FROM THE RECTOR: MOVING FORWARD

I am delighted to announce that our bishop, the Right Reverend Andrew M. L. Dietsche, has given permission to the Society of Saint Francis, Province of the Americas, to establish a "house" here at Saint Mary's. I feel sure that the members and friends of the parish will want to join me in welcoming two resident friars, Brother Damien Joseph, S.S.F., and Brother Thomas, S.S.F., to Saint Mary's in September.

As I wrote in The Angelus for the week of May 6, 2018, Sister Eleanor Francis, C.S.J.B, superior of the Community of St. John Baptist, decided to close the community's branch house here at Saint Mary's. We tried to keep them here, but it's the superior's job to oversee the needs of the community as a whole. Sister Laura Katharine, C.S.J.B., and Sister Monica Clare, C.S.J.B., will return to the convent in Mendham before the end of August.

Sister Deborah Francis, C.S.J.B., now assistant superior of the order, opened the house here at Saint Mary's on March 15, 2007, along with Sister Laura Katharine. Sister Monica Clare took Sister Deborah Francis's place on September 10, 2015. We still miss "DF," and I know we will miss "LK" and "MC." I have tremendous respect for their order and their work. We are going to continue to know them and pray with them. On the Feast of the Assumption, Wednesday, August 15, 2018, the Solemn Mass will be celebrated in thanksgiving for their ministry. A special reception is planned.

The friars, of course, are not strangers to New York. The Society of Saint Francis' main American house for many years was at Little Portion Friary, Mt. Sinai, New York. They have many friends and associates here in the East. The friars have already planned the centennial celebration of the Province of the Americas at the Church of Saint Luke in the Fields for Saturday, September 14, 2019-save the date!

Many of us met Brother Damien Joseph and Brother Thomas at the Solemn Mass on the Feast of Christ the King, Sunday, November 28, 2017, when they were here in New York. If memory serves, a conference brought them back to New York in early February. They shared with our sisters their order's desire to be back on the East coast. The sisters shared this news with me. Conversations began. Their minister provincial, Brother Desmond Alban, S.S.F., and Brother Jude, S.S.F., were in New York on behalf of their order during Easter Week. They met with the sisters and with board members Clark Mitchell, Marie Rosseels, and Leroy Sharer, as well as with Father Jay Smith and me. We were all encouraged by shared visions for the presence and ministry of the Episcopal Church in the heart of this city. They are eager to work with our growing ministry to the homeless.

I visited their friary in San Francisco in May-and then the paperwork got underway. The last detail was to receive the permission of the bishop of our diocese for their new house here. He has written Brother Desmond and the friars a generous letter of welcome. Bishop Dietsche will be with us as celebrant and preacher for the Solemn Mass on All Saints' Day, Thursday, November 1, 2018. I'm sure we will find a way to include the friars in that celebration. I ask you to continue to pray for the Community of St. John Baptist. I ask your prayers for the Society of Saint Francis and for all of us as we open this new chapter in our parish life.
—Stephen Gerth

YOUR PRAYERS ARE ASKED FOR James, Karen, Timothy, Ilona, Robert, Alex, Sheila, Eloise, Angie, Maxine, Carlos, Susan, Marilouise, Dennis, Bob, Abe, Randy, Burt, Mike, Eugenia, Kyle, Greta, Karen, John, Melissa, May, Heidi, Takeem, Ridhima, and Sandy; for Horace, Gaylord, Louis, and Edgar, priests; for all the benefactors and friends of this parish; and for the repose of the souls of Tunice Mendy and Shirley Anne Carlson.

GRANT THEM PEACE . . . July 29: 1903 Elizabeth Wood; 1913 Alice Dunklin Pegram; 1944 Keith Watt Morris; 1944 Thomas D. Burrill; 1954 Edward Rogers Tulfree.

