FROM THE RECTOR: TRANSITION

Brother Desmond Alban SSF told the members of the staff at one of our recent meetings via Zoom that the members of the Society of Saint Francis, Province of the Americas, would soon be holding an important chapter meeting to discuss the Society’s structure and common life. He said that they would be discussing the future of the Society and, in particular, the issue of sustainability. At present, the Society has three friaries in the United States, one in San Francisco, one in Los Angeles, and a third here at Saint Mary’s. Father Jay Smith and I have, therefore, been aware that we might soon be hearing news that would affect all our lives here at the parish.

On Monday, March 15, I received a letter from Br. Desmond, who is in residence here at Saint Mary’s and is also the Province’s minister provincial. He sent the letter on behalf of Br. Damien Joseph SSF., Br. Thomas SSF., our other two resident brothers, and the other members of the Society. In the letter, Brother Desmond shared with me and Father Smith some sad news: during their recent chapter, the brothers of the Society had begun a series of meetings that had ultimately led to the Society’s decision to close the friary here at Saint Mary’s and to have our three resident brothers return to California. These decisions were made reluctantly, but in the interests of the Society’s sustainability.

In his letter, Br. Desmond said, “We need to firm up the health of our community, which we can best do together. A healthier, more unified community is a better place for new men to test their vocations, and will, we trust, contribute to a long future for our life and work together. When the time is right, we will again open ourselves to the possibility of new projects, long or short, wherever God may guide us. That is the nature of our mendicant vocation.”

I forwarded the letter to the board of trustees on Monday evening and began telling the other members of our small staff about the Franciscans’ decision. I told them that Br. Desmond’s letter had included these words, “We are committed to planning our departure so as to ease the transition in any way possible. While we know we must act soon, we also don’t intend to disappear tomorrow. And, until we are actually gone, we hope to continue making a helpful and meaningful contribution to the life of the parish. In particular, we very much hope to spend Easter with this community, celebrating the resurrection of our Lord, and the resurrection of sorts we trust awaits both of our communities as our world emerges from the challenges of a devastating pandemic. Beyond that, we hope to work out the specifics of our departure with you soon.”

Episcopal religious orders have been associated with Saint Mary’s almost from the beginning of the parish’s existence. Members of the Society of Saint John the Evangelist—formerly, though somewhat informally, known as the “Cowley Fathers”—were here in the first third of the last century. At least three religious orders of women have served and lived here: the Order of the Visitation and the Sisters of the Holy Nativity, and the Community of Saint John Baptist. Brothers of the Society of Saint Francis lived in the Mission House while Father Edgar Wells was rector here. A new generation of brothers returned to Saint Mary’s in the fall of 2018. If one begins to explore the materials in the parish archives, it soon becomes clear that these women and men have not only made great contributions to the life of Saint Mary’s, they have also been regarded with great affection.

One of the great online resources for our parish history is the parish magazine, Ave, which had a long and successful run, before being phased out some years ago. In the October 1966 issue, Father Donald Garfield (1924–1996; rector 1965–1978) wrote, “Going to church on the first Sunday in October 1966, to celebrate the seventy-first year of its dedication and the ninety-eighth year of our parochial foundation, we cannot hide a tinge of sadness not to see the familiar figures of nuns near the memorial tomb of our Founder, Father [Thomas McKee] Brown. [Father Brown’s] parochial Order of Sisters of the Visitation was succeeded in 1899 by the Sisterhood of the Holy Nativity, and ever since, except for the years 1907-09, Sisters of the Holy Nativity have lived and worked and prayed in this parish. Seeing them with us in church and knowing that they offered the full round of Offices in their chapel in the Mission House brought spiritual strength to parishioners and visitors. So did their counseling and calling. Shut-ins particularly will miss them. They have our enduring gratitude. We wish they were still with us, and we want it known that the Bishop and the Rector, the Sisters’ Associates and many individual parishioners, made strenuous efforts to keep them—not only for our sake but theirs. But we could not reverse the order. The Sisters were withdrawn from New York—and also from Baltimore—at the beginning of July” (page 81). I feel sure that the members of the parish will experience similar emotions when the brothers say their goodbyes and return to San Francisco.

