Isle of Tongues

On  Pentecost Sunday Christ Church, Isle of Dogs has a tradition of "Speaking In Tongues" dividing the Sunday Mass service into 18 sections. Each  part was read by a member of the congregation in a different language. Only two people did not speak in their native tongues. We included one English reading, (Acts 2. 1-20  the short couple of verses which includes all the names). 

We were celebrating the huge diversity of the congregation. 

We drew up accompanying biographies, to find out why the parishioners spoke the languages they did,  and how each one had actually chosen Christ Church.  We were astonished at how little we had previously known about each other.  It was certainly a good way to ask prying questions. The depth of talent was extraordinary. Many parishioners are fluent in three or four languages.  

Below are the speakers plus children, The children didn't read. They just wanted to be included in the picture 

Father Tom Pyke in the centre lead the  Lords Prayer in Welsh. 

The languages spoken were Shona, Spanish, Russian, Farsi, German, Zulu, Indonesian, Vietnamese, Nepali, Polish, French, Yoroba and Welsh. 

~Tamsin Vaughan Williams