DONATE NOW

FROM THE RECTOR: SEPTEMBER

As I write on Friday, September 11, 2020, it’s impossible for me not to recall the tragic events of this day in 2001. I will never forget seeing on television people jumping from the towers to escape being burned alive. Our local fire station lost every firefighter on the morning shift—more than any other. No one went to bed on September 11, 2001, thinking that only 2,996 had died, itself a horrific number—in New York, Arlington, and Shanksville. The number would have been much greater if the planes had struck the twin towers at midday. What if the brave people of United Airlines 93 had not tried to retake control of the aircraft and our own Air Force had been forced shoot it down to protect the Capitol. Brave Americans laid down their lives for others.

The church was packed on Friday, September 14, for Holy Cross Day. Our preacher was Father Michael Basden, then, now retired, rector of Trinity-by-the-Cove Church, Naples, Florida. His wife, Jill Basden, was with him. A new curate had just arrived, Father Matthew Weiler. I remember pressing Jill and our new curate’s wife, Janna Weiler, into service as ushers that day.

I was the preacher for Sunday, September 16, 2001. The appointed gospel was from Luke, Jesus’ words about a lost sheep and a lost coin (Luke 15:1-10). Though not without emotion, I began the sermon with these were words: “No sheep were lost at Ground Zero.” A hard truth that Sunday and today. We believe all the victims of this evil are “alive to God in Christ Jesus” (Romans 6:11).

With the permission of the bishop of New York, and following established protocols, Saint Mary’s has been open for prayer and public worship daily since July 1, 2020. I want to thank all of the staff, volunteers, and supporters who make this possible. It’s good to see the candles burning at the shrines in the main church. It’s good to smell the incense. It’s good to see people in the church praying. Challenges remain. The pandemic is still abroad. I hope the gradual reopening of the city will continue. That said, Broadway shows are shut down. Office buildings in Midtown are mostly empty. Many hotels and many businesses are closed. The next months will not be easy ones for too many.

Work on the conservation of the 46th Street façade of the church continues. At the moment, we await from the Department of Buildings the work permit that will permit the installation of the interior scaffolding needed to remove the Rose Window for conservation. We also await a permit for additional scaffolding levels-so more workers can be on the job at the same time.

The proposal for new video and sound equipment is not complete. Saint Mary’s building presents challenges. Our consulting team wants to get it right.

On September 9, Father Matthew Jacobson celebrated the anniversary of his ordination to the priesthood in 2017. It’s great to have him back in the rota. He will be celebrant and preacher on Sunday, September 20. —Stephen Gerth

A NOTE FROM THE RECTOR . . . On Friday afternoon, September 4, 2020, Richard Mohammed and I were married at Saint Thomas Church. Bishop Andrew St. John, bishop-in-residence, officiated. Father Carl Turner, rector, and Mother Alison Turner, associate priest at Saint Thomas and an assisting priest here at Saint Mary’s, were our witnesses. We are looking forward to a reception in 2021 to invite our parish community to join us in celebration. —S.G.

YOUR PRAYERS ARE ASKED FOR Ingrid, Richard, Shalim, Carmen, Mary, Margaret, David, Larry, Meghann, Bill, Tacy, Janet, Eric, Samantha, Luis, John, Marilouise, Ken, May, Willard, Alexandra, Takeem, and Emil; for Leo and Sean, religious; for Christopher and Luke, deacons; for Gaylord and Louis, priests; and Charles, bishop; for the members of the armed forces on active duty, especially Isabelle; for all health-care workers; for all those who work for the common good; for all the members and friends of this parish; and for the repose of the souls of Carmelita Amann and all those who have died of COVID-19 . . . GRANT THEM PEACE: September 13: 1898 William Scott Widmayer; 1917 Jacob Vetter; 1918 Matthew Carey; 1940 Faith Ralph; 1944 Emma Schneider Snyder; 2009 Thomas O’Rourke.

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

AROUND THE PARISH . . . On Tuesday, September 8, the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Sister Laura Katharine, C.S.J.B., celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of her life profession in the Community of Saint John Baptist. During the Eucharist at the convent in Mendham, NJ, Sister Monica Clare, C.S.J.B., superior of the community, read a tribute to Sister Laura Katharine written by Father Jay Smith, which conveyed to her the parish’s gratitude for her long and effective ministry here at Saint Mary’s . . . On Saturday, September 12, at 11:00 AM, former parishioner A. Christopher Lee will be ordained priest at Grace Church, Brooklyn Heights. Father Jay Smith will be one of Chris’s presenters . . . On Saturday, September 19, at 10:30 AM, former parishioner Cristóbal Cólon will be ordained deacon at the Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine. Please keep Chris Colon, Chris Lee, Sister Laura Katharine, their families, and their communities in your prayers . . . Parishioner Clark Anderson has been working with a Congressional Sub-Committee on behalf of Morgan Stanley, where he is a managing director, preparing a report on the impact of climate change on the financial markets. The report was finally released this week in Washington. You can read about the report’s conclusions on the Reuters website, on the website of the New York Times, and at Politico.com . . . Parishioner and assistant treasurer Steven Heffner began a new job this week. He is now the managing director of publishing at the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), which has offices in Piscataway, New Jersey, as well as here in Manhattan. He will now oversee the production and publication of hundreds of books and journals each year . . . Clothing Ministry: On Wednesday, September 9, Brother Damien Joseph SSF, Brother Desmond Alban SSF, and José Vidal hosted our fifth Drop-by on Forty-seventh Street. José Vidal, Brother Damien, and Brother Desmond prepared clothes and filled bags with toiletry articles beforehand. The volunteers were able to welcome and assist around thirty-five folks from the neighborhood, providing toiletry items and articles of clothing, especially socks, underwear, T-shirts, and pants. The porch at the Forty-seventh Street entrance is proving to be useful for distribution while maintaining social distance. If you would like to volunteer for this ministry or make a donation of cash or items to distribute, please contact Brother Damien or Brother Thomas . . . Father Jay Smith will be away from the parish on vacation from Friday, September 18, through Monday, September 21 . . . Trattoria Trecolori, a nearby restaurant frequented by many Saint Marians, reopened for outdoor dining on Thursday, September 10. We are very happy to see their doors open.

THIS WEEK AT SAINT MARY’S . . . Sunday, September 13, Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost, Mass 11:00 AM. The church opens at 10:00 AM and closes at 12:30 PM. The celebrant and preacher is Father Jay Smith Holy Cross Day, Monday, September 14, Mass 12:10 PM . . . Monday through Saturday, the church opens at 11:00 AM and closes at 2:00 PM. Mass is celebrated daily at 12:10 PM. Please see the Calendar of the Week below, and on the website, for this week’s commemorations.

OF ALEXANDER CRUMMELL . . . To read the tumultuous and sometimes violent history of the United States during the nineteenth century is to discover, or re-discover, the fascinating and inspiring stories of a number of leaders who fought against incredible odds on behalf of Black people in America. These leaders include Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass, Sojourner Truth, Marcus Garvey, Booker T. Washington, and Ida B. Wells. In that list one would want to include the Reverend Alexander Crummell (1819–1898), a priest of the Episcopal Church. His feast day, celebrated here at Saint Mary’s this past Thursday, is September 10. Father Crummell had a long and rich life, career, and ministry that took him from New York, where he was born, to Boston, the United Kingdom, Liberia, and back to the United States. He was a priest, abolitionist, missionary, educator, philosopher, academic, organizer, preacher, moral theologian, and public intellectual. His thinking about theology and morality was linked to practical concerns about race, slavery, prejudice, and the welfare and progress of Black people. He was a Pan-Africanist who believed in the benefits of building solidarity between and among Africans and Black people in the Diaspora. You can read about him on a website of the Episcopal Church, on the website of the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, on Wikipedia, in a chapter entitled “Of Alexander Crummell” in W.E.B. DuBois’s On the Souls of Black Folk, and on the website of the Union of Black Episcopalians, whose origins go back to the work and influence of Father Crummell. What one learns by delving into these sources is that throughout his life Crummell experienced racism and intense resistance both inside and outside of the church, but he remained resolute, he didn’t lose hope, and he never lost faith in the “greatness of Christ.”

