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Merry Christmas
Volume 6, Number 5, December 28, 2003


Merry Christmas

It's going to be a great Twelve Days of Christmas at Saint Mary's. If you haven't planned to be here for everything, I urge you to change your plans. It just won't be quite the same anyplace else. I can tell you with confidence that no better music will be heard on Christmas Eve in any church anywhere. I sat in on the choir's rehearsal Monday night. It was fabulous - and I only heard them rehearsing the Mass ordinary (Mass in G Minor by Ralph Vaughan Williams).

December 25 is the first day of Christmas. In liturgical Christian communities Christmas is followed by three more days of special celebration. December 26 is Saint Stephen's Day. Stephen was the first martyr of the Church. December 27 is the Feast of Saint John the Evangelist. This year the third of the 'Comites Christi' (that is, 'Companions of Christ') is observed on Monday, December 29. The third Companion is Holy Innocents Day. The Mass and Office lessons for the ordinary weekdays of Christmastide continue the themes of the birth of the Lord Jesus.

January 1 is the Feast of the Holy Name, the day Jesus was circumcised. At Saint Mary's a Solemn Mass is sung at 11:00 AM. This year we are honored to have as guest celebrant and preacher the Reverend Louis Weil. Father was with us during Holy Week this past year and will join us again for Holy Week 2004. He is James F. Hodges Professor of Liturgics at the Church Divinity School of the Pacific. I was his student at Nashotah House. January 1 will be Father's forty-second anniversary of ordination to the priesthood.

Christmastide concludes on Epiphany, January 6. As is our custom, there will be a Sung Mass at 12:00 PM that Tuesday and Procession & Solemn Mass at 6:00 PM. Our preacher will be another liturgical scholar, the Reverend Paul Bradshaw. Father Bradshaw is a professor of liturgy and director of Undergraduate Studies in London at the University of Notre Dame. He is also a priest vicar of Westminster Abbey, London.

Christmastide will begin at Saint Mary's when Christmas begins in the Christian tradition - with Evensong on December 24. At 6:00 PM those of us who are here preparing for the Mass will gather in the chancel to sing the Office. If you are in the neighborhood and on your way to supper, please join us. Remember, this is the Office. Christmas lessons, yes. But the only Christmas hymn will be the ancient Office hymn, "O Savior of our fallen race." Come at 10:30 PM for Christmas music and carols and the Solemn Mass of the Nativity at 11:00 PM.

The Right Reverend Richard F. Grein, XIV Bishop of New York, will preside and preach at the Christmas Eve Mass. It is just extraordinary that our retired bishop can be with us again this year. His presence makes the evening so very, very special and I want to thank him for coming to us again. It is deeply appreciated.

I remind everyone that on Christmas Day one of the best Masses of the year takes place. The Solemn Mass of the day has its own readings - the gospel is the Prologue of Saint John's Gospel. At the end of the Mass, the clergy and the assembly process to the Crèche. By long tradition Christians may and are encouraged to receive Holy Communion on Christmas Eve and on Christmas Day.

Many readers of this newsletter will not be able to be with us and not just because commitments take them elsewhere. Saint Mary's has many friends who receive this newsletter who live throughout the nation and the world and whose prayers and support are a vital part of the parish's work and witness here in Times Square. To all I want to say that we try to be very, very good stewards of all gifts and prayers. To all I want to say that you can be sure the very best efforts of all who are here will be given to glorify and praise the Lord. Merry Christmas.

Stephen Gerth


PRAYER LIST . . . Margaret, Will, Jay, Mabel, Heidi, Robert, Gloria, Jason, Harold, Billie, Matthew, Virginia, Bart, Margaret, Marion, Hugh, Rick, Mary Angela, religious, and Charles, priest, and for the members of our Armed Forces on active duty, especially Ned, Timothy, Patrick, Kevin, Christopher, Andrew, Joseph, Marc, Timothy, David, and Colin . . . GRANT THEM PEACE . . . December 28: 1953 Martha May Cockrill Lewis; December 29: 1957 Mary Isobel Sonnenberg; December 30: 1977 Josephine Thomas; December 31: 1961 Everett Philips Irwin, 1985 Frances Bulkley Hirsch, Anna Marie Schuman; January 1: 1983 Gertrude Schrage.

LITURGICAL NOTES . . . The Sunday Proper: Isaiah 6:10-62:3 Psalm 147:13-21, Galatians 3:23-25; 4:4-7 John 1:1-18 . . . During Christmastide the parish clergy will not sit for confessions on Saturdays except by appointment . . . Holy Baptism will be celebrated on Sunday, December 28, for Graham Sebastian Foote, the son of Brian and Monica Foote.

