SPECIAL NOTE: ALL SOULS’ REMEMBRANCES

For a variety of reasons, the All Souls’ mailing to the parish community was mailed on Friday, October 25. The Requiem Masses, remembering by name those we love who are in the nearer presence of God, will be said beginning Monday, November 4, and conclude on Friday, November 8. You will find the schedule below. You can also email your requests to info@stmvnyc.org and to make the traditional All Souls’ offering by going to the “Giving” section of our webpage—click on any of the icons for the cards available for credit or debit. You will have the chance to indicate that by adding a “note”—please let us know if it’s an All Souls’ offering.

All Souls’ gifts will be used for the continuing conservation of our historic altar vessels and furnishings during the celebration of our sesquicentennial year. This year begins with our patronal feast on Monday, December 9, 2019 (transferred), with the visitation of the Right Reverend Andrew M.L. Dietsche, the bishop of New York.

FROM THE RECTOR: NOVEMBER BEGINS

Since 2007, Daylight Savings Time has ended at 2:00 AM on the first Sunday in November, when clocks are set back to 1:00 AM. In New York City, it’s also the date of the New York City Marathon—which affects getting around in all five boroughs of the city along its route. It’s a regular Sunday for us at Saint Mary’s, the Twenty-first Sunday after Pentecost. Our celebration of All Saints’ Day will begin on its eve, Thursday, October 31, with Solemn Evensong at 6:00 PM. A quartet from the parish choir will sing the canticles, Magnificat and Nunc dimittis by Robert Ramsey (c.1595–1644), and a motet, Gaudent in coelis, by Tomás Luis de Victoria (c.1548–1611).

Our celebrations continue on Friday, November 1, with Sung Morning Prayer at 8:30 AM, Noonday Office 12:00 PM, and Sung Mass at 12:10 PM. Dr. Andrew Henderson, Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church, New York City, will play an organ recital at 5:30 PM. For the Solemn Mass at 6:00 PM, the parish choir will sing All Saints Service by Dr. David Hurd and Bring us, O Lord God by William Henry Harris (1883–1973). Holy Baptism will be celebrated for our sexton, Shalim Peña. A reception will follow in Saint Joseph’s Hall.

Saturday, November 2, is the Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed, commonly known as All Souls’ Day. There will be a Sung Mass & Blessing of the Vault at 11:00 AM. The music will include Missa defunctorum and Lux eterna by Jacobus Clemens non Papa (c.1510–c.1555). On this Saturday, confessions will only be heard at 4:00 PM. There will be no Noonday Office or 12:10 PM Daily Eucharist. Evening Prayer for the Eve of the Twenty-first Sunday after Pentecost will be prayed at 5:00 PM. The Sunday Vigil Mass follows at 5:20 PM.

All Saints’ is a reminder that we share Eucharist with all who live in Christ. On All Souls’ and at our Requiem Eucharists in the days that follow, we remember those for whom our love for them and their love for us never ends. —Stephen Gerth

IN THIS TRANSITORY LIFE: JAMES WINCHESTER MONTGOMERY, BISHOP, 1921–2019

The Right Reverend James Winchester Montgomery, IX Bishop of Chicago, died at his home on Wednesday, October 23, 2019. He was ninety-eight years old. There will be a gathering on Sunday evening, November 3, at the Church of the Atonement, Chicago, his local parish. On Monday, November 4, the Burial of the Dead will be celebrated at Saint James Cathedral. Bishop Montgomery was born in the city of Chicago and only served in the diocese of Chicago as deacon, priest, and bishop. In addition, he served on the boards of seminaries and other institutions of the wider church.

I first met Bishop Montgomery when he made a visitation to the parish where I was worshiping while attending graduate school at the University of Chicago. In the spring of 1979, I was recruited for the priesthood by the rector of another parish whom I had come to know through mutual friends. With Father Craig Johnson’s encouragement, I became a member of Saint Helena’s Church, Burr Ridge, and began the ordination process. After Mass one Sunday in early 1980, my rector handed me a note that he had received from Bishop Montgomery. It said, “Please bring Stephen to see me. I want to make him a postulant [the first formal step to ordination in the Episcopal Church].” A week or so later, I was in the bishop’s office where I began the next steps in a life that would be very different from the one I had envisioned only a short time before.

