Eileen Sorensen Retires

After eleven years of service to our parish community, Eileen Sorensen has announced her retirement.  Those of us at Saint Mary’s who have had the privilege of working with her or knowing her are going to miss her and her many, many gifts terribly.

Eileen was hospitalized recently for medical treatment.  Her recovery continues.  She is very thankful for the support and prayers of the parish.  Yet the years pass for all of us, and Eileen has reached the years of her life when it simply makes sense for her to retire.

Eileen is a lifelong resident of Brooklyn and has always worked in the city.  I know something of what she has meant to so many at Saint Mary’s.  I’m sure she touched the lives of others in the same way throughout her career.  She is fiercely loyal to this parish, to the people and to the priests.  Her smile always reflected the genuine love in her heart for life and for others.  Again, we are going to miss her terribly.

Eileen has been very insistent that we not have any kind of party for her, and because of the character of her insistence, I have reluctantly acceded to her requests.  We will find a special way to say thanks to her.

Dear Eileen, I personally am going to miss you more than I can say.  You gave me your best from the day I arrived and you had more patience with me than any new priest had the right to expect.  You always had time to stay late when the work load was heavy.  You always came back from Herald Square on time!  Diamond (Eileen’s beloved dog) and Bob (her husband) are going to be glad to have you home.  I hope you will always take pride in how much you are missed.  Stephen Gerth

PRAYER LIST . . . Your prayers are asked for Bettyann, Eileen, Fred, Jerri, Myra, Sarah, Doreen, Mabel, Gloria, Marion, Olga, Peter, Betty, Kenneth, Maureen, Marie, Rick, Edgar, John, Joanne, Barbara, Amy and Charles, priest, and for the repose of the soul of Mary.  Pray also for the members of our Armed Forces on active duty, especially Patrick, Edward, Christopher, Andrew, Robert, Joseph, Mark, Ned, David and John . . . GRANT THEM PEACE . . . June 9: 1952 Roy Whitson Lay; June 10: 1963 Kenneth Wilmot; 1970 Florence B. Crouch; June 12: 1986 James P. Gregory.

IN THIS TRANSITORY LIFE . . . Donna O’Dwyer’s mother, Mary Cizynski, died at her home Wednesday morning.  She will be buried from Saint Bartholomew’s, Yonkers, on Friday, June 7 at 10:00 AM.  Pray for Mary, for Donna and her family, and for all who mourn.

LITURGICAL NOTES . . . The Sunday Proper: Hosea 5:15 – 6:6, Psalm 50:7-15, Romans 4:13-18, Matthew 9:9-13 . . . Confessions will be heard on Saturday, June 8, by Father Weiler and on Saturday, June 15, by Father Gerth.

FRIDAY ABSTINENCE . . . The faithful are reminded that the ordinary Fridays of the year are observed as special days of discipline and self-denial in commemoration of the crucifixion of the Lord.

NOTES ON MUSIC . . . On Friday, June 7, at the evening Sung Mass, hymns and service music will be sung by the congregation, and the postlude will be Antiphon I  (Op. 18) by Marcel Dupré (1886-1971).  On Sunday, June 9, at the Solemn Mass, the prelude will be Antiphon III, also from Dupré’s Op. 18.  The postlude will be Präludium quarti toni, BuxWV 152, by Dietrich Buxtehude (c. 1637-1707).  On ordinary Sundays during the summer months, a soloist sings Asperges me, the minor propers of the Mass, and a piece during the ministration of Communion.  The congregation sings the Mass ordinary.  This summer we have decided to use the Healey Willan setting of Gloria in excelsis from his congregational Missa de Sancta Maria Magdalena, even though the language is that of Rite I.  It is first-rate music, and relatively easy to sing.  Sanctus and Agnus Dei (and of course the Creed) will be sung to plainsong.  This Sunday the soloist is Karen Coker, soprano.  The anthem at Communion is Pie Jesu from Messe de Requiem by Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924).

