Res. No.

Resolution calling on the New York State Legislature to pass, and the Governor to sign, legislation marking the month of December as Christian Heritage Month

By Council Member Ariola

Whereas, The Christian heritage of New York City (NYC) started in its earliest colonial days when, in 1628, the Dutch West India Company sent ordained minister Jonas Michaëlius to establish the Dutch Reformed Church in New Amsterdam; and

Whereas, Lutherans, who had arrived in New Amsterdam with Dutch settlers in 1649, met with resistance from the Dutch Reformed Church when they wanted to establish their own congregations, but eventually grew to be the second largest Protestant denomination in NYC by 1920 after the arrival of many German and Scandinavian immigrants; and

Whereas, Protestant French Huguenots, fleeing persecution after civil wars between Catholics and Protestants in France, also came to New Amsterdam and established one of the first permanent settlements on Staten Island; and

Whereas, Years after a new English colonial governor and military arrived in 1664, the Anglican Church (Church of England) became the official established church for the colony, with historic Trinity Church, now an Episcopal parish, receiving its charter in 1697; and

Whereas, The First Presbyterian Church in the City of New York, now located on lower Fifth Avenue, traces its roots to an 1707 visit from Francis Makernie, a Scots-Irish minister who helped establish the Presbyterian Church in the colonies, as well as to about 80 dissenters, who organized themselves into the Church of Scotland in 1716 on Wall Street; and

Whereas, During the 17th and 18th centuries, Protestant worshippers grew in number in NYC as Presbyterians, Quakers, Methodists, and Baptists migrated from New England; and

Whereas, Before The Abyssinian Baptist Church became a cultural and political landmark in Harlem during the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s, it was founded in 1808 in Greenwich Village, which was then the center of an African-American community known as Little Africa; and

Whereas, In 1785, at a time when there were only 200 Catholic residents and one priest in NYC, St. Peter’s Church was built on Barclay Street in lower Manhattan; and

Whereas, In 1808, the Diocese of New York, encompassing the State of New York and eastern New Jersey, was established; and

Whereas, Waves of Catholic immigrants from Ireland, Germany, Eastern Europe, and Southern Europe arrived in NYC during the 19th century, which led to the building of the original St. Patrick’s Cathedral on Mulberry Street in lower Manhattan, completed in 1815; and

Whereas, After NYC became an Archdiocese in 1850, the cornerstone of a new and now world-famous St. Patrick’s Cathedral was laid in 1858, the dream of Archbishop John Hughes, who presciently believed that its location on Fifth Avenue would eventually become “the heart of the city”; and

Whereas, NYC is also the home of other well-known historic Christian churches, including St. John the Divine, the as-yet-unfinished Morningside Heights Cathedral church of the Episcopal Diocese of New York and one of the six largest church buildings in the world; and the Greater Allen African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Cathedral of New York, located in Jamaica, Queens, and once served by the Reverends Floyd and Elaine Flake, with a membership of more than 23,000, making it the largest congregation in the A.M.E. Church; and

Whereas, According to the 2023 Public Religion Research Institute’s Census of American Religion, a nonprofit nonpartisan organization that provides county-level estimates of the religious affiliations of U.S. residents, about 56 percent of NYC residents identify as Christian; and

Whereas, Protestant and Catholic New Yorkers have made contributions in a wide variety of fields, including the arts, architecture, business, government, law, medicine, the military, religion, and sports; and

Whereas, NYC’s Christian heritage, starting with NYC’s earliest colonial days and continuing through centuries of immigration, has been a remarkable blend of nationalities, races, and ethnicities; and

Whereas, Christian Heritage Month could be marked by having NYC and New York State monuments lit up with golden lights to honor the light that Christians believe Jesus Christ brought to the world with His birth, celebrated by Christians everywhere on December 25, Christmas Day; now, therefore, be it

Resolved, That the Council of the City of New York calls on the New York State Legislature to pass, and the Governor to sign, legislation marking the month of December as Christian Heritage Month.

LS #21339

2/17/2026

RHP