FROM THE RECTOR: FAMILY HISTORY

 When one begins working in Bowen Family Systems Theory, as I did in the late 1980s, one begins to do genealogy. Among the many things I would learn is that, if you do genealogy, you are likely to be contacted by a relative you’ve never met, especially with the advent of Ancestry.com and other websites. I want to tell you what I know about slaveholding in my family.

First, let’s get my Dad’s family out of the way. On my father’s side, seven of my eight second-great-grandparents were first- or second-generation Irish immigrants. The eighth, according to a great-grandfather’s 1911 marriage certificate, was born in Germany. One of my third-great-grandfathers, Stephen Patrick Flynn (1831–1914), came to America during the Great Famine (1845–1852). He enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps during the Civil War. Things were different on my mother’s side. They fought for the Confederacy.

In the 1860 Federal Census Slave Schedule, my great-grandfather Kinion Matthews (1820–1893) owned six human beings, 2 adults and four children, some with the notation of “mulatto.” His mother Catherine Williams Matthews (1781–1870), living on the next farm, owned five human beings, 3 adults and two children. I haven’t been able to locate my photocopy of the probate record of third-great-grandmother Mary Polly Triplett Collins (1782–1859). She had two enslaved persons, both elderly women. My memory is that the younger had a probate value of $2.50, the elder $0.00. But the first enslaved person owned by an ancestor that I know of was not from Africa. He was Native American. He was enslaved in Massachusetts.

There are four Mayflower pilgrims in my family tree. Samuel Fuller (1608–1663), his parents, and an uncle were on the Mayflower. His parents died during the first winter; he was brought up by his uncle (also Samuel Fuller.) This tenth-great-grandfather is thought to be the only pilgrim to have owned a slave, “the Indian Jaell,” to quote Fuller’s will. Jaell was probably taken prisoner in war or during a raid. Samuel bequeathed him to one of his sons. It’s a reminder for me that slavery already existed in what we call the New World before Europeans arrived.

We will certainly remember the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in our prayers on Monday, but we commemorate him on his dies natalis (heavenly birthday), April 4, the date of his assassination in 1968. In 2015, Easter Eve was April 4. I was celebrant for the Easter Vigil. Other than the persons of the Trinity, we name only the Virgin Mary during the Eucharistic Prayer. King’s name was not in the bulletin text. By grace, during the prayer I remembered what had happened that day: “And grant that we may find our inheritance with the Blessed Virgin Mary, with patriarchs, prophets, apostles, and martyrs, your servant Martin Luther King, Jr., and all the saints who have found favor with you in ages past.”

I was fourteen when Dr. King was killed. I will always be thankful for the study of the Bible that came my way by being brought up Southern Baptist. As a teenager, I picked up a lot of the biblical background when I heard his speeches. Just as I find it hard to understand the widespread revival of anti-Semitism in our time, I am deeply saddened by the racism experienced by different racial groups as we enter the third decade of this new century. The stories of LGBTQ persons of color I have heard, who have experienced racial discrimination from other LGBTQ persons, is really hard to grasp. All of this tells me that there’s still a lot of work for the gospel to do. —Stephen Gerth

YOUR PRAYERS ARE ASKED FOR Sharon, Gretchen, Marilouise, Mary Hope, Stephanie, John, Renée, Pat, Luis, José, Margaret, Murray, Mel, Richard, Carlos, Ken, May, Willard, Alexandra, Karen, Takeem, Michael, Rita, Ivy, Pearl, and Ethelyn; for Horace, Gene, Gaylord, Louis, and Edgar, priests; for the members of our Armed Forces on active duty, especially Edward; and all the benefactors and friends of this parish . . . GRANT THEM PEACE: January 19: 1919 David William Loeber; 1924 David Lewis Coles; 1931 Archibald Venn; 1953 Mary Isabelle Reynolds.

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 2019–2020 . . . Our stewardship campaign has been underway since late October, but pledge cards continue to arrive the mail. As of January 15, 2020, we have received $343,929 in pledges from 98 households, 80.9% of our goal of $425,000. We still have a fair ways to go. We encourage all the friends and members of the parish to return their pledge as soon as possible. This will help the Budget Committee in its work. However, if making a commitment by that date is not  possible, we will gladly receive pledge cards at any point during the coming year. Please remember that are a number of ways to fulfill a monetary pledge. If you have questions, please call Christopher Howatt in the parish office. Our needs are urgent. Our mission is clear. We invite your support.