In 1980, we had many strong seminaries in the church, among them Nashotah House, about thirty miles west of Milwaukee, where I would go to study. Bishop Montgomery was a trustee there. When the Nashotah board of trustees met that fall, I met two trustees from New York City, Father Edgar Wells, for whom my rector had been a seminarian, and Father John Andrew (1931–2014), rector of Saint Thomas Church. In 1983, I was ordained deacon at Saint James Cathedral, Chicago, by the Suffragan Bishop Quentin Primo. Bishop Montgomery was there, of course, seated in his cathedra. Two weeks later I was in Dallas. I would never serve in the diocese of Chicago.

On a warm June Saturday afternoon in 1998, I was serving at Trinity Church, Michigan City, Indiana. Going into the church after finishing a wedding service, I found Bishop Montgomery kneeling at the Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham. I invited him to the rectory for a glass of iced tea. In the course of the conversation, he said, “There’s a parish in New York that I’d like to give your name to. Would that be all right?” A few weeks later, Linda Bridges (1949–2017), chair of the search committee at Saint Mary’s, sent me an invitation to submit my name for consideration. After being called to Saint Mary’s I would learn that Bishop Montgomery had long taken an interest in this parish. In 1979, when asked, Bishop Montgomery had told that search committee that they should speak with my predecessor, Father Edgar Wells about Saint Mary’s. Longtime members of the parish will remember that two other bishops of Chicago, the Most Reverend Frank T. Griswold, XXV Presiding Bishop and X Bishop of Chicago, and the Right Reverend Jeffrey D. Lee, the present and twelfth bishop of Chicago, have celebrated and preached here. Both of them knew Saint Mary’s before they were ordained. The links between the diocese of Chicago and this parish have been strong and enduring.

The last time I saw Bishop Montgomery was at a reception for him given by the Reverend John David van Dooren, rector, Church of the Transfiguration, here in the city, in June 2017. The bishop was in town to be honored by the Church Pension Group for his long service as a trustee and as chair of their board. A few members of the Brotherhood of Saint Gregory, including Br. Ronald Fox, are members of Atonement, Chicago, and they worship here when they are in the city. I had a note from Ron on Monday that Bishop Montgomery was nearing the end of his life. At the Manhattan Midtown Clericus (for clergy from Saint Mary’s, and the Church of the Holy Apostles, the Church of the Good Shepherd, the Church of the Incarnation, the Church of the Transfiguration, Saint Bartholomew’s, Saint Clement’s, and Saint Thomas) on Wednesday, October 23, Father van Dooren told me the bishop might die that day, and he did. I did not know Bishop Montgomery well, but his confidence in me brought me to a vocation and to this wonderful parish where I’ve had the privilege to serve for over twenty years.

Bishop Montgomery became bishop suffragan of Chicago in 1962, bishop coadjutor in 1965, and bishop of the diocese in 1967. He retired in 1987. When he was ordained bishop, among the words he heard from the Prayer Book then in use were these: “Be to the flock of Christ a shepherd, not a wolf; feed them, devour them not” (BCP [1928], 558). For twenty-five years, he was a faithful shepherd of Christ’s flock. —S.G.

YOUR PRAYERS ARE ASKED FOR MaryJane, Daniel, Linda, Denis, George, Kenneth, Ruben, Mary Hope, Francis, Melvin Jack, Ellie, Pat, Ann, Gene, Marie, May, Willard, Alexandra, Karen, Marilouise, Lakshmi, Ridhima, Takeem, John, Michael, Rita, Ivy, Carolyn, and Dennis; for Horace, Gaylord, Gene, Louis, Edgar, priests; for the members of our Armed Forces on active duty, especially Edward; for all the benefactors and friends of this parish; and for the repose of the souls of John Lawton, Avery Smith, and James Winchester Montgomery, bishop . . . GRANT THEM PEACE: October 27: 1944 Whidden Graham; 1948 George Grant; 1965 Peter LaFarge.

THE ORDINARY FRIDAYS OF THE YEAR are observed by special acts of discipline and self-denial in commemoration of the Lord’s crucifixion. Special devotion is not observed on Friday, November 1, 2019, All Saints’ Day.