I would very much like to acknowledge what a grace it was that the friars were here when Saint Mary’s closed for public worship on Sunday, March 15, 2020. They enabled us to do a daily live-stream while the church was closed. In recent months, they have helped us to pursue the installation of new equipment for video ministry on Sundays and Major Feasts. Their leadership of, and contributions to, Neighbors in Need, our drop-by clothing ministry, have expanded our vision of what we can do even in the time of COVID-19. The initiative they showed last summer when they formed two parish groups to discuss racism, and action to combat racism, was most welcome and has helped many here at Saint Mary’s. Their liturgical presence has been significant, and, in practical terms, has been a great help to me and to the other members of the clergy.

Father Smith and I will long remember how important it was for us to be able to sing with Brother Damien and Brother Thomas, and to hear their very fine voices, in the Lady Chapel during the hard time when the church was closed to public worship last year, between March 15 and the end of June. They have led Quiet Days, taught in our adult-education program, and been active participants in our Wednesday Night Bible Study. The brothers have been a kind and comforting presence here for nearly three years and have provided counsel and comfort to many. In addition, the brothers have done a wonderful job of representing Saint Mary’s to the diocese. Brother Desmond has spoken to the cathedral community, and Brother Thomas and Brother Damien have been working to provide spiritual formation to the young members of the diocese’s division of the Episcopal Service Corps. All the brothers have, of course, supported in some important ways the members of the Society’s Third Order here in the metropolitan area. These three men have accomplished a great deal during their time here, and their departure from New York will be a sad thing for members of the parish and for the wider community.

Finally, though we are beginning to see some light of this long COVID tunnel, I suspect we will not be able to celebrate the brothers’ ministry with us as we would like and as they deserve before they go. Be assured, however, that we will find a way to express our gratitude to them and to say “go with God” before they leave. It is my hope that they will be able to return to visit us before too very long. —Stephen Gerth

YOUR PRAYERS ARE ASKED FOR Emerson, Jonathan, Christopher, Mary Hope, Matthew, Burton, Joe, Lauren, Michelle, Leslie, Margaret, Ida, Jake, Rita, Dale, Ken, Loretta, Aston, Caryn, Christine, Marilouise, Quincy, Florette, John, Shalim, and Dennis; for all who suffer from COVID-19; for Monica Clare, religious; David, rabbi; Matthew and Louis, priests; and Charles, bishop, for all those who work for the common good, and for all the members and friends of this parish . . . GRANT THEM PEACE . . . March 21: 1911 William Kennedy Davidson; 1913 Frank J. Baker; 1913 William F. Farson; 1938 Joan V. Manookian; 2013 Ruth English Keith.

THE WEEKDAYS OF LENT AND OF HOLY WEEK, except for the feasts of Saint Joseph and the Annunciation, are observed by special acts of discipline and self-denial.

STEWARDSHIP CAMPAIGN 2021 . . . Our stewardship campaign has come to an end. We were not able to achieve our $400,000.00 goal, but we recognize that we are living in a difficult time, and we are all doing the best we can. We live in hope and trust in God. Still, we continue to ask you for your help. We would welcome your financial pledge if you have not yet pledged for 2021. and we are grateful to all those who continue to support Saint Mary’s so generously.

NEIGHBORS IN NEED . . . 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 tentatively scheduled for Friday, April 16. 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 eight (8) volunteers for each Drop-by. If you would like to volunteer, please contact Marie Rosseels, MaryJane Boland, or Father Jay Smith.

THIS WEEK AT SAINT MARY’S . . The Spring Equinox takes place in New York City, and spring begins, at 5:37 AM on Saturday, March 20, 2021. Spring will last 92 days, 17 hours, and 54 minutes . . . Sunday, March 15, The Fifth Sunday in Lent, Adult Education 9:30–10:30 AM (the doors at 145 West Forty-sixth Street open at 9:00 AM), Mass 11:00 AM. The main doors of the church open at 10:00 AM and close at 12:30 PM. The preacher at Mass on Sunday morning is the Reverend Dr. Matthew Daniel Jacobson. The service is played by Dr. David Hurd. He will be joined by cantor, Mr. Christopher Howatt, tenor . . . Tuesday, March 16, Racism Discussion Groups, 4:00 PM and 7:00 PM. Please contact Brother Damien Joseph or Brother Thomas for more information . . . Thursday, March 25, The Annunciation of Our Lord Jesus Christ, Mass 12:10 PM. This service will be live-streamed.