AROUND THE PARISH . . . Our parish volunteers, under the leadership of Brother Thomas Steffensen SSF and Brother Damien Joseph SSF, served around 80 guests during the monthly Drop-in Day on Wednesday, January 15. Thank you to all those who continue to support this ministry . . . Flowers are needed for Sunday, January 26 and February 9, 16, and 23. Please be in touch with Chris Howatt in the parish office if you would like to make a donation for one of these dates . . . Father Matthew Jacobson is away from the parish. He returns the week of January 19. Father Jay Smith will be away from the parish on vacation between January 17 and January 26 . . . Attendance at all Offices and Masses: Last Sunday 185.

THIS WEEK AT SAINT MARY’S . . . Sunday, January 19, 2020, The Second Sunday after the Epiphany, Sung Matins 8:30 AM; Mass 9:00 & 10:00 AM; Adult Education 10:00 AM; Solemn Mass 11:00 AM, Solemn Evensong and Benediction 5:00 PM. . . . Monday, January 20, The Birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr. Federal Holiday Schedule. The church opens at 10:00 AM and closes at 2:00 PM. Only the noonday services are offered. The parish offices are closed . . . Wednesday, January 22, Sung Mass 12:10 PM . . . The Wednesday Night Bible Study Class will not meet on January 22. Class resumes on January 29 at 6:30 PM in Saint Benedict’s Study . . . Thursday, January 23, Mass with Healing Service 12:10 PM . . . Friday, January 24, Centering Prayer Group at 6:30 PM in the Morning Room . . . Saturday, January 25, The Conversion of Saint Paul the Apostle, Mass 12:10 PM, the conclusion of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.

LIVING WITH LOSS . . . We received word this week that Trinity Church, Wall Street, is once again offering a six-week grief-support group: “Living with Loss: Loss changes us—what we do and how and why we do it; who we thought we were; and who we might become. This six-week series offers support in the wake of loss.” The group will meet on six Mondays, January 20–February 24, from 6:00–7:30 PM in the Saint Margaret’s House Library, located at 49 Fulton Street, New York, NY 10038. Please RSVP, if you would like to attend. The group is facilitated by Francesca Maximé, S.E.P., from the Psychotherapy & Spirituality Institute.

OUTREACH AT SAINT MARY’S . . . We picked up well over 200 winter coats from the New York Cares coat drive last week. We thought they might see us through the winter months. However, around a third of the coats were distributed at the Drop-In Day on January 15. Cold-weather clothing—coats, jackets, scarves, hats, and gloves—remains a much-needed and much-appreciated item during these winter months. We continue to receive requests for shoes and sneakers in various sizes and styles. Shoes are an infrequent donation and are in constant demand. All such donations will be put to good use at our next Drop-in Day on Wednesday, February 19, from 2:00 to 4:00 PM, in the Mission House basement, and in the former Gift Shop. Please contact Brother Damien if you would like to donate cash, clothing, or toiletry articles for this ministry . . . A special word of thanks to MaryJane Boland, Marie Rosseels, and Brother Thomas, all of whom have been doing a lot of folding of clothes and re-organizing the basement space in recent days . . . Would you like to volunteer for Drop-in, but can’t get away for two hours mid-day? Consider being with us for an hour or half hour between 2:00 and 3:00 PM. The beginning of the event is especially busy, and we can always use extra hands to help, even if you can’t stay until 4:00 PM . . . 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. —Br. Damien Joseph SSF

ABOUT THE MUSIC ON SUNDAY, JANUARY 19 . . .  The setting of the Mass on Sunday morning is Missa Tu es Petrus by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (1525–1594). Palestrina, a giant among composers of church music in renaissance Italy, stood on foundations largely laid by the Netherlandish composers Guillaume Dufay (c. 1397–1474) and Josquin des Prez (c. 1450–1521). That said, Palestrina is largely credited with setting the canons for Renaissance polyphony and the standard for Catholic liturgical music that remain in place even to this day. Among his hundreds of compositions are 105 Masses, most of which were published in thirteen volumes between 1554 and 1601. The Missa Tu es Petrus is based upon a motet of the same name, for the feast of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, from Palestrina’s motet collection of 1572. Both the motet and the Mass that evolved from it are set for six voices (SSATBB) and convey a bright energy. With the Confession of Peter having been celebrated yesterday and the Conversion of Paul to be observed later this week, the singing of this Mass setting recognizes the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.

