What Is This I’m Hearing??

Lately, I’ve been hearing that there are some Carroll Gardens residents who do not like the sound of church bells ringing. I’ve heard that one person even circulated a petition to stop the ringing at a few local churches. And I’ve heard that the DEP was enlisted to measure the decibel level of the bells at Sacred Hearts/St. Stephen Church. One thing I hope to never stop hearing, however, is the ringing of those aforementioned church bells. I am, after all, living in the “Borough of Churches.”

When I lived on Carroll Street, directly behind SHSS, I had a giant built-in grandfather clock of sorts right across the street. The bells would ring every hour and if it was 5:00, you would hear five gongs. Then on the half hour, there would be a single gong. This never, ever bothered me. The SHSS bells ring daily approximately 15 minutes before mass is due to start. If you are on your way, it might hasten your step. And if you have no inclination to go to mass, it might just be a normal background sound. These same bells ring solemnly in a slow knell for funerals and they ring joyfully on happy occasions, like the culmination of the Easter vigil. I remember July 4th, 1976, when all the bells, all over the entire country, pealed at the same time to commemorate the bicentennial. It was fantastic!

Now that I live closer to St. Mary Star of the Sea Church, I often hear their bells ringing on the hour at various times during the day and also before masses. The bells of St. Mary’s are beautifully musical in that they ring out a melodic hymn or carol.  

According to a report posted in March 2011 by Tatiana Sanchez on Brooklyn Ink, an online news source, there are approximately 1,643 houses of worship and/or congregations in Brooklyn, NY.  It is hard to walk more than a few blocks without seeing a house of worship, no matter what the religion or denomination. Churches are known to have bells but I’ve been on Atlantic Avenue in Boerum Hill when the Islamic call to prayer has sounded and I’ve been in Prospect Park where I’ve heard an air raid siren used to announce the start of the Jewish Sabbath. These sounds also have never bothered me. It’s part of living in as diverse a place as Brooklyn.

I respectfully urge any potential new residents of Carroll Gardens and all surrounding neighborhoods to do their research before signing a lease or closing on a pricey home.  Observe the area carefully, visit at different times of the day and week before making your decision. Be mindful that, although this is not the big city of Manhattan, Brooklyn is indeed a city, even if it’s called a borough, and there are plenty of sounds: sirens, jackhammers, kids getting out of school, horns honking, sanitation pick-ups and, yes, church bells. You cannot expect to move into a neighborhood and change its long-established and often well-loved ways, the very things that define our neighborhood, just because they do not agree with you. You cannot expect to live in the shadows of steeples and not hear church bells. If you don’t like the sound of church bells or if you are a migraine sufferer, perhaps this is not the place for you. 

On the corner of DeGraw Street and Strong Place is a silenced bell which once rang in the Strong Place Baptist Church and after that, in the Cabrini Chapel, which took over that building in 1969. I attended Mass at the Cabrini Chapel when I was growing up. I know the neighborhood has changed and Cabrini Chapel has given way to luxury apartments, like other churches in the area. The churches that remain, however, have been here for generations and will hopefully be here for generations to come, along with their sometimes joyful, sometimes sad, never to be silenced ringing bells.