AROUND THE PARISH . . . Friday, June 7, is the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.  The evening Mass will be sung at 6:00 PM . . . Many thanks to all who helped with the liturgies for the Visitation and for Corpus Christi! . . . The 226th Annual Convention of the Diocese of New York is to be held in Tarrytown on Friday, June 7, and Saturday, June 8.  Miss Linda Bridges, elected by the congregation, and the Rector will represent the parish . . . Thanks to all of the parish musicians for a great season.  The full parish choir sings again on the Feast of the Assumption.  The fall choir season begins this year on September 29, Michaelmas . . . Father Smith will be on vacation for four weeks beginning Saturday, June 8.  Father, we hope you have a great time away! . . . At long last, a new banner is being designed for 46th Street.  It should make its appearance by the end of the month . . . Tuesday, June 11, the Feast of Saint Barnabas the Apostle, is the Rector’s nineteenth anniversary of ordination to the diaconate . . . Attendance: Visitation 57, Last Sunday 202.

FROM THE NEIGHBORHOOD NEWSPAPER . . . The New York Times, Sunday, June 2, 2002, Metro Section, “The Heart of a Battered City Pulses On: Despite 9/11, Seasons Change and Times Square is Hot and Lively” By Charlie LeDuff:

Nearby, the doors of the Church of St. Mary the Virgin were open.  A young, earnest priest was alone in the sanctuary save for two souls who attended his Mass.  There were so many more during those late, dark days of fall.  They do not come as much any more.  The wailing of fire engines and the patter of foot traffic distracted from the early evening worship.  The heat from the street crawled up the transept.  The responsory was eerie but pertinent.  Psalm 37: “Do not fret yourself because of evildoers.  Do not be jealous of those who do wrong.  For they shall soon wither like the grass and like the green grass, fade away.”  New York will not stop . . .

SUMMER INTERNS ARRIVE . . . Saint Mary’s is pleased to be participating this year in a new program, the Lilly Summer Discernment Institute.  This program is funded by the Lilly Foundation and is coordinated through the University of the South.  Thirty-five college students will be interns at various Episcopal parishes (including Saint Mary's) this summer.  They are all in various stages of considering ordination as deacons or priests and this internship is expressly for the purpose of helping them to discern whether they are or are not being called to ordained life.  Our four interns arrive this Saturday, June 8 and depart July 28.  Be on the lookout for them!

CHRISTIAN FORMATION NEWS . . . The “Women and Spirituality Group” has decided to continue meeting over the summer.  The next meeting, to which all female members and friends are warmly invited to attend, will be Tuesday, June 11 at 7:00 PM in Saint Benedict’s Study . . . This Wednesday, June 12, is the third and final session of Father Weiler’s class entitled “Prayers of the Bible.”  Prayers of many different forms and in many different contexts fill the pages of the Scriptures.  Wednesday’s session will continue the group’s exploration of a significant number of prayers from the Bible, with an eye toward deepening and widening our individual and corporate prayer life.

STEWARDSHIP REMINDER . . . Even though you may be traveling this summer or away on weekends, please remember Saint Mary’s in your pledges and other offerings.  Your faith and your support allow Saint Mary’s to remain open for the hundreds and perhaps thousands who will enter its doors this summer.

The Calendar of the Week

Sunday          The Third Sunday after Pentecost

         Monday                     Ephrem, Deacon

          Eve of Saint Barnabas 6:00 PM

         Tuesday                    Saint Barnabas the Apostle

         Wednesday               Weekday

         Thursday                  Weekday

Friday                       Basil the Great, Bishop                          Abstinence

Saturday                  Of Our Lady

The Parish Clergy

The Reverend Stephen Gerth, rector,

The Reverend Matthew Weiler, curate, The Reverend James Ross Smith, assistant,

The Reverend Amilcar Figueroa, The Reverend Rosemari Sullivan, assisting priests,

The Reverend Canon Edgar F. Wells, rector emeritus.