The French composer and organist Maurice Duruflé (1902–1986) was steeped in liturgical chant from his childhood as a chorister at the Rouen Cathedral choir School. He first entered the Paris Conservatory in 1920, becoming Professor of Harmony in 1943, a position he retained for nearly thirty years. He is remembered for his lifelong association with the stunningly beautiful church of Saint Étienne-du-Mont, Paris, where he was named titular organist in 1929. The first of his Quatre motets sur des thèmes grégoriens (1960) is his setting of the Maundy Thursday antiphon Ubi caritas, sung on Sunday during the Administration of Communion. This setting, elegant in its expressive simplicity, has become the virtual default choral setting of this text in our time.

Sunday’s organ voluntaries also are both compositions of Maurice Duruflé. Prélude sur l’introït de l’epiphanie quotes the plainsong introit chant for Epiphany and dates from 1961. The Fugue, Opus 12, dates from 1962. It is dedicated to Duruflé’s friend, Canon Henri Doyen, organist of the Grand Orgue at Soissons Cathedral.  Like several of his other compositions which are built upon pre-existing melodies, the Fugue is based upon the eight-note melody played on the hour by the Cathedral’s bells. These two pieces, released later than the larger organ works for which Duruflé is best remembered, are both finely crafted works exhibiting the composer’s textural refinement and conservatively distinctive harmonic palette. —David Hurd

CHRISTIAN EDUCATION . . On Sundays, January 19 and 26, Father Jim Pace will lead the Adult Forum in a discussion of healing ministry, hospice ministry, and end-of-life care. Father Pace is the senior associate dean for academic programs at the New York University Rory Meyers College of Nursing, where he holds the rank of clinical professor . . . On the four Sundays in February—February 2, 9, 16, and 23—Father Jay Smith will lead the Adult Forum in a discussion of the various meanings of Jesus’ death on the cross. Using images of the Crucifixion, the class will study how Jesus’ death was understood, from very early on, as having been “for us,” and how that understanding both evolved and changed over time . . . On the Sundays of Lent, Father Peter Powell will resume his Bible Study, begun last November. He writes, “Every Sunday in Lent we will be reading from several of 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 both as The Twelve and as the Minor Prophets, include Amos, Hosea, Jonah, and Habakkuk. We will examine them in their original setting and then move into how they speak to us today. We will spend the first three weeks on Amos and then will go to Jonah, Habakkuk and conclude looking at how the Minor Prophets are used in the Gospels. Amos and Hosea 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. In the Fall we worked through Hosea and it was a rewarding look at how faithful people live in a faithless time. Join me on March 1, the first Sunday in Lent as we begin this important study into how God works in our world” . . . The Wednesday Night Bible Study Class meets next on January 29 at 6:30 PM in Saint Benedict’s Study. The class will not meet on January 22. This term the class is reading Saint Paul’s Letter to the Galatians. The class is led by Father Jay Smith.

COMING UP . . . Sunday, February 2, The Presentation of Our Lord Jesus Christ in the Temple . . . Monday, February 17, Washington’s Birthday (Presidents’ Day) . . . Monday, February 24, Saint Matthias the Apostle . . . February 26, Ash Wednesday.

AWAY FROM THE PARISH . . . On Saturday, February 1, the parish of Calvary-Saint George’s (at Calvary Church) will host a “Samuel Shoemaker Day.” The day will include presentations, an open-step meeting, a twelve-step Eucharist, and a lunch. It is open to everyone who wants to learn more about AA and its deeply Christian roots. Calvary Church is located at 277 Park Avenue South in Manhattan. The Reverend Dr. Samuel Moor Shoemaker (1893–1963) was Calvary’s rector from 1925 to 1952. He is remembered as a co-founder and spiritual leader of Alcoholics Anonymous. Father Shoemaker is commemorated in some parishes of the Episcopal Church on January 31.

AT THE GALLERIES . . . At the Metropolitan Museum Fifth Avenue, Eighty-second Street and Fifth Avenue, Gallery 303, The Hypapante, or The Presentation of Our Lord Jesus Christ in the Temple (15th c.) by a Byzantine Painter. From the museum website, “The Hypapante is one of the Great Feasts of the Orthodox church. According to the Gospel of Luke (2:22–38), when Joseph and the Virgin Mary presented Christ in the temple . . . forty days after his birth, his divinity was immediately recognized by Simeon and the prophetess Anna, [all four of whom are represented in this icon.]”

CLICK HERE for this week’s schedule.

CLICK HERE for the full parish calendar.