September 11, 2003

Earlier this year when plans were being made in the church office for the fall I had thought that there would be no special services at Saint Mary’s this year on September 11.  I expected us to do the regular Masses of the day with a commemoration of the departed during the Prayers of the People.  I now realize the pastoral need for us to do something more.

On Wednesday, September 10, there will be a special service of Evensong at 5:00 PM.  This was requested again this year by Citibank, N.A. which lost four of its colleagues in the attack.  On Thursday, September 11, there will be a Sung Requiem at Noon and a Said Requiem at 6:00 PM.  At Noon the music will be Missa pro defunctis of Tomás Luis de Victoria (1548-1611).

The electricity blackout of August 14 brought back for me many memories of September 11, 2001.  I didn’t find myself dwelling on my emotions from that time but I was aware that I was carrying those experiences with me as we went through the evening and night without electrical power.   This time it was different.  My city wasn’t burning; no one would be asking me to pray over body parts as they were recovered.  I trust in God’s providence but his ultimate victory is something that I prefer not to dwell on.  I prefer to live, to rejoice in the gifts he has given us.  I want to move on.   But daily we continue to pray for the members of our armed forces who are on active duty overseas.  I just don’t think it is time for us in this city not to gather on the anniversary of the attack.

At the altar we will remember those who have died and pray that we may always remember that the evil we human beings endure in this life will one day end.  There is no better way to do this than gathering as the Body of Christ.   Stephen Gerth

PRAYER LIST . . . Your prayers are asked for Hazard who is hospitalized, Antonio, Louise, Gates, Billie, Susan, Joan, Michael, Lois, Virginia, Bart, Brett, Nicole, Jack, Thomas, Annie, Patricia, Paul, Robert, Gloria, Jerri, Margaret, Marion, Rick, and Charles, priest, Gregory, priest; and for the members of our Armed Forces on active duty overseas, especially Timothy, Patrick, Kevin, Christopher, Andrew, Joseph, Marc, Timothy, David, John and Colin.  Your prayers are also asked for the repose of the soul of Olga.

GRANT THEM PEACE . . . September 03: 1965 Carol Jean Kearns; September 05: 1964 Joseph Henry Schuman; September 06: 1989 Martha Mcelveen Jones.

IN THIS TRANSITORY LIFE . . . John Delves’s mother, Olga Delves, died Friday, August 22, in Atlanta.  She will be buried from Saint Mary’s Church, Amityville, New York on Saturday, September 6, at 10:30 AM.  Pray for Olga, for John and for all who mourn.

I PUBLISH THE BANNS OF MARRIAGE between Thomas Michael Devaney of San Francisco, California, and Melissa Ann Twiest of San Francisco, California.  If any of you know just cause why they may not be joined together in Holy Matrimony, you are bidden to declare it.  This is the third time of asking.  S.G.

LITURGICAL NOTES . . . The Sunday Proper: Deuteronomy 4:1-9, Psalm 15, Ephesians 6:10-20, Mark 7:1-8, 14-15,21-23 . . . Confessions will be heard on Saturday, August 29, by Father Smith, and on Saturday, September 06, by Father Gerth.

NOTES ON MUSIC . . . This week at the Solemn Mass, the prelude is Prelude and Fugue in G Minor by Healey Willan (1880-1968) and the postlude is Postlude in D, also by Willan.  Our soloist is Mr. David Vanderwal, tenor.  The solo at Communion is Sing ye praise from Lobgesang (Hymn of Praise), Op. 52 by Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847).  This large work is actually Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 2 in B-flat Major and became known as a “symphony-cantata.”  Its most well known movement probably is I waited for the Lord, which is set for two sopranos and choir.

AROUND THE PARISH . . . Mr. Matthew Mead returns to Yale Divinity School this week for his last year.  It has been great having him here this summer.  We look forward very much to his ordination in March and to him joining the parish clergy after graduation . . . The special Holy Week 2003 edition of AVE has arrived.  You will be receiving it shortly.  Many thanks to Linda Bridges for all of her efforts and to Alice Manning for the photographs . . . The parish office will be closed on Monday, September 1, in observance of Labor Day.  The church will be open only from 11:30 AM to 2:00 PM this day.  The only services will be the Noonday Office at 12:00 PM and Daily Mass at 12:15 PM . . . As we go to press, Father Beddingfield is moving into his apartment in the Parish House.  His home telephone number will be available soon . . . Holy Matrimony will be celebrated in the church on Sunday, August 31, at 2:00 PM for Thomas Devaney and Melissa Twiest . . . Attendance last Sunday 217.

PLAN FOR AN OCTOBER RETREAT . . . The fall parish retreat will be held at Mount Saviour Monastery, near Elmira, New York, www.msaviour.org, Saturday, November 8, through Tuesday, November 11, Veteran's Day.  The retreat topic is “Sheep May Safely Graze.”  The maximum number of participants is fifteen.  E-mail reservations or questions to penelopebyham@hotmail.com.

CHRISTIAN EDUCATION BEGINS September 17 . . . For four Wednesday evenings the Right Reverend Richard F. Grein, XIV Bishop of the Diocese of New York, will lead “The Gospel According to Mark.”  The class meets after Mass from 7:00 PM to 8:30 PM in Saint Benedict’s Study.  We will seek to answer the question: Why did someone we call ‘Mark’ invent what we call a ‘gospel account of the life of Jesus’?  In using the material available to him, how does he portray Jesus?  What is demanded by Jesus of those who would follow him?  We will also pay close attention to the structure of the Gospel as it reveals the purpose of the author.

SPECIAL SUNDAYS IN SEPTEMBER . . . Sunday, September 14, is Holy Cross Day.  It will also be our day to say goodbye to Father Smith as he returns to New Haven to finish writing his dissertation . . . On Sunday, September 21, Father Beddingfield will celebrate the Eucharist for the first time at the Solemn Mass.  The parish choir will be present for this service . . . On Sunday, September 28, the Right Reverend C. Christopher Epting will be with us as celebrant and preacher at the Solemn Mass.  September 27 is Bishop Epting’s fifteenth anniversary of consecration as a bishop.

The Calendar of the Week

Sunday               The Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost

Monday                     David Oakerhater, deacon

Tuesday                     The Martyrs of New Guinea

Wednesday               Weekday

Thursday                  Weekday

                         Friday                        Weekday                                  Abstinence

                         Saturday                   Of Our Lady

The Parish Clergy

The Reverend Stephen Gerth, rector,

The Reverend John Beddingfield, curate, The Reverend James Ross Smith, assistant,

The Reverend Rosemari Sullivan, assisting priest,

The Reverend Canon Edgar F. Wells, rector emeritus.