IN THIS TRANSITORY LIFE . . . Tunice Mendy, the mother of Charles Mendy, died suddenly last week in Dakar, Senegal. Charles is a good friend of Saint Mary's and often worships here . . . Shirley Anne Carlson, the mother of parishioner Terry Carlson, died in Red Wing, Minnesota, on Friday, July 20. She was ninety years old. Mrs. Carlson's obituary may be read online. Please keep Tunice, Shirley, Charles, Terry, their family and friends, and all who mourn in your prayers.

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

STEWARDSHIP CAMPAIGN . . . As of Monday, July 23, $385,674 has been pledged by 120 households. This 90.7% of our pledge goal. It is not too late to make a pledge for 2018. If you would like to do so, please contact the parish office or speak to Marie Rosseels, MaryJane Boland, Steven Heffner, or Brendon Hunter, members of the Stewardship Committee.

THIS WEEK AT SAINT MARY'S. . . On Monday, July 30, we will commemorate William Wilberforce(1759-1833), a British statesman and evangelical Anglican who used his position as a member of Parliament from the Yorkshire area to become a leading advocate for the abolition of the slave trade throughout the British Empire. He and his allies succeeded in that effort when the Slave Trade Act of 1807 received the royal assent on March 25 of that year. Wilberforce eventually came to support, and to work for, the emancipation of slavery in the United Kingdom and throughout the British Empire. He saw those efforts rewarded when Parliament passed a law in July 1833 outlawing slavery throughout the Empire. He died three days later at age seventy-three . . . Wednesday, August 1, Sung Mass 12:10 PM . . . Thursday, August 2, Mass and Healing Service 12:10 PM . . . Friday, August 3, 6:30 PM, Centering Prayer Group, Atrium, Parish Hall, Second Floor.

SAINT MARY'S 2018-2019 ORGAN RECITALS . . . All recitals begin at 5:30 PM: Wednesday, August 15, Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mr. George Bozeman, Deerfield, NH; Thursday, November 1, All Saints' Day, Dr. Paul-Martin Maki, Saint John's Church, Larchmont, NY; Friday, December 7, Eve of the Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Dr. Judith Hancock, New York City; Friday, February 1, Eve of the Presentation of Our Lord, Dr. Timothy Pyper, Church of the Holy Apostles, New York City; Monday, March 25, Annunciation of Our Lord, Mr. Larry Long, Church of the Epiphany, New York City; Thursday, May 30, Ascension Day, Dr. David Hurd, organist and music director.

AROUND THE PARISH . . . We are hoping to receive donations for altar flowers on the following dates: Sunday, August 19; Sunday, September 2; Sunday, September 23; October 14, 21, and 28; November 1, All Saints' Day; Sunday, November 4, 11, 18, and 25; Friday, December 7, the Eve of the Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary; and Sunday, December 16, Gaudete Sunday. If you would like to make a donation, please contact the Parish Office . . . Pledge to keep up with your pledge! During the summer months we sometimes experience cash-flow problems as many friends and members of the parish are away, taking much-needed vacations. We urge all those who made pledges for 2018 to stay current with their pledge payments. We are grateful to all those who continue to support the mission and witness of this parish . . . Sister Monica Clare, C.S.J.B., will be on vacation until Friday, August 3 . . . Father Jim Pace will be on vacation and away from the parish from Thursday, July 19, through Sunday, July 29 . . . Dr. David Hurd will be away during the coming week. Mr. Larry Long will play the noon Sung Mass on Wednesday, August 1. Dr. Hurd will return to New York in time to play the Solemn Mass on Sunday, August 5 . . . Father Jay Smith will be away from the parish on vacation from Monday, July 30, until Monday, August 13. He returns to the office on Tuesday, August 14 . . . Attendance: Last Sunday 143.