THIS WEEK AT SAINT MARY’S . . . Saturday, October 26, 2:00 PM, Marriage of MaryJane Boland and Daniel Louis Picard . . . Sunday, October 27, Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost, Sung Matins 8:30 AM; Mass 9:00 & 10:00 AM; Solemn Mass 11:00 AM, Adult Forum, 12:45 PM in the Lady Chapel. Note place and later time; Solemn Evensong and Benediction 5:00 PM . . . Monday, October 28, Saint Simon and Saint Jude, Apostles, Morning Prayer 8:30 AM, Noonday Prayer 12:00 PM, Mass 12:10 PM, Evening Prayer 6:00 PM, Mass 6:20 PM . . . Wednesday, October 30, Sung Mass 12:10 PM; Clothing Ministry: Grab-and-Go, 2:00–3:00 PM, Narthex . . . Thursday, October 31, Mass with Healing Service 12:10 PM, Solemn Evensong for the Eve of All Saints; Day 6:00 PM . . . Friday, November 1, All Saints’ Day, Sung Matins 8:30 AM, Noonday Prayer 12:00 PM, Sung Mass 12:10 PM, Organ Recital 5:30 PM, Solemn Mass 6:00 PM, Reception 7:20 PM . . . Saturday, November 2, All Souls’ Day, Sung Mass & Blessing of the Vault 11:00 AM.

ALL SOULS’ DAY REMEMBRANCES . . . On the weekdays following All Souls’ Day, November 2, we will celebrate our annual Parish Requiem Masses. Each day there will be two Masses, one at 12:10 PM and the other at 6:20 PM. The departed will be remembered at each Mass during the Prayers of the People. The first names of the departed will be read according to the following schedule. Please note: the list of names is organized according to the last name of the person making the request, according to the following schedule: November 4 (A–E), November 5 (F–K), November 6 (L–N), November 7 (O–Q), November 8 (R–Z). This means, for example, that on Monday, November 4, names provided by Charles Abercrombie will be read. On Friday, November 8, names provided by Hagar Zenobia will be read. Our annual All Souls’ packets will be mailed this week. A form for the names of the departed will be included in the packet. The form may be mailed to the parish office or dropped in the collection basket at Mass.

A donation is traditional at All Souls’ and may be made by mail or by placing the donation in an envelope in the collection basket, with All Souls’ Day written in the memo line of the check. We are grateful for your generous support of the parish. The offering will be used for the conversation of candlesticks and candelabra so they can again be used on the high altar.

AROUND THE PARISH . . . The Adult Forum will meet this Sunday, October 27, at 12:45 PM in the Lady Chapel. Brother Damien SSF and Brother Thomas SSF will lead the class in a discussion of what we are doing now at Saint Mary’s to serve the poor, the marginalized, and those in need, and what we might do in the future. He will be joined by Ms. Chelsea Horvath, director of community ministries, Church of All Angels, 251 West Eightieth Street, New York, NY . . . Parishioner Cooki Winborn will appear in Lorraine Hansberry’s iconic play, A Raisin in the Sun, at the Bay Street Theater in Sag Harbor, New York, November14–December 1, 2019. For more information and to purchase tickets, please vist the theater website . . . Flowers are needed for Sunday, November 10 and 17, and for many Sundays in January and February. Please be in touch with Chris Howatt in the parish office if you would like to make a donation for one of these dates. Donations to support the work of the Flower Guild at Christmas are always welcome . . . Attendance at all Offices and Masses: Last Sunday 178.

BIBLE STUDY AT SAINT MARY’S . . . The Wednesday Night Bible Study Class met for the first time this season on October 9. The class, led by Father Jay Smith, is studying the forms of prayer in the Hebrew Bible, while exploring the ways in which we ourselves pray, asking ourselves: what does it mean to complain, lament, seek, inquire, meditate, praise, or give thanks. After an introduction to the topic, the class will study and read closely one or two biblical texts each week. The class meets next on October 30 at 6:30 PM and on November 5 at 7:00 PM, after the evening Requiem Mass. The class takes place in Saint Benedict’s Study in the Parish House.

NEWS FROM THE FRIARY . . . Brother Damien SSF and Brother Thomas SSF will lead a Quiet Day at the Church of the Holy Trinity, East Eighty-eighth Street, on November 2, 2019. Contact Brother Damien Joseph for more information.

