FROM THE RECTOR: WHY NOT?

The last two Sundays, I was in Naples, Florida. I attended the early service both weeks at a parish I’ve known for many years. It was a straightforward Episcopal Church Prayer Book service. However, there was one surprise for me: there was a chalice on the altar and four small cruets for the Great Thanksgiving. It made me wonder, “What’s next?”

After the celebrant gave the invitation, “The Gifts of God for the People of God,” ushers placed two folding serving tables on the side aisles in the front of the nave and two in the back. The celebrant with a ciborium stood at the head of the central aisle to give the Bread to communicants. In the meantime, trays were brought from the sacristy with small glasses (shot glasses?) with consecrated Wine. Empty trays were placed in the back of the church for people to deposit the glass after receiving communion. As Saint Paul wrote to the Corinthians, all was “done decently and in order” (1 Corinthians 14:40, King James Version).

I’ve known the present rector for many years now. Earlier, when I arrived at the church, he greeted me and said, “Come out and meet my colleagues before the congregation exits.” I did. I enjoyed meeting them. After the service, I said to him, “Thank you for Holy Communion in both kinds.” He responded, “The celebrant shouldn’t be the only person to drink the Wine.” In a flash, I felt in my gut that we should be doing what they are doing. I appreciate the public health issues COVID-19 presents for worship. But since the English Reformation, the Bread and the Wine have been offered to the congregation. Why can’t we make a similar provision for the ministration of the Wine until it is once again safe to share the cup? Why should the People of God be deprived of the Wine?

Sunday, March 8, 2020, The Second Sunday in Lent, was the last regular Sunday until the church reopened for public worship on Wednesday, July 1, 2021. More recent members and friends may not know that before the pandemic, a small team of parishioners baked the bread we used for Solemn Masses and Evening Sung Masses. Our wine has been a New York State red table wine. Our Communion was food indeed.

We’ve always followed the Prayer Book rubric that states: “During the Great Thanksgiving, it is appropriate that there be only one chalice on the Altar, and, if need be, a flagon of wine from which additional chalices may be filled after the Breaking of the Bread” (page 407). What we haven’t been doing since reopening is obeying this instruction on the same page: “Opportunity is always to be given to every communicant to receive the consecrated Bread and Wine separately.” I agree with my friend in Naples; there is no reason for the opportunity not to be given to receive the consecrated Bread and Wine. We can safely do so.

I’m not worried about this congregation failing to return to the common cup when the pandemic recedes. Before the pandemic, at least three chalices would be used at a Solemn Mass—two at the high altar and one for the ministration of Communion to persons needing to receive at their seats in the nave and the musicians in the choir gallery. Individuals could choose to receive by intinction—having the minister dip the Bread into the Wine and place it on the communicant’s tongue. On greater festivals, we would use four chalices at the altar. I’m sure the Eucharistic ministers, priests and licensed laypersons, will not want to continue to fill small glasses any longer than needed.

I’ll never forget the impression it made on me when, as a teenager, I attended an Episcopal church service with a friend who was Episcopalian and realized everyone was drinking from the same cup. If I’m sick, I don’t drink from the common cup. That said, I have no sense that I’ve ever gotten sick from drinking after everyone else at Mass as I clean the chalice. “And [Jesus] took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, ‘Drink of it, all of you” (Matthew 26:27). I hope that we will be again following the Lord’s instructions to share the bread and the cup in a couple of weeks. —Stephen Gerth

YOUR PRAYERS ARE ASKED FOR Hardy, John, Karen, Thomas, Shalim, Liz, Deb, JayJay, Ernest, Jessie, Jack, Emily, Robert, Talia, Esmé, Gary, Greta, Larry, Pat, Eloise, Ralph, Mario, Liduvina, Jonathan, Emerson, Marilouise, Quincy, Florette, John, Peter, George, Abraham, Burton, and; Randall, Louis, and Albert, priests, and Andrew, bishop; all refugees and migrants; the people of Afghanistan and Haiti; all who suffer from COVID-19; all who work for the common good; all the friends and members of this parish; and for the repose of the soul of Michael Merenda . . . GRANT THEM PEACE . . . October 3, 2021: 1985 Herbert Eric Schmidt; 1921 Sarah Laundes Goldbourne; 1932 Emma Shibles; 1953 Elsie May Long; 1969 Estelle Lucille Wilkins.

NEIGHBORS IN NEED . . . It’s Socktober! Warm Feet, Warm Hearts! We get to celebrate Socktober by making donations of socks to Neighbors in Need. White and black socks, and woolen socks, for both men and women in all sizes are most welcome! Socks are an item much in demand with our guests especially as the weather begins to get colder . . . At our monthly Drop-by Days, we distribute clothing and toiletry and hygiene items to those in need in the Times Square neighborhood. Our next Drop-by Day is scheduled for Friday, October 15. Volunteers work from 1:30 PM until 3:30 PM. Our guests are invited into the church at 2:00 PM and we close our doors at 3:00 PM. We need six (6) volunteers for each Drop-by. If you would like to volunteer, please contact Marie Rosseels, MaryJane Boland, or Father Jay Smith. You may reach them by calling the Parish Office at 212-869-5830.

CHRISTIAN EDUCATION . . . On the five Sundays in October, from 9:30–10:30 AM, Father Jay Smith will teach a series on the Desert Fathers and Mothers, their sayings, their lives, and their enduring influence and significance. This coming Sunday, October 3, we will talk about the sudden rise of certain forms of Christian asceticism in fourth-century Egypt and will go on to discuss Antony of Egypt (251–356), one of the great founders of Christian monasticism. We will take a look at Antony’s spiritual and ascetical practices and read some of his sayings. We hope that you will join us in Saint Joseph’s Hall at 9:30 AM. We look forward to the beginning of this new season in our adult-education program.

THIS WEEK AT SAINT MARY’S . . . Sunday, October 3, The Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost, The Beginning of the 2021–2022 Choir Season and the 2021–2022 Christian Education Season . . . October 3, The Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 22, Year B). The readings are Genesis 2:18–24; Psalm 128; Hebrews 2:9–18; Mark 10:1–16. The celebrant and preacher will be Father Stephen Gerth. Evening Prayer is said in the church on Sundays at 5:00 PM . . . Monday–Saturday, October 4–9, Mass 12:10 PM and Evening Prayer 5:00 PM. The church is open from 10:00 AM until 5:30 PM . . . Monday, October 4, Saint Francis of Assisi, Mass 12:10 PM . . . Tuesday, October 5, Racism Discussion Group Meeting, 7:00 PM via Zoom. For more information about this ongoing weekly meeting, please call the parish office . . . Friday, October 8, 6:30 PM, Saint Mary’s Online Centering Prayer Group . . . Next Sunday, October 10, The Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 23, Year B). The readings are Amos 5:6–7, 10-15; Psalm 90:1–8; Hebrews 3:1–6; Mark 10:17–31. The celebrant and preacher will be Father Matthew Jacobson.

AROUND THE PARISH . . . Many thanks to all who helped make the Burial of the Dead for Michael James Joseph Merenda on Saturday, October 2, 2020 such a wonderful service. The music was much appreciated by the congregation . . . This coming Sunday, October 3, is the beginning of the parish’s choir season. The members of The Choir of the Church of Saint Mary the Virgin are Charlotte Mundy , Joy Tamayo, Sharon Harms, Kirsten Ott, Daniel Santiago Castellanos, Christopher Howatt, Peter Van Derick, and Mark Risinger. They will be led by Dr. David Hurd, organist and music director. We are blessed to have such talented musicians with us to help us worship and to praise God, the source of every blessing . . . The Stewardship Committee has been hard at work on the 2021 Stewardship Campaign. Materials are being written, designed, and printed. Stewardship packets will be mailed during the third week of October. The theme of this year’s campaign is With God’s Help, Meeting Challenges & Finding Opportunities. We invite all our readers to begin to pray about how they might offer their time, talent, and treasure to the glory of God and to support this parish in the coming year.

ABOUT THE MUSIC . . . The organ voluntaries on Sunday are the first and third movements from the Second Organ Sonata of Alexandre Guilmant (1837–1911). Guilmant became organist of St. Sulpice, Paris, in 1863, Notre Dame in 1868, and La Trinité in 1871, where he remained for thirty years. He was a founder of the Schola Cantorum and succeeded Widor as professor of organ at the Paris Conservatory in 1896. Guilmant studied with Lemmens, and his students included such legendary musicians as Joseph Bonnet, Nadia Boulanger, and Marcel Dupré. He was a prolific composer, writing more organ music between 1861 and 1911 than Franck, Saint-Saëns, Widor and Vierne together. While his compositions were the vogue of his time, they became less fashionable after his death. In recent years, however, Guilmant’s compositions have been rediscovered. His eight multi-movement Sonatas, composed between 1874 and 1906, contain some of his finest organ music. The first movement of his Second Organ Sonata, played for the prelude on Sunday morning, is a warm and lyric Allegro moderato in romantic sonata form. The third and final movement, played for the postlude, is marked Allegro vivace and is in an energetic triple meter.

The setting of the Mass this coming Sunday is Canterbury Mass by Anthony Piccolo (b. 1946). Piccolo’s note on the 1996 published edition reads, “Written in 1978 for Dr. Allan Wicks and the Choir of Canterbury Cathedral, these settings were intended for use in the Cathedral’s resonant Nave during the rebuilding of the organ. They are here presented somewhat revised and in accordance with current liturgical practice.” The Mass is scored for unaccompanied mixed choir, mostly in four parts but with occasional further division of voices. The text is disposed efficiently with occasional overlapping of text phrases. Piccolo grew up in New Jersey and completed a master’s degree at Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, Maryland. During a subsequent nine-year residence in England, he sang with the cathedral choirs of Litchfield, Canterbury and Saint Paul’s, London, and performed extensively as a pianist. Since returning to the United States, he has remained very active as a composer, pianist, and conductor in a variety of venues.

The motet at Communion on Sunday is Prayer of Saint Francis by David Hurd, organist and music director here at the Church of Saint Mary the Virgin. It is a setting for choir and organ of the well-known prayer attributed to Saint Francis of Assisi, the thirteenth-century friar whom the church will commemorate on Monday, October 4. This prayer is found in the Book of Common Prayer on page 833. The choral setting was commissioned in 2004 by Saint John’s Church, Lafayette Square, Washington, DC. It is dedicated to the Reverend Dr. William Bradley Roberts, recently retired professor of church music at Virginia Theological Seminary, who was director of music at Saint John’s Church at that time.

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 6:30 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.

MARK YOUR CALENDAR . . . Monday, October 11, Columbus Day, Federal Holiday Schedule . . . Monday, October 18, Saint Luke the Evangelist . . . Saturday, October 23, Saint James of Jerusalem . . . Thursday, October 28, Saint Simon and Saint Jude, Apostles . . . Monday, November 1, All Saints’ Day . . . Tuesday, November 2, All Souls’ Day . . . Thursday, November 25, Thanksgiving Day . . . November 28, The First Sunday of Advent (Lectionary Year C/Daily Office Lectionary Year Two).

AT THE MUSEUMS . . . At the Frick Collection, Madison Avenue at Seventy-Fifth Street, Living Histories: Queer Views and Old Masters. From the museum website, “The Frick Collection’s temporary residence at Frick Madison has prompted new and stimulating ways of looking at the museum’s collection of Old Master paintings. Part of a broad program of publications, digital productions, and collaborations inspired by these new perspectives, Living Histories: Queer Views and Old Masters is an exciting year-long project featuring the work of four New York–based artists: Doron Langberg, Salman Toor, Jenna Gribbon, and Toyin Ojih Odutola. Each presents a single new work in conversation with iconic paintings in the Frick’s collection, with particular emphasis on issues of gender and queer identity typically excluded from narratives of early modern European art. Installations are located on the second floor of Frick Madison. The series of installations begins with Doron Langberg’s Lover and Salman Toor’s Museum Boys (September 30, 2021, through January 2022). Doron’s painting will be “in conversation with” Hans Holbein the Younger’s famous portrait of Sir Thomas More. Salman’s painting will be “in conversation with” two well-known paintings of Johannes Vermeer’s.

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 mail and e-mail, with the assistance of Christopher Howatt and parish volunteer Clint Best.