The saints depicted in most churches are white. It was the same at Church of the Advocate, a grand Episcopal church in Philadelphia built in 1887. Yet the neighborhood where it stands is now home mainly to people of color. To offset the exclusively white figures in the historic stained glass, the church has become a kind of contemporary art museum, housing a collection of fourteen murals painted by Walter Edmonds in the 1970s that document the experience of Black Americans.
This unusual aspect of the church immediately tells viewers of the film Angels on Diamond Street (2019) that they are entering a congregation unafraid to get its hands dirty with politics. The other setting where director Petr Lom works is the Advocate Cafe, directly across from the church, which offers free lunch to those in need—nearly all African American—on weekdays.
But the church's openness extends beyond race. Carmela Hernandez, a Mexican woman, works there. She was granted shelter after fleeing her country with her four children to escape violence, yet she lacks legal residency and faces deportation. Her family's presence is widely known—a deliberate act of civil disobedience. Everyone understands that harboring undocumented immigrants is illegal, but the congregation's commitment to protecting the vulnerable cannot be deterred by fear of the law.
There is one fear, though: financial. Helping others costs money. But this community faces those challenges together. Angels on Diamond Street tells a story of resistance and hope from those who labor concretely to make the world a better place.