AROUND THE PARISH . . .For those who knit or may enjoy learning more about knitting, there will be a "Knitters' Retreat" at Mount Saviour Monastery, February 6-8, 2004. For more information, please see Penny Byham . . . The church closes at 2:00 PM on New Year's Eve. Many thanks to Chuck Carson for his work on the church's Christmas display advertisement in The New York Times . . . Attendance last Sunday 258.

NOTES ON MUSIC . . . This week at the Sung Mass, played by associate organist Robert McDermitt, the prelude is In dulci jubilo, Op. 28, No. 41 by Marcel Dupré (1886-1971) and the postlude is In dulci jubilo, BWV 729 by J. S. Bach (1685-1750) . . . This week at the Solemn Mass, the prelude is Prelude on 'This endrys night' by George Oldroyd (1893-1956) and the postlude is Noël Suisse by Louis-Claude Daquin (1694-1772). The setting of the Mass ordinary is Missa 'Ich segge adieu' by Johannes de Fossa (c. 1540-1603) and the motet at Communion is Resonet in laudibus by Jacob Handl (1550-1591) . . . We continue our series of organ recitals at 4:40. This week Andrew Macmillan, organist of Saint Mary's Bourne Street, London, England, plays works of Buxtehude, Bach, Franck and Langlais.

SUMMARY OF DECEMBER 15, 2003, BOARD MEETING . . . At its December 15, 2003 meeting, the Annual Stated meeting, the Board of Trustees: 1. Heard new information on plans for the parish complex of buildings, presented by Mr. Todd Pickard, of the law firm of Balber, Pickard, Battistoni, Maldonado, and Van Der Tuin, and by Mr. Fred Peelen. 2. Heard from Mrs. Barbara Klett, the Treasurer, that letters have been sent out to people asking them to pay up their pledges for 2003. 3. Acknowledged receipt of the Diocesan Assessment of $63,775 for 2004, increased from $62,034 in 2003. 4. Heard that the Budget Committee will meet on Saturday, December 20, 2003, to formulate the budget for 2004. 5. Received a report from Mr. Terry O'Dwyer regarding the recent performance of St. Mary's investment accounts. 6. Heard that Sunday, January 11, 2004, the Feast of the Baptism of Our Lord, will be the date for return of pledge cards for 2004. 7. Elected officers of the Board of Trustees for 2004. The following were re-elected: Vice-President, Mr. Robin C. Landis; Treasurer, Mrs. Barbara Klett; and Secretary, Dr. Leroy R. Sharer. These three, along with the Rector, constitute the Executive Committee of the Board. 8. Discussed having a long-range planning meeting for the Board. 9. Approved a proposal to complete the new set of green vestments. Leroy Sharer, secretary

IRS NOTICE . . . To ensure the deductibility of your church contributions, please do not file your 2003 income tax return until you have received a written acknowledgment of your contributions from the church. Some of your contributions may not be tax-deductible if you file your tax return before receiving a written acknowledgment of your contributions from the church.

A NOTE FROM THE RECTOR . . . I was touched and honored by the joyful observance of the twentieth anniversary of my ordination to the priesthood on Sunday. Thank you so very much, Father Beddingfield, Robert McCormick, Jim Dennis and all who made the coffee hour so special. Thank you also for the gifts for the vestment conservation fund - a project near and dear to my heart. Stephen Gerth


Christmas Eve at Saint Mary's
Morning Prayer 8:30 AM, Advent Mass for December 24 9:00 AM Evensong of Christmas Eve 6:00 PM

Christmas Music & Carols 10:30 pm
Procession & Solemn Mass 11:00 pm
Music: Mass in G Minor, Ralph Vaughan Williams

The Right Reverend Richard F. Grein, XIV Bishop of New York Presiding & Preaching


Christmas Day at Saint Mary's
Solemn Mass & Procession 11:00 am
Music: Hassler, Praetorius
Sermon by the Reverend John Beddingfield


The Holy Name of Our Lord
Thursday, January 1
Solemn Mass 11:00 am
Celebrant & Preacher
The Reverend Louis Weil
James F. Hodges Professor of Liturgics
The Church Divinity School of the Pacific


In Recital at Saint Mary's

Frederick Swann
President of the American Guild of Organists

Saturday, January 17, 2004
7:00 PM

Tickets now available for $25.00 (Students $15.00)
Phone the Box Office at 212.869.5830, extension 25

All proceeds from the concert will benefit the Organ Endowment Fund
The Calendar of the Week
Sunday The First Sunday After Christmas Day  
Monday The Holy Innocents  
Tuesday Christmas Weekday  
Wednesday Christmas Weekday  
Thursday The Holy Name of Our Lord  
Friday Christmas Weekday      Abstinence Dispensed  
Saturday Christmas Weekday  

Last Published: December 26, 2003 7:20 PM
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