VOLUME 22, NUMBER 11
FEBRUARY 9, 2020

FROM THE RECTOR: THANK YOU

In the December 2019 Christmas offering letter, I wrote to members and friends of the parish asking for a special gift to help us to continue to restore the four sets of tambour doors between the church and Saint Joseph’s Hall. (A tambour door, Wikipedia tells us, “is a sliding door made of slats which roll up as the door is opened upwards or sideways,” rather like a rolltop desk.) Three of these doors open into the church. The fourth is the door to a cabinet that houses a collection of non-precious metal crosses. Last fall, Vince Lepre, the founder of Fifty Three Restorations, Inc., and his team began working on one set of doors. His team was able to restore one-half of one of the doors to good working order. The team also figured out how the doors had been designed and how, eventually, they had failed. It is likely that the design is unique to Saint Mary’s. At Christmas, $18,666.73 was given was given for the work, and I am very grateful for the generosity of our donors.

As part of the project, one member of the Fifty Three team working here, Nicholas Hopkins, a conservator, did quite a lot of background research on the tambour door design. Then, he turned to finding a manufacturer for the flexible steel bands, six of which are threaded horizontally through each door. That search was successful and for $1,000.00 we now have enough bands for the remaining doors—cheaper to order them now for all of the doors and be done with it. The estimate for the job itself is $4,320.00.

One of the things we learned when the work on the first doorway began was that, unlike all of the other pocket doors at Saint Mary’s, these doors weren’t hung on a mechanism with wheels above the doors. Rather, they were designed to open and close by moving on very small wheels beneath the doors. Nicholas and his fellow conservator on this job, Matt Hilliard, recovered enough usable plates from the other doorways to get this first doorway working. To begin the restoration of another doorway, a manufacturer for these plates with a wheel will need to be found. In the e-mail and the online editions of The Angelus, you can see Nick, Matt, and the steel bands as they began to insert them in the door. And you can see a photograph of the plates with the wheels.

There are lots of needs at Saint Mary’s. But there is a new energy for conservation and for caring for our church home and its furnishings. For example, all of the many candles on the high altar for Candlemas were handled only by gloved hands. Our sextons and our members do a remarkable job of helping job of keeping Saint Mary’s in good order.

I think one of the reasons the response to recent appeals has been so strong is that we’ve been able to include photographs with mailings and e-mailings that show what is needed. If the current job comes in on budget, we will have $13,36.73.00 in reserve for (1) the manufacture of the wheel plates for the remaining doors and (2) a reserve to go towards the restoration of the next set of doors, for which Vince estimates time and materials (not including the wheel plates) to be $20,000.00.

Finally, a project very close to the hearts of many of our community is the construction of an accessibility ramp between the 47th Street door of the church and the 47th Street door of the rectory. This ramp would provide wheelchair access to the 47th Street entrance of the church. The cost of such a ramp is estimated to be at least $350,000.00. There is enough room between the church and rectory stoops to construct a ramp without having to do a turn. The Landmarks Preservation Committee will want all of the materials at street level to be of the same materials that were used when the present church was built in 1895. The modern restoration of Saint Mary’s started in the early 1990s under the leadership of my predecessor, Father Edgar Wells. I hope the parish will always have a congregation that has the vision to keep our founders’ vision alive. Saint Mary’s is the Episcopal Church parish for Times Square. —Stephen Gerth

YOUR PRAYERS ARE ASKED FOR Martha, Nancy, Pat, Eloise, Leila, Chantal, Sharon, Marilouise, MaryHope, Stephanie, John, Renée, Ava, Luis, Donald, Margaret, Murray, Mel, Richard, Carlos, Ken, May, Willard, Alexandra, Karen, Takeem, Michael, Pearl, and Barbara; for Horace, Gene, Gaylord, Louis, and Edgar, priests; for the members of our Armed Forces on active duty, especially Edward; and for all the benefactors and friends of this parish . . . GRANT THEM PEACE: February 9: 1903 Wanda Marguerite Goodrich; 1904 Etta Dinning; 1964 John Louis Scholz; 1970 Percy Gould Rigby.

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 in the mail. As of January 30, 2020, we have received $361,025 in pledges from 105 households, 84.9% 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. However, if making a commitment now is not possible, we will gladly receive pledge cards at any point during the coming year. Please remember that there are a number of ways to fulfill a monetary pledge. If you have questions, please call Christopher Howatt in the parish office.

CHRISTIAN EDUCATION . . . On Sunday, February 9, at 10:00 AM, in Saint Benedict’s Study, Father Jay Smith will lead the second of four classes in the Adult Forum on 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 . . . The Wednesday Night Bible Study Class meets next on February 12 at 6:30 PM in Saint Benedict’s Study. This term the class is reading Saint Paul’s Letter to the Galatians. The class is led by Father Jay Smith. Newcomers are always welcome . . . Coming Up . . . Beginning on March 1, Father Peter Powell will resume his series on the prophets in the Adult Forum. Father Powell writes, “Every Sunday in Lent we will be reading from several of the last 12 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 on to Jonah and Habakkuk and will conclude by 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 me 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.”

AROUND THE PARISH . . . Parishioner Pat Rheinhold underwent a surgical procedure at a hospital near her home in New Jersey this week. The procedure went well, and she is now recuperating at home . . . Dr. David Hurd will be playing an organ recital at Saint Philip’s Church, 334 Macdonough Street, Brooklyn, on Sunday, February 9, at 3:00 PM. Parishioner Clark Anderson will play the service of Evensong & Benediction at Saint Mary’s that afternoon at 5:00 PM . . . Flowers are needed for the following Sundays: February 16, March 22 (Laetare Sunday), and April 5 (Palm Sunday). Please be in touch with Chris Howatt in the parish office if you would like to make a donation of flowers for one of those dates . . . Brother Damien Joseph SSF and Brother Thomas SSF will be away from the parish on vacation between February 4 and February 11 . . . Attendance at all Offices and Masses: Last Sunday: 185.

THIS WEEK AT SAINT MARY’S . . . Sunday, February 9, 2020, The Fifth Sunday after 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. . . .  Wednesday, February 12, Sung Mass 12:10 PM . . . The Wednesday Night Bible Study Class will meet on February 5 at 6:30 PM in Saint Benedict’s Study . . . Thursday, February 6, Mass with Healing Service 12:10 PM . . . Friday, February 7, Centering Prayer Group at 6:30 PM in the Morning Room.

OUTREACH AT SAINT MARY’S . . . I am grateful to MaryJane Boland and Deacon Lind Phillips for running the weekly Grab-and-Go on Wednesday, February 5, while I am away from the parish . . . The dates of our Drop-in Days in February and March are as follows: February 19 and March 18 from 2:00 to 4:00 PM. On other Wednesdays, we hold our Grab-and-Go Days, during which basic, emergency items—for example, socks, underwear, and toiletries—are available in the church lobby at the Forty-sixth Street entrance to the church. Cold-weather clothing such as coats, jackets, scarves, hats, and gloves remain much-needed, and much-appreciated, items during these winter months. We also 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 both our Drop-In and our Grab-and-Go Days. Please contact me if you would like to donate cash, clothing, or toiletry articles for this ministry . . . 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 CHORAL AND ORGAN MUSIC ON SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 9 . . . The setting of the Mass on Sunday is Communion Service by Leonard Raver (1927–1993). Dr. Raver’s musical life in New York City included serving on the faculties of The General Theological Seminary and the Juilliard School, and at various times as parish musician at All Saints Episcopal Church and Holy Trinity Episcopal Church on Manhattan’s east side. He was organist of the New York Philharmonic from 1977 until 1990. A native of Wenatchee, Washington, his undergraduate studies were at the University of Puget Sound. Graduate studies brought him first to Syracuse University and finally to Union Theological Seminary in New York City. Dr. Raver was an avid champion of contemporary music and especially of new music which incorporated the organ. In his career as a recitalist he commissioned or premiered major works by distinguished American composers including Ned Rorem, Daniel Pinkham, Vincent Persichetti, William Albright, Gardiner Reed and David Diamond. The source of Dr. Raver’s unpublished Communion Service is an undated manuscript which probably dates from the late 1960s while he concurrently taught at General Seminary and directed music at All Saints Church. The text is essentially the Order of Holy Communion from the Book of Common Prayer 1928 and the scoring is for unaccompanied voices in four parts. The performing edition of this setting sung this morning was prepared by David Hurd. Notations were made in this newly created edition to reconcile the music with the customary liturgical texts as we know them. As such, the choir will omit the ritually irregular Amens with which Dr. Raver had ended both his Sanctus and Benedictus. (It is interesting to note that the text of The Book of Common Prayer 1928 did not include Benedictus qui venit, but did end Sanctus with Amen.) Also, the text underlay at the end of Agnus Dei has been altered to resolve another Amen which the standard liturgical text does not include.

Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (c. 1525–1594) is generally recognized as the composer whose work, more than that of any other single composer, defined the summit of Renaissance polyphony and established canons for evaluating appropriate church music that remain in place to our time. The motet sung during the administration of Communion at the Solemn Mass on Sunday is Palestrina’s Sicut cervus, a setting for four voices of the beginning of Psalm 42. Of Palestrina’s more than three hundred motets, Sicut cervus is particularly beloved for its elegant simplicity and accessibility, and the broad devotional appeal and liturgical application of its psalm text.

The organ prelude and postlude on Sunday are the Praeludium und Fuga, BWV 544, by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750). This two-movement pair of pieces is one of only six such Bach works for which a complete autograph is extant. The manuscript, now in Oxford, bears the title Praeludium pro Organo cum pedale obligato. Immediately above the initial measures of the piece is the notation Praeludium in Organo pleno pedale, further suggesting the intended majesty of the piece. This Praeludium und Fuga is thought to have been composed in the late 1720’s. The Prelude, played before Mass, is one of the most expansive in the works of Bach. It is shaped in concerto form with recurring ritornelli, characterized by discreet melodic and accompanying elements, separated by episodic sections rich in imitative counterpoint. The Fugue is played as today’s postlude. Its succinct theme moves entirely in equal note values and in step-wise motion. This theme arises naturally from the melodic elements and scale-wise figuration of the Prelude. The Fugue falls neatly into three sections: the exposition with pedal; a manual episode which, nonetheless, continues to quote the subject; and a final section with pedal which is announced by a new and rhythmically distinctive counter-subject. The drama of this final section is further enhanced by a gradual foreshortening of the time interval between statements of the somewhat serpentine subject, until it is stated several times back-to-back in the drive to the final cadence. —David Hurd

ORGAN RECITALS . . . Dr. Timothy Pyper will play a recital on Sunday, February 9, at 3:00 PM, at the Church of the Holy Apostles, 296 Ninth Avenue, between Twenty-eighth and Twenty-ninth Streets. This recital is in celebration of the church’s recently restored Van den Heuvel organ. The concert, lasting about an hour, will feature works of J.S. Bach and Philip Glass. Suggested donation to the music fund is $20.00. Reception to follow . . . Dr. David Hurd will play a recital at Saint Philip’s Church, 334 Macdonough Street, Brooklyn, on Sunday, February 9, at 3:00 PM. The recital is sponsored by the Brooklyn Chapter of the American Guild of Organists.

COMING UP . . . Monday, February 17, Washington’s Birthday (Presidents’ Day) . . . Monday, February 24, Saint Matthias the Apostle . . . February 26, Ash Wednesday . . . Fridays in Lent, Evening Prayer 6:00 PM, Stations of the Cross 6:30 PM . . . Wednesday, March 25, The Annunciation of Our Lord Jesus Christ

AT THE PECCADILLO THEATER AT SAINT CLEMENT’S . . . Sideways, Rex Pickett’s critically acclaimed novel turned Academy Award-winning film has now been adapted for the stage. The play, which opens on February 20, 2020, at the Theater at Saint Clement’s, 423 West Forty-sixth Street, is being presented by Alexander “Sandy” Marshall/Close Quarters Productions & The Peccadillo Theater Company, in association with Wine Access. In Sideways, struggling writer and wine enthusiast Miles takes his soon-to-be-married friend, Jack, on a trip to California’s wine country for one last, single-guy bonding adventure. The novel, now adapted for the stage and entitled Sideways the Experience, creates an immersive, onstage, pre-show wine tasting event similar to those discovered along the Napa Valley wine trail, as depicted in the novel and film. Gourmet food and premium wine will be served as part of the exclusive first act of this unique theatrical experience. The play runs until Easter Day, April 12, 2020. The artistic director of the Peccadillo Theater Company is Dan Wackerman and the theater’s managing director is Kevin Kennedy. Dan and Kevin are good friends of Saint Mary’s and often worship with us on Sundays. For more information, especially information about the play’s unusual dining experience, and to purchase tickets, you may visit the theater’s website.

CLICK HERE for this week’s schedule.

CLICK HERE for the full parish calendar.