A Room With a View Next Door: Passionist Identity in the Community
by Karen Spiegel Franklin
Karen Spiegel Franklin is Director of The Judaica Museum of The Hebrew Home for the Aged at Riverdale, NY. She also serves as the Home's Archivist. A graduate of Wellesley College with a masters degree from the Department of Religion at Temple University, she recently served as Chairperson of the Council of American Jewish Museums. Mrs. Franlin currently serves on the board of the Archivists of Religious Institutions. She is the wife of Rabbi Stephen D. Franklin.
—Editor
People come to learn about the history of the Passionist Congregation in diverse ways. The intellectual quest led me to the Passionists. In 1992 I was invited to the Fall meeting of the Archivists of Religious Institutions which took place at the Cardinal Spellman Retreat House, Riverdale, NY. I was intrigued because the retreat house is literally "next door" to The Hebrew Home for the Aged at Riverdale where I serve as Archivist and Director of The Judaica Museum. This was indeed my first contact with the Passionists. The meeting offered me the opportunity to enter into professional dialogue and learning with Passionists Rob Carbonneau and Morgan Hanlon.
Not only did I want to know more about the Passionists, I was asking a larger question: How is Passionist history explained to those who are unfamiliar with the story? Hopefully the following thoughts will stimulate greater understanding of the Passionist identity in the community.
Initially I realized that I had very little understanding of the Passionist Congregation—its function, its members and beliefs. In fact, graduate work and teaching a class in Religion in America at Temple University provided me only a limited knowledge of Catholic religious orders.
Desiring to know more I asked people in the Passionists' backyard—the Bronx. I asked other Jewish friends, "What do you know about the Passionists?" They shared my ignorance. A professor from a Jewish seminary gave me little insight. He knew it was a Catholic order but could not elaborate. Finally, a "next-door" neighbor (on the other side) of Cardinal Spellman told me "they were wonderful neighbors, but I haven't a clue about the nature of their work."
Some months later, Rob Carbonneau called me. Writing a history of the Passionists in the Bronx, he wanted to know about the history of The Hebrew Home. I did not have all the answers to the questions he posed. I realized that I did not know some answers to my own history.
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