CHRISTIAN EDUCATION: COMING UP NEXT . . . Father Peter Powell will be teaching the Adult Forum on Sunday mornings during the month of November. Father Powell writes, “On the four Sundays in November, we will be reading from the last twelve books of the Old Testament. All you need to participate is curiosity about the Bible. Why should this interest you? The issues each prophet addressed are relevant today as we work out how to be faithful in a divided society. These books, known as The Twelve or as the Minor Prophets, include Hosea, Amos, Jonah, and Habakkuk. We will examine them in their original setting and then move into how they speak to us today. We will begin with Hosea and Amos and then get as far into the others as we can. Hosea and Amos tell us about how to be faithful in a time in which conservative religion appears to be in control of our culture. The twelve prophets lived in a time when religion dominated, but faith was absent. Our time is much like that. I invite you to join me in November as we begin this important study of how God works in our world.” These classes will meet at 10:00 AM on Sunday mornings in November, in Saint Benedict’s Study, in the Parish House, 145 West Forty-sixth Street.

ABOUT THE MUSIC ON SUNDAY, OCTOBER 27 . . . The setting of the Mass on Sunday morning is by Felix Mendelssohn (1809–1847). Mendelssohn blossomed early as a conductor, composer, and pianist. His initial music studies in Berlin were followed by travel in England, Scotland, Italy, and France before his 1833 appointment as music director in Düsseldorf. Two years later he became conductor of the Gewandhaus concerts in Leipzig where, together with Schumann and others, he founded the Leipzig Conservatorium in 1842. His 1829 Leipzig performance of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion helped decisively to stimulate the nineteenth-century rediscovery of the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. His contributions as a composer span the categories of orchestral, choral, stage, chamber, piano, vocal, and organ works. His music is said to have set the canons of mid-Victorian musical taste. Mendelssohn’s Die Deutsche Liturgie (1846) for eight-voice double choir includes Kyrie (not sung this morning), Gloria (Ehre sei Gott), and his previously composed Sanctus (Heilig, 1844). Agnus Dei (Lamm Gottes) is an adaptation of Mendelssohn’s eight-voice motet In der Passionszeit (Herr, gedenke nicht), from Sechs Sprüche, Op 79/4, 1844). It is sung today as adapted by James Kennerley.

Sunday’s Communion motet is also by Felix Mendelssohn and is one of his choral settings of psalms. Mendelssohn’s Jauchzet dem Herrn, a German setting of Psalm 100, begins and ends in economical four-voice choral texture. The slower middle section, however, is maked Soli and expands out to eight parts. 

The organ prelude and postlude on Sunday are also works by Felix Mendelssohn. Mendelssohn composed a set of organ sonatas between 1839 and 1844, the fifth of which is perhaps the least often performed. While it may be considered a three-movement work, it is probably more accurately described as a single movement with three distinct and thematically unrelated sections. The short D-Major opening section of Sonata V is in the style of a traditional chorale, but it is original Mendelssohn. The second section, in the relative B minor, is somewhat more developed. It is in 6/8 meter with a staccato bass pattern played on the pedals. These two sections comprise the prelude. The third and most substantial section is played as the postlude. It returns to the Sonata’s opening key of D Major with a boldly angular opening theme and a lyric secondary theme accompanied by bubbling pianistic arpeggiation. —David Hurd

OUTREACH AT SAINT MARY’S . . . Our next Drop-in Day will take place Wednesday, November 20, from 2:00 to 4:00 PM, in the Mission House basement. On those Wednesdays when a Drop-in Day does not take place, we continue to offer our Grab-and-Go days—from 2:00 to 3:00 PM—in the former Gift Shop, just off the church Narthex. On those days, basic, even emergency, items can normally be provided—socks, underwear, toiletry articles, and, in the winter months, cold-weather clothing. Please contact Brother Damien if you would like to donate cash, clothing, or toiletry articles, or to volunteer for this important ministry. We have a particular need at the moment for cooler weather clothing: gently used jackets, coats and sweatshirts of varying weights, jeans, slacks and sweatpants. We always need new socks and underwear in various sizes. Our number of guests continues to grow, and we are always grateful for your financial contributions to this project. We can also use a few more volunteers for our once per month drop-in days . . . We continue to receive donations of canned goods and other nonperishable food items for the Saint Clement’s Food Pantry. Donations may be placed in the basket next to the Ushers’ Table at the Forty-sixth Street entrance to the church.

CLICK HERE for this week’s schedule.

CLICK HERE for the full parish calendar.