AROUND THE PARISH . . . Tuesday, March 23, 2:00 PM, The Steps of the Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine, 112th Street and Amsterdam Avenue, Service of Prayer and Witness against Anti-Asian Violence. Bishops Dietsche, Glasspool, and Shin will participate in the service, which is sponsored by EAST: Episcopal Asian Supper Table . . . Our good friend and former curate here at Saint Mary’s, the Right Reverend Allen K. Shin, bishop suffragan, issued a letter—“On Anti-Asian Violence”—to the people and clergy of the diocese on Thursday, March 18. The letter is written with Bishop Allen’s characteristic intelligence, sensitivity, clarity, and forthrightness. You may read the letter by following this link. We commend it to you . . . Are You Looking for a COVID-19 Vaccine Site? Try these websites:

https://epicenter-nyc.com/

https://nycvaccinelist.com/;

https://vaccinefinder.nyc.gov/;

https://www.walgreens.com/topic/promotion/covid-vaccine.jsp.

MUSIC AT SAINT MARY’S . . . The organ prelude on Sunday is a setting of O Lamm Gottes unschuldig (“O Lamb of God, pure, spotless”), BWV 656, one of the eighteen Leipzig Chorales of Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750). The “Great Eighteen” were collected and published in the final decade of Bach’s life, and are considered to represent the summit of chorale-based Baroque organ composition. Bach’s setting of O Lamm Gottes from the “Great Eighteen” is based upon the melody for the Lutheran troped Agnus Dei, text and melody attributed to Nikolaus Decius (c. 1480–1541). This three-stanza chorale echoes the Latin Agnus Dei, which is sung three times in the liturgy, the third time praying for peace rather than for mercy as in the first two. Bach, therefore, has set the entire melody three times in his extended organ chorale. The first stanza is played entirely on the keyboard and has the chorale melody in the highest of the three voices. Stanza two, which follows without break, maintains the same texture but shifts the chorale melody to the middle of the three voices. In the third stanza, the pedals of the organ are employed to play the chorale melody and undergird the four-voice texture. Right before the final phrase of this last stanza is a very chromatic interlude which characterizes the agony of the Passion. Bach’s four-voice harmonization of O Lamm Gottes, cataloged as BWV 410, is played as the postlude on Sunday.

The setting of the Mass on Sunday, the Fifth Sunday in Lent, is the Messe Second Ton by Henri Dumont (1610–1684). Dumont was born in Belgium. As a child, Henri and his brother Lambert were choirboys at the Basilica of Our Lady in Maastricht. Henri was later named organist there and was eventually succeeded by his brother. In 1639, Henri moved to Paris to become organist of the parish of Saint Paul. Beginning in 1652 he was harpsichordist at the court of Phillipe I, Duke of Orléans. From that post he advanced to Master of the Chapelle Royale in Versailles in 1663 and, in 1893, Master of the Queen’s Music. He composed mostly religious music including nearly a hundred Petits Motets. His five plainsong masses, known as Messes Royales, gained currency alongside the anonymous repertory of medieval plainsong masses. The Kyrie, Sanctus, and Agnus Dei from Dumont’s plainsong Mass on the second tone will be sung as the ordinary today.

Sunday’s cantor is tenor, Chris Howatt. During the administration of Communion, he will sing I Corinthians 13 by Donald Reid Womack (b.1966). Donald Womack holds a doctoral degree from Northwestern University and has been a professor of composition and music theory at the University of Hawaii, Manoa, since 1994. He is the composer of nearly a hundred works for orchestra, chamber ensembles, solo instruments, and voice. He is widely recognized as a leader in intercultