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FROM THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES

The pandemic has created challenges for most aspects of our common life at Saint Mary’s, disrupting our worship and fellowship, putting stress on our clergy and staff, and making the outreach and service to the needy in our community difficult or impossible.

The pandemic has also put a severe strain on our financial position. Income from the use of our space and donations from visitors to the collection plate or shrines have essentially disappeared. These conditions combined with a sharp dip in our investment income have created a substantial challenge for the sustainability of the parish as currently operating. A silver lining in all of this has been that our regular parish pledgers have continued to support Saint Mary’s through the pandemic, and for that we are very grateful.

Confronted with these realities and an uncertainty about the duration of these conditions, the Board of Trustees, in consultation with the clergy, has agreed upon an emergency budget for the remainder of 2020. This budget makes some changes to the operations, staff structure, and compensation packages at the church. Some of these changes are temporary; some will be more permanent. We want to be open and candid about these decisions, which we have made as fiscal stewards of the parish.

First, let us address what will not change. Saint Mary’s will continue on its path to opening as safety permits and will remain committed to a church with open doors seven days a week, offering the regular rites of the church as best we can. Service to the community, including the work with the Franciscan Brothers, will also remain a key feature as public-health conditions permit. The Board reaffirms these aspects of our core mission.

What is changing is our ability to pay clergy and staff, and the consequent services we can maintain as a result. Although we were able to pay our musicians through Corpus Christi, as was our commitment to them, we are now forced to make significant cuts. Our organist & music director will move to half time for the remainder of the year, and we are eliminating most music expenses. We will not have Sunday Evensong or Wednesday Sung Mass, as a result, and most Sundays will have only a cantor for worship. We can’t thank Dr. Hurd more for his willingness to serve under these difficult constraints! (More on music below.)

In terms of administration, we have eliminated our bookkeeper position and have moved to outsource all accounting work to a firm that specializes in nonprofit and religious organizations. We thank Kristie for her work in substantially cleaning up our books and we wish her all the best. Also, the office manager position will be moved to part time for the remainder of the year with the parish office open only three days per week on limited hours.

The Board is particularly grateful to our clergy who have agreed to take a 20% reduction in pay for the remainder of the year. Whereas other positions can be compensated with perhaps fewer duties or shorter hours, we know that it’s unlikely that the workload of our pastors will diminish significantly. This is truly a sacrificial offering and a strong show of leadership from Father Gerth and Father Smith!

Amid these difficult decisions, however, we also are committed to maintaining investment in aspects of our common life that will be vital to a robust return to normality when this storm passes. The Board acknowledged three areas in particular where we must remain focused even through austerity:

1. We will fund the completion of the structural work on the 46th Street facade and removal of the scaffolding. This work is continuing at a reduced pace on account of pandemic-related workplace restrictions, but the Board has committed the capital funds.

2. We will work to improve and enhance our videographic and streaming capabilities. Serving and engaging with our local parish family and our national and international community will likely rely on this infrastructure well beyond the end of the current crisis, and we’re committed to its development.

3. Great music is part of who we are. The emergency budget we’ve adopted for the last five months of the year calls for a temporarily scaled-back program, with a single cantor for Sunday Masses. The members of the Board have personally donated the funds to cover the cost for these cantors. We hope to have our full choir for All Saints’ Day, Sunday, November 1; The Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Tuesday, December 8; and, of course, Christmas Eve.

It goes without saying that the Board takes no joy in making these difficult decisions. We acknowledge the real pain that lost income will have on our hardworking clergy, staff, and musicians, and the inconvenience and sadness that reduced services entail. We would not be charting this alternate course if the dangers ahead were not real and imperative.

We could not be more grateful to those who are making a sacrifice on the parish’s behalf. We are also grateful to God for revealing and enabling a path forward for Saint Mary’s. We have faith that the future still holds great promise when these extraordinary times are behind us. — MaryJane Boland, Blair Burroughs, Stephen Gerth (president), Thomas Jayne, Clark Mitchell, (treasurer), Grace Mudd; Mark Risinger, (vice president); Mary Robison, (secretary); Marie Rosseels; Leroy Sharer

YOUR PRAYERS ARE ASKED FOR, Marley, Leroy, Seaudath, Larry, Scott, Samantha, Michael, Emily, Shalim, John, Marilouise, Ken, May, Willard, Alexandra, Takeem, Phillip, and Abraham; for Lucas, David, and Barbara Jean, religious; for John, Gene, Gaylord, Louis, priests; and Charles, bishop; for the members of the armed forces on active duty, especially Isabelle; for all health-care workers; for all those who work for the common good; for all the members and friends of this parish; for the repose of the souls of Sally Hartzell and Maureen O’Connor . . . GRANT THEM PEACE: July 26: 1896 Bettie Cooper; 1924 Florence Brinke; 1961 Dudley G. Cozier; 1962 Genevieve Carpenter Morrison; 1971 Janet Dix.

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

THE FLOWER MARKET HAS REOPENED . . . We now welcome donations for flowers for the high altar. The suggested donation for those arrangements is $250.00. Please be in touch with Chris Howatt by email if you would like to make a donation.

NEW YORK STATE COVID RENT RELIEF PROGRAM . . . Until July 30, residents of New York State will be able to apply for a one-time rent-assistance program. Certain income and other eligibility requirements apply. For more information, you may visit the New York State Homes and Community Renewal website. The link is here.

AROUND THE PARISH . . . We heard this week from an old friend of the parish, Father John Conners, who is presently serving as interim rector at Saint John’s Church, Plymouth, Michigan. Father Conners was a seminarian here in the late 1980s. Last month, he fell on the stairs of his condominium and sustained a bad leg injury—three bones in his ankle were broken. As a result, he spent several weeks in the hospital and then some days in a rehab center. He tells us that the bones are healing well, more quickly than his surgeon expected, and that he hopes to be able to resume his usual activities soon. Please keep him in your prayers . . . There are currently two groups—around ten people in all—who are meeting weekly via Zoom to discuss racism and to try to discern ways to combat racism in both church and society. If you would like more information, or if you would like to participate, please contact Brother Thomas SSF or Brother Damien Joseph SSF . . . The friars, Father Jay Smith, and several lay leaders met this week via Zoom to discuss how to move forward with the Clothing Ministry during the pandemic. When Father Gerth received a report of the meeting, he also made several suggestions that look like good solutions to some complex problems. Though our normal way of proceeding will not be possible for some time, the ideas that emerged from these discussions make it clear that we will be able to continue our ministry of providing clothing and toiletry articles to those in need going forward. Please stay tuned for further information. If you would like to make a donation to support this ministry, please contact Christopher Howatt or Brother Thomas.

MUSIC AT SAINT MARY’S . . . We have received several inquiries about whether there will be music during the 11:00 AM Mass on Sundays. Beginning this Sunday, July 26, the Eighth Sunday after Pentecost, a cantor will join Dr. David Hurd in order to provide music during the Mass. David will improvise music at the Prelude, as well as during the Entrance, and at the Exit. Sharon Harms, alto, is the cantor this week, and she will sing a plainsong setting of the Mass Ordinary (Gloria in excelsis, Sanctus and Benedictus, and Agnus Dei), in addition to the minor propers before the proclamation of the Gospel, at the Offertory, and at Communion. During the ministration of Communion, she will also sing Aaron Copland’s arrangement of “At the River.”

We learn from Wikipedia that Copland arranged two sets of traditional American songs, the first in 1950 and the second in 1952. The two sets were published as a single entity, entitled Old American Songs. Copland’s arrangements were based on research undertaken in the Sheet Music Collection of the Harris Collection of American Poetry and Plays, in the John Hay Library at Brown University. Originally scored for voice and piano, the songs were later reworked for baritone (or mezzo-soprano) and orchestra.

Set 2, which includes “At the River,” was first performed by William Warfield and Aaron Copland at the piano some years after they were composed, on May 25, 1958, in Ipswich, Massachusetts, and later, in its orchestral form, by Grace Bumbry, mezzo-soprano, and the Ojai Festival Orchestra, conducted by the composer. Set 2 was recorded by Warfield and Copland on August 18, 1953, for Columbia Records. The songs have been performed, and recorded many times since by such artists as Marilyn Horne, Sherill Milnes, Thomas Hampson, Bryn Terfel, and Thomas Quasthoff. Notably, the voice and piano (or organ) versions are easily transposed to any register; the orchestral sets can also be transposed but are usually sung in their original keys by either a baritone or a mezzo-soprano.

The text of “At the River” began its life as a hymn written by Robert Lowry (1826–1899). Lowry was a Baptist pastor, preacher, and author of a number of well-known hymns Unlike many hymn writers of the time, he often wrote both text and music. Born in Philadelphia to a Presbyterian family, Lowry experienced a religious conversion during his adolescence and became a Baptist, and later a Baptist preacher. He served several churches as pastor before finally settling in Brooklyn in 1861, where he became pastor of the Hanson Place Baptist Church, located in downtown Brooklyn (the building is now a Seventh-Day Adventist church). It was there, during a heatwave accompanied by an epidemic, in the summer of 1864, that he wrote and composed his best-known hymn, “Shall we gather at the river.” It is said that, almost overcome by the heat, Lowry suddenly recalled the passage in the Book of Revelation, chapter 22: “And he showed me a river of water of life, bright as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb” that proved to be the inspiration for his much-loved hymn —James Ross Smith

THIS WEEK AT SAINT MARY’S . . . Sunday, July 26, The Eighth Sunday after Pentecost, Mass 11:00 AM. The church opens at 10:00 AM and closes at 12:30 PM. The celebrant and preacher is Father Stephen Gerth . . . Monday through Saturday, the church opens at 11:00 AM and closes at 2:00 PM. Mass is celebrated daily at 12:10 PM. Please see the Calendar of the Week for this week’s commemorations.

THE GALLERY AT SAINT MARY’S . . . During the lockdown, Brother Damien Joseph SSF has been exploring the interior of the church and chapels, looking closely at aspects of the building’s art and architecture that are often overlooked or never seen. He’s now captured some of those missing moments with his camera and has printed a number of the images for an exhibition in the Gallery in Saint Joseph’s Hall. Working with gallery curator, José Vidal, Damien has created and hung a show in the gallery that awaits the return of Saint Marians to Coffee Hour or a feast-day reception. However, since we do not yet know when that day will arrive, Damien has created an online exhibition so that members and friends of the parish can look at the array of images that are now hanging on the gallery wall. The exhibition—“Watchers and Holy Ones”—can be viewed on the website of the Society of Saint Francis. We hope to post the images on the parish website before too very long. For information about purchasing one of the photographs, please contact curator, José Vidal. Damien Joseph and his brothers in the Society of Saint Francis have kindly agreed to donate all sale proceeds to the Parish of Saint Mary the Virgin. —J.R.S.

SAINT MARY’S ONLINE CENTERING PRAYER GROUP . . . The Saint Mary’s Centering Prayer Group continues to meet! The Group meets online, via Zoom, every Friday evening at 7:00 PM. If you are interested in participating, please send an e-mail to this address. The convenors of the group will then send the link to the Zoom meeting.

AT THE CONCERT HALL . . . The New York Philharmonic Plays On series continues to provide access online to a number of concerts and performances as a response to the pandemic. We invite you to view An African-American Legacy: The Harlem Renaissance. The video was conceived as part of the Phil’s “Young People’s Concerts PLAY!” series, so the website also includes several short instructional videos that explore the music of the African-American tradition and the Harlem Renaissance that are appropriate for listeners and learners of all ages.

SOME GUIDELINES FOR ATTENDING SERVICES AT SAINT MARY’S:

We are now open for public worship. In order to ensure the health and safety of all, we have instituted the following procedures and guidelines:

-           The 47th Street Doors, though open for ventilation, won’t be used for entry into the church. Entry is only via 46th Street.

-           Exit only through the most western 46th Street door (near the former gift shop)

-           The Mercy Chapel and Saint Joseph’s Chapel are closed.

-           The Lady Chapel is open, but all chairs, kneelers, candles, hymnals,

and Prayer Books have been removed.

-           Face coverings must be worn in the church.

-           Hands-free sanitizer dispensers are available by the doors and at the head of the center

aisle, where Communion will take place.

-           The city, state, and diocese of New York require all those attending services to sign a

registry and to provide one means of contact. This will be used only if it emerges that an

infected person has been in attendance at a particular service and contact tracing is

required.

-           Everyone must maintain safe distancing (at least 6 feet apart).

-           Pews have been marked with blue tape to indicate where seating is allowed

-           Only 40 people will be allowed in the nave at any time (this includes 6 couples or pairs—

people who live together—who may sit together.

-           All cushions have been removed from the pews.

-           All prayer books and hymnals have been removed from the church.

-           Mass bulletins will be provided, but will be removed from the church after each service.

-           All electric fans have been removed from the church.

-           There will be no hand-held fans available at the door

-           Communion (wafers only) will be administered at the foot of the chancel steps.

-           Gluten-free hosts are available. Please inform an usher or a member of the clergy.

-           All communicants must proceed down the main aisle, maintain social distance as

indicated by the decals on the floor, and return to their seats via the side aisles.

-           There will be no collection taken by ushers.

-           A donations basket will be placed at the head of the center aisle, near the Communion

area.

-           (Donations are encouraged and gratefully received.)

-           There will be no Offertory procession.

-           There will be no communal singing.

-           Bathrooms will be available only to those who are attending the service.

-           There will be no coffee hour.

-           These guidelines are to ensure the health and safety of all.

Please follow the directions of the ushers and the members of the clergy.

If you have questions or wish to make a suggestion, please contact the rector.

This edition of the Angelus was written and edited by Father Stephen Gerth and Father Jay Smith. Father Gerth is responsible for posting the newsletter on the parish website and for distributing it via e-mail.

The Calendar of the Week