CLOTHING MINISTRY AT SAINT MARY’S . . . Over the last month, we’ve begun our weekly clothing assistance distributions again, working from the steps outside the 47th Street entrance to the church. This allows us to get items to those who need them without creating non-socially distanced situations around our former indoor distribution points. As a result, we’ve also streamlined our process by creating kits of hygiene items and socks for each individual to take, again avoiding a crowd or long line developing. In addition to these kits, we are able to offer men’s and women’s undergarments, T-shirts, and a limited number of other clothing items, including shoes, hats, pants, and shirts. We’ve been seeing an average of about twenty-five guests per week during a one-hour distribution period.

We continue to be grateful for those who bring donations of gently used clothing to the church, and we can always use these items. Much of what we are now distributing is actually new (we give only new socks, underwear, and hygiene supplies). We’ve done a little math, and we’ve found that for just about $20.00, we can provide a single guest with all of the following: a T-shirt, undergarments, socks, and a hygiene bag. The bag contents vary slightly based on our current stock, but they typically include soap, shampoo, toothbrush and toothpaste, razor and shaving cream, lotion, deodorant, hand sanitizer, single-load size laundry detergent, body wipes, facial tissues, and a comb. We also include feminine hygiene products as appropriate, and seasonal needs like an emergency rain poncho or warm hats and gloves. We provide a reusable bag for guests to take items with them. Then, in addition to these basics, guests can choose from a selection of the donated items we have on hand.

We think that’s a pretty good bang for the buck (well, twenty bucks). Still, serving an average of 100 guests each month (in just four hours!) means $2000 in new supplies. Will you consider purchasing one or more of these kits to share with our neighbors in need? You really will be making a difference. The gratitude expressed by our guests, the smiles on their faces, the time they spend talking with us and telling their stories—these are paybacks that don’t have a price tag. You may contribute by check or through the church’s online giving page, using a credit or debit card. In either case, please leave a note telling us that your gift is for our clothing program. Thank you in advance. —Brother Damien Joseph SSF

CHRISTIAN EDUCATION . . . We will be experimenting with some different ways of doing Christian Education this year. Beginning in October, the Adult Forum will meet from 9:30–10:30 AM in Saint Joseph’s Hall. First up is parishioner Grace Mudd, who will teach a series on the Black Death in fourteenth-century Europe, focusing on the effects of the plague on both church and society. Then, Father Peter Powell will lead the Adult Forum in a discussion of the Christian Bible’s final book, the Revelation to John, on Sundays in November and December, ending before Christmas. In January, after the Christmas break, Brother Damien Joseph SSF will provide the Adult Forum with an introduction to Christian mysticism and to the lives and spiritualities of several mystics. All of these sessions will be in-person, in Saint Joseph’s Hall, with social distancing, and without refreshments. Teachers and students will all need to wear masks. We will need to decide whether it is possible for us to live-stream and archive these presentations.

Beginning in mid-October (date to be announced), Father Jay Smith plans to lead a Wednesday evening discussion of Saint Augustine’s Confessions from 6:30-7:30 PM via Zoom, depending on sufficient interest in participating in such a discussion. Members of the class would be expected to read portions of the Confessions in advance and be prepared to discuss that work during the sessions. Since we’ve not done this before, and since using Zoom for such purposes can be tricky, this will be an experiment, but, we hope, an experiment worth trying. If you would like to participate in such a Wednesday night discussion, please contact Father Smith.

MUSIC AT SAINT MARY’S . . . The settings for the Mass on Sunday are from Saint Paul’s Service by David Hurd, organist and music director at Saint Mary’s. Saint Paul’s Service, a setting of the Rite I Ordinary, was commissioned in 2000 by Saint Paul’s Episcopal Church, Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn New York, in honor of the Sesquicentennial Anniversary of the parish. It is scored for unison voices and organ and is suitable to be sung by a single cantor, as it will be offered at Mass today. The unifying stylistic feature of this Mass setting is the flavor of French impressionism which can be recognized in its harmonic and melodic elements throughout.

Sunday’s cantor is soprano Elaine Lachica. During the Communion she will sing the aria Angels, ever bright and fair from Theodora by George Frederick Handel (1685–1759). Theodora is normally classified as one of Handel’s oratorios. Oratorios are usually multi-movement musical works intended for concert performance which employ various configurations of vocalists and instrumentalists in the service of a biblical narrative. Works classified as operas have been known to engage religious subject matter and have been known to receive concert performances without staging or costumes. Theodora, whose subject matter touches upon Christian religious subject matter, but cannot be said to be biblical, is an example of a work which confounds standard categories. (The oratorio concerns the Christian martyr Theodora and her Christian-converted Roman lover, Didymus.) Perhaps for that reason, it was not well received as an oratorio in Handel’s own time. Nonetheless, the merits of its music have been recognized in more recent times, and Theodora has even received fully staged operatic performances, which further confounds its categorization.

Elaine Lachica is a member of the Choir of the Church of Saint Mary the Virgin has performed as a soloist with the New York Collegium under Andrew Parrott, Early Music New York, Montreal Baroque, Rebel Baroque Orchestra, Lex Voix Humaines, Waverly Consort, Opera Omnia, Ensemble Caprice, and the Mark Morris Dance Company. She is a winner of the Bruce Haynes International Competition for the rhetorical singing of the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. In 2017, a studio recording was released as part of Montreal Baroques Bach Cantata series on ATMA Classique. Elaine is also a winner of a 2016 JUNO for Classical Album of the Year (Vocal) at the Canadian Music Awards as a member of L’Harmonie des Saisons for their CD Las Ciudades de Oro, also released on ATMA Classique. —David Hurd

FROM THE FRIARY . . . Brother James Nathaniel SSF, who lives at the San Damiano Friary in San Francisco, has posted two new meditations on the website of the Society of Saint Francis. The first is entitled “The Importance of Being Brother” and the second “All the Leaves Are Brown and the Sky is Grey” . . . Brother Damien Joseph’s photographs of forgotten or little-seen details of the art and architecture of Saint Mary’s remains on view in Saint Joseph’s Hall and on the parish website.

SAINT MARY’S ONLINE CENTERING PRAYER GROUP . . . The Saint Mary’s Centering Prayer Group continues to meet! The Group meets online, via Zoom, every Friday evening at 7:00 PM. If you are interested in participating, please send an e-mail to this address. The convenors of the group will then send the link to the Zoom meeting.

SOME GUIDELINES FOR ATTENDING SERVICES AT SAINT MARY’S:

We are now open for public worship. In order to ensure the health and safety of all, we have instituted the following procedures and guidelines:

-The 47th Street Doors, though open for ventilation, won’t be used for entry into the church. Entry is only via 46th Street.

-Exit only through the most western 46th Street door (near the former gift shop).

-The Mercy Chapel and Saint Joseph’s Chapel are closed.

-The Lady Chapel is open, but all chairs, kneelers, candles, hymnals, and Prayer Books have been removed.

-Facemasks must be worn in the church at all times, except when consuming Communion. Masks should cover both mouth and nose.

-Hands-free sanitizer dispensers are available by the doors and at the head of the center aisle, where Communion will take place.

-The city, state, and diocese of New York encourages all those attending services to sign a registry and to provide one means of contact. This will be used only if it emerges that an infected person has been in attendance at a particular service and contact tracing is required.

-Everyone must maintain safe distancing (at least 6 feet apart).

-Pews have been marked with blue tape to indicate where seating is allowed

-Only 44 people will be allowed in the nave at any time (this includes 6 couples or pairs—people who live together—who may sit together).

-All cushions have been removed from the pews. All prayer books and hymnals have been removed from the church. Service bulletins will be provided, but will be removed from the church after each service.

-Electric fans have been removed from the nave of the church. There will be no hand-held fans available at the door

-A basket has been placed at the head of the main aisle, where pledge envelopes and other donations may be safely placed. There will be no collection taken by ushers.

-Communion (wafers only) will be administered at the foot of the chancel steps. Gluten-free hosts are available. Please inform an usher or a member of the clergy.

-All communicants must proceed down the main aisle, maintain social distance as indicated by the decals on the floor, and return to their seats via the side aisles.

-Restrooms will be available only to those who are attending the service.

If you have questions or wish to make a suggestion, please contact the rector.

This edition of the Angelus was written and edited by Father Stephen Gerth and Father Jay Smith. Father Gerth is responsible for posting the newsletter on the parish website and for distributing it via e-mail.

The Calendar of the Week