “faith-state” or similar religious experience through LSA services fueled by their formerly religious mission of “mutuality.”
However, the reception of LSA services from clients may not be entirely religious or spiritual for all clients. For example, in an extended phone interview with Belinda, she explained that she did have a religious mission in mind when volunteering. Belinda stated that she felt compelled to volunteer because it was her turn to give back to her community after receiving services herself. She even clarified that she holds spiritual beliefs and practices but respectfully disagrees with the notions of institutionalized religion. Thus, further conversations with Belinda revealed that her motivations to volunteer resulted from the reception of LSA services but were not intrinsically religious in nature. Belinda’s dissociation with institutionalized religion even suggests that her practice of abstinence during Lent is more spiritual or faith-based than religious.
Nevertheless, in a supplemental interview with Maria, she voiced that she believed that her Christian faith, which she also disassociated with religion, was present in her values of service and the act of helping others through volunteer work in the pantry. Thus, Maria’s experience reveals how ideas of faith may still be present in the minds of some individuals in LSA.
Religious scholars keen on finding religion in places like LSA should continue to acknowledge how religion is present in client language or volunteer conversations, following the guidance of Bender’s work in GLWD. Yet, as revealed through my community-engaged research, extended conversations with individuals may prove that religious language or mentions of religion are not seen as such by some volunteers or clients. In terms of religious experience and the role of religion in LSA’s food pantry, and other similar spaces in NYC, religious scholars should conduct further research to ensure the religious nature of conversations and experiences among individuals.
Nonetheless, LSA seemingly remains a harmonious NYC institution that allows religion to formulate through language and experience, despite its increasing secularity.
I would like to thank first and foremost all those at LSA Family Health Service who allowed me to volunteer with them throughout this semester, most especially the clients, volunteers, and staff members William, Fiel, Martha, and Trish. I would also like to thank Professors Brenna Moore and Carey Kasten for allowing me to assist their research project on LSA and for their guidance on my research this semester.
Works Cited
Bender, Courtney. Heaven’s Kitchen: Living Religion at God’s Love We Deliver. Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 2003. Web.
Geertz, Clifford. “Religion as a Cultural System” In The Interpretation of Cultures: Selected Essays, pp.87-125. Fontana Press, 1993. Web.
James, William. The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature. Web.
Kasten, Carey, and Brenna Moore. Unpublished “Book Prospectus, Fordham University Press Mutuality in El Barrio: Stories of LSA Family Health Services.” 2021. From Dr. Brenna Moore and Carey Kasten’s Proposal to Fordham University Press, New York.
Kasten, Carey, and Brenna Moore. Unpublished “‘The Power of Growth is in Relationship’: The History of LSA, from Paris to East Harlem” Manuscript from Future Book Mutuality in El Barrio: Stories of LSA Family Health Services. 2021-2022. From Dr. Brenna Moore and Carey Kasten’s Research for Unpublished Book Mutuality in El Barrio: Stories of LSA Family Health Services, New York.
“Translated Interviews.” Conducted by Drs. Brenna Moore and Carey Kasten for Unpublished Book Mutuality in El Barrio: Stories of LSA Family Health Services. 2020-2021. New York.
Header Photo: LSA Family Health Service