OUTREACH AT SAINT MARY'S . . . There will not be a Drop-in Day during the month of August. During that time, The Homeless Ministry Team will be planning for the 2018-19 season, saying goodbye to Sister Monica Clare, and making preparations for transitions in this ministry.Donations and volunteers are needed for our next Drop-in Day on Wednesday, September 26, and for the many requests for assistance between Drop-in Days. We are in particular need of basic items such as the following: packs of new underwear in various sizes for both men and women; slacks for both men and women, including jeans, chinos, khakis, etc.; packs of new socks, white and black; rainwear; knapsacks; and toiletry articles . . . Please contact Sister Monica Clare if you would like to volunteer for this important ministry or if you would like to make a donation . . . We continue to receive nonperishable food items for our outreach partner, Saint Clement's Food Pantry. Please place those items in the basket near the ushers' table at the Forty-sixth Street entrance to the church.

ABOUT THE MUSIC . . . The cantor at the Solemn Mass on Sunday morning is countertenor Clarke Baxtresser, who has often previously sung in the choir and as cantor at Saint Mary's. During the ministration of Communion he will sing O Jesus, joy of loving hearts by David Hurd, organist and music director at Saint Mary's. The words are of a Roman breviary hymn, Jesu, rex admirabilis-a cento from the more well-known hymn Jesu, dulcis memoria-which has been translated and paraphrased by Ray Palmer (1808-1887). Palmer's version, Jesus, thou joy of loving hearts, first appeared in the Episcopal Hymnal in 1892 at a time before the translation of Medieval Latin hymns for modern use was common. His version of the text, with some alterations, appears in The Hymnal 1982 at numbers 649 and 650, and is what will be sung this morning. Dr. Hurd's setting of this hymn expresses its gently joyful Eucharistic prayerfulness. It was composed in 1976 and is published in his collection "I Sing As I Arise Today." The tune name is St. Bernard in recognition of the French Cistercian abbot, Bernard of Clairvaux (1091-1153), to whom the text was traditionally attributed.

Sunday's organ voluntaries continue a series, begun last Sunday, of the eight "Little" Preludes and Fugues traditionally attributed to J. S. Bach (1685-1750). These pieces are now widely believed to have been composed by one of Bach's pupils, very likely Johann Tobias Krebs (1690-1762), or his son Johann Ludwig Krebs (1713-1780). Of these eight relatively short preludes and fugues, four are in the major keys of C, F, G, and B-flat, and the remaining four are in their relative minors of A, D, E, and G. The standard ordering of these eight pieces begins with BWV 553 in C Major and progresses up the scale to BWV 560 in B-flat. This morning's prelude will be BWV 559 in A minor, and the postlude will be BWV 553 in the relative Major key of C. BWV 559, for the prelude, is probably the most dramatic of the eight preludes and fugues, displaying elements of the stylus fantasticus("fantastic style") of north-German Baroque keyboard music. BWV 553, numbered first in the collection and played for the postlude, is a bright and innocently straightforward piece. Both preludes and fugues have stylistic similarities to larger works, BWV 543 and BWV 545, in the same respective keys and more certainly authentic J. S. Bach.  —David Hurd

LOOKING AHEAD . . . Monday, August 6, The Transfiguration of Our Lord Jesus Christ . . . Tuesday, August 14, The Eve of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary . . . Wednesday, August 15, The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary . . . Friday, August 24, Saint Bartholomew the Apostle . . . Monday, September 3, Labor Day . . . Friday, September 7, Eve of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary . . . Friday, September 14, Holy Cross Day . . . Friday, September 21, Saint Matthew, Apostle and Evangelist . . . Friday, September 28, Eve of Saint Michael and All Angels.

AT THE GALLERIES . . . "Learning to Remember" at the Museum of Jewish Heritage, Edmond J. Safra Plaza, 36 Battery Place, New York, NY 10280, until August 26, 2018. From the Museum website, "The Museum of Jewish Heritage-A Living Memorial to the Holocaust is commemorating twenty years of serving as New York's Holocaust Memorial Museum with a series of special exhibitions and installations, public programs, and community events. Learning to Remember offers a glimpse of some of the most compelling, thought-provoking, and historically significant exhibitions presented by the Museum in the last two decades. These exhibitions explored important topics-from Jewish resistance against the Nazis to the American Jewish connection to Lady Liberty-and attracted diverse audiences to what is now the third largest Holocaust museum in the world."

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