FROM FATHER SMITH: IN MEMORIAM

Like many New Yorkers, I remember that September 11, 2001, was a startlingly clear, cool, sunny early-autumn day here in the city. It is incongruous that one of the things that we remember about that terrible day is the weather. We do so, I suppose, because for many of us the memories of the day are so vivid and so visual, and because the smoke and the ash that blanketed lower Manhattan on that Tuesday morning were such a shocking and cruel violation. As all who read this know, on the morning of September 11, 2001, Al Qaeda terrorists boarded and then hijacked three commercial airliners and carried out coordinated attacks against the World Trade Center and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., killing everyone on board the planes and nearly 3,000 people in the buildings and on the ground. A fourth plane crashed into a Pennsylvania field, killing all on board, after passengers and members of the crew attempted to take control from the hijackers. Many others survived the attacks but were injured.

In the days that followed, life in New York, in the United States, and in much of the rest of the world, was altered in ways, both large and small, that are still visible today. Security procedures are ubiquitous in our transportation hubs and office buildings. War rages on in the Middle East. Terrorist attacks occur with distressing regularity throughout the world. A massive movement of refugees out of chaotic and war-torn parts of Africa and the Middle East poses enormous moral, economic, political, and logistical challenges to the world’s people and their governments. Though fifteen years have passed, the events of September 11, 2001, remain unforgettable. In some ways, we live in the aftermath of those events every single day.

In the days and weeks that followed the attacks of 9/11, some of this parish’s people and clergy took their turns volunteering downtown, along with hundreds of other New Yorkers, at the Seamen’s Church Institute, at Saint Paul’s Chapel, and at the site, which came to be known as Ground Zero. Memorial services for a number of those who died in the World Trade Center took place here at Saint Mary’s. The memories of that autumn remain vivid for many members and friends of this parish.

On Sunday, September 11, 2016, the Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost, and the fifteenth anniversary of the attacks, we will pray at all the Masses for those who were killed on 9/11, for those who were injured, for those whose health was compromised because they worked at, or lived near, Ground Zero, and for those who grieve. At 5:00 PM, we will gather for a special Evensong. We will welcome a guest choir from Homerton College, Cambridge, England. We will listen to the choir sing Edmund Spenser’s words, “Faire is the heaven, where happy soules have place/In full enjoyment of felicitie,/Whence they doe still behold the glorious face/Of the Divine Eternall Majestie.” We will call on God “to be our light in the darkness.” We will continue to ask how we might do God’s will, and how we can find ways to love God and our neighbor, in light of our memories. We will pray for peace.

This past Thursday, a couple came to the noon Mass and participated in the healing service. As part of that service, I invited the members of the congregation to pray for themselves, for their loved ones, for the sick and the suffering, and for all those affected by the events of September 11, 2001: for the families of those who died, for those who continue to grieve, and for the injured and the sick. After Mass, I talked to the couple for a while. They were really lovely people. The man was a New York City firefighter. The woman was his wife. The man told me that the effects of that day live on in the fire houses of the city. The courage of those who died is honored. The challenges faced by the surviving families and by those who are sick are acknowledged. The family of firefighters does what it can to respond to those challenges. The couple told me that they had been passing by the church and had come in just to look around, but they had ended up staying for Mass. They were glad that they did, because they’d had a chance to pray. The man said to me, “It’s important to remember; it’s important to pray; and it’s important, for each of us, to do what we can.”

                                                                                                    — James Ross Smith

YOUR PRAYERS ARE ASKED FOR Julie, Linda, Nancy, Penny, Barbara, Sharon, Julia, Philip, Sally, Abraham, Jean, Juliana, Margaret, David, Heidi, Catherine, Donald, Sam, Burton, Toussaint, Dennis, Arpene, Takeem, Sidney, deacon, John, Horace, Paulette, David, Gaylord, Harry, Louis, priests, and Russell, bishop; and for the members of our Armed Forces on active duty, especially Mark and Nicholas . . . GRANT THEM PEACE . . . September 11: 1954 William Charles Wates Durand; 1957 Alice Maixner; 2001 Sean Rooney, André Bonheur, Richard Bosco, Juan Lafuente, Nicole Lindo, Francisco Liriano, Joseph Zuccala, José Guadalupe, Leonard Ragaglia, Christopher Santora, Paul Gill, David Wooley, Daniel O'Callaghan, Joseph Angelini, Jr., Samuel Oitice, Michael Haub, John Tipping II, Michael Lynch, Michael Brennan, Edward Geraghty, Dennis Devlin, Alan Feinberg, Carl Asaro, Charles Garbarini, Mychal Judge, priest, and all those who were killed in the attacks of September 11, 2001.

THE ORDINARY FRIDAYS OF THE YEAR are observed by special acts of discipline and self-denial in commemoration of the crucifixion of the Lord.

BANNS OF MARRIAGE . . . I publish the banns of marriage between Peter Agnone Ruane and Alanna Kaivalya of New York City. This is the second time of asking. If any of you know any reason why they may not marry each other, you are asked to declare it. I ask your prayers for Peter and Alanna as they prepare for their wedding. —J.R.S.

THIS WEEK AT SAINT MARY'S . . . Sunday, September 11, 2016, 5:00 PM, Choral Evensong on the Fifteenth Anniversary of the Attacks of September 11, 2001. The service will be sung by the Charter Choir of Homerton College, Cambridge, England . . . Wednesday, September 14, Holy Cross Day, Sung Mass at 12:10 PM and 6:00 PM. The Reverend Alison Turner will preach at 6:00 PM . . . On Wednesdays, the daily 12:10 PM Eucharist is a Sung Mass; on Thursdays the daily 12:10 PM Eucharist is a Mass with Healing Service.

AROUND THE PARISH . . . Parishioner Linda Bridges remains at New York-Presbyterian Weill Cornell Medical Center for tests and treatment. Please keep her in your prayers . . . Adult Education: The Wednesday Night Bible Study Class begins its fall semester on Wednesday, September 21, at 7:00 PM, after the evening Mass, in Saint Joseph’s Hall. This year we will be reading Saint Paul’s Letter to the Romans . . . The Adult Forum resumes on Sunday, October 2, at 10:00 AM. Seminarian Matthew Jacobson will discuss his summer internship in Rome . . . Homeless Ministry: We are looking for donations of clothing for distribution to the homeless in our neighborhood: jeans and slacks in a variety of sizes for both men and women; packs of new underwear and socks for both women and men; sweaters, sweatshirts, jackets and coats; dress shirts and outfits suitable for job interviews, and other items. Sister Monica tells us this week that we are especially short of women’s underwear, in various sizes. Cash donations to this ministry are also welcome! (The Book Sale has resumed in Saint Joseph’s Hall. We’ve received donations of some new books. Please take a look. All donations are used to support the Homeless Ministry.) . . . Altar Flowers are needed for the following Sundays: October 16, 23, and 30; and November 6 and 13 . . . Attendance: Last Sunday 160; Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary 71.

MUSIC NOTES . . . Ruth Cunningham will be the cantor at the Solemn Mass on Sunday morning. During the administration of Communion, she will sing a setting of Ave Maria composed for her in 2004 by her friend Edward Thompson. She will also be improvising the Alleluia and Communion propers. The organ voluntaries on Sunday are chosen as musical reflections on the tragic events of September 11, 2001, on this fifteenth anniversary. The life of Jehan Alain (1911–1940), one of France’s most gifted young twentieth-century composers, came to a premature end when he died in combat in June 1940. He was posthumously awarded the Croix de Guerre for his bravery. His Deux Chorals have a sober reflective quality, if not a touch of sadness. The glorious final chorus of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Mass in B minor, played as the Postlude in transcription for organ solo, is a fervently confident prayer for peace . . . At Evensong on Sunday, the Charter Choir of Homerton College, Cambridge, will sing the service. The canticles are from the Evening Service in C by Charles Villiers Stanford (1852–1924). The motet is Faire is the heaven by William Harris (1883–1973). Other music includes Descendit sicut pluvia in vellus by John Hopkins (b. 1949). This service is offered to the glory of God and in memory of those who were killed on September 11, 2001. —David Hurd

INVITATION TO TWO CONCERTS . . . On Saturday, September 10, 2016, at 7:30 PM, the Charter Choir of Homerton College, Cambridge, will present a concert at the Church of Saint Luke in the Fields, near the corner of Hudson and Christopher Streets, as part of the choir’s 2016 tour of the United States. The concert is offered in memory of those who were killed in the 9/11 terrorist attacks and will include a performance of the Fauré Requiem . . . On Saturday, September 24, 2016, at 2:00 PM, at Grace Church, 33 Church Street, White Plains, NY, Hatsuhiko (“Hats”) Kageyama, tenor, will be hosting, and performing at, a special concert, along with a number of other musicians, both vocalists and instrumentalists. A special guest also performing at the concert will be the Right Reverend Allen K. Shin. Bishop Shin, a former curate here at Saint Mary’s, is the Bishop Suffragan of the Diocese of New York. He is also a baritone and an accomplished singer. “Hats and His Friends in Concert” will benefit the Anglican Diocese of Tohoku in Japan, as well as “Lifting Up Westchester” at Grace Church. Admission is $20. A reception will follow the concert. For more information, please contact Hats Kageyama by e-mail.

LOOKING AHEAD . . . Wednesday, September 21, Saint Matthew, Apostle and Evangelist, Mass 12:10 PM and 6:20 PM . . . Thursday, September 29, Saint Michael and All Angels, Mass 12:10 PM and Sung Mass 6:00 PM. Father Jim Pace will celebrate and preach at 6:00 PM . . . Tuesday, October 18, Saint Luke the Evangelist, Mass 12:10 PM and 6:20 PM . . . Monday, October 24, Saint James of Jerusalem (transferred), Mass 12:10 PM and 6:20 PM . . . Friday, October 28, Saint Simon and Saint Jude, Apostles, Mass 12:10 PM and 6:20 PM.

AWAY FROM THE PARISH . . . At the Metropolitan Museum, Fifth Avenue at Eighty-second Street, Jerusalem 1000–1400: Every People Under Heaven, September 26, 2016–January 8, 2017. From the museum’s website, “This exhibition will illuminate the key role that the Holy City played in shaping the art of the period from 1000 to 1400. While Jerusalem is often described as a city of three faiths, that formulation underestimates its fascinating complexity. In fact, the city was home to multiple cultures, faiths, and languages. History records harmonious and dissonant voices of people from many lands, passing in the narrow streets of a city not much larger than midtown Manhattan. This will be the first exhibition to unravel the various cultural traditions and aesthetic strands that enriched and enlivened the medieval city. Over 200 works of art will be gathered from some sixty lenders worldwide. Nearly a quarter of the objects will come from Jerusalem, including key loans from its religious communities, some of which have never before shared their treasures outside their walls. Jerusalem 1000–1400: Every People Under Heaven will bear witness to the crucial role that the city has played in shaping world culture, a lesson vital to our common history.”