When Faith Tabernacle Church of God in Christ was built at South Ann and South Duke streets in the 1970s, the neighborhood was predominantly black.

Now the neighborhood is predominantly Hispanic, but the church's congregation remains largely black.

That demographic change has presented a challenge for the Rev. Gerald Simmons and his congregation, who are beginning to reach out to their neighbors.

"We have fits and starts," Simmons said Saturday, "and somehow we have to press through the uncomfortable times."

Simmons spoke at the end of a five-hour symposium on a variety of issues related to immigration, as well as efforts to cross borders and boundaries of all types.

Eastern University sponsored the symposium, which drew about 60 participants from the Christian university in St. Davids, as well as from Lancaster, Harrisburg and other areas.

Simmons said he has struggled with the issue of moving out of the church's comfort zone and embracing the Hispanic community.

"I was disappointed that some of my Latino colleagues were not here today," he said. He pledged to continue to reach out to Hispanics.

Another symposium participant, Bishop Dennis Joell, of Shiloh Baptist Church in Norristown, is in a similar situation — an all-black church in an increasingly Hispanic neighborhood.

Joell said he discovered that one of the impediments to communication is that a large number of Hispanics in that area are illegal immigrants.

"Their pastor told me they are scared to death of being sent back home," Joell said. Therefore, many avoid people outside their community.

With persistence, Joell has succeeded in getting the Hispanic community to come into his church. Last Thursday many Hispanics got flu shots at Shiloh Baptist.

But Joell said friction still exists.

Blacks get upset when Hispanics complain that they are being profiled as potential illegal immigrants, he said, because blacks have been profiled for a much longer period because of their race.

Sharon Gramby-Sobukwe, an Eastern University administrator, introduced Simmons' and Joell's comments by asking why churches remain the most segregated element of society.

She suggested that Christians should do what they can to break down barriers.

She also said that competition between the black and Hispanic communities often begins with members of each competing for poverty funds.

That competition inhibits efforts at collaboration, she explained.

"From the vantage point of Scripture," she said, "poverty is not competitive, it is universal."

She urged her listeners to do what Christ would do and try to worship and work together and embrace the needs of others.

Eastern professor Hans Tokke launched the seminar by noting that Pennsylvania was an early melting pot for immigrants. That process, he said, should continue.

Obed de Arango, a Norristown resident of Mexican ancestry who provides a weekly column for a Mexican radio station, said people will do whatever they believe is necessary to better their situation.

That includes moving to another country without documentation, he said.

It is not a question of legal versus illegal, he said: It's a human question.

"I will do anything to feed my family," he said. "You are a father, and you have kids. That is the first element to remember."

Jennifer Otterbein, an administrator at Alliance Theological Seminary, said migration transcends America, with tens of millions of people migrating worldwide each year.

"This is the age of migration," she noted. "This is our reality, and it is happening whether we like it or not."

A number of speakers addressed the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act. DREAM is scheduled to come up for another congressional vote at the end of this month.

Under the act, young, undocumented immigrants would have the opportunity to go to college or enlist in the military to create a path to citizenship.

An estimated 65,000 undocumented students graduate from U.S. high schools each year. Their futures are limited, speakers said, only because their parents chose to move here illegally.

"Current law unjustly discriminates between immigrant and native-born children," explained Stephanie Summers, of the Center for Public Justice in Washington.

jbrubaker@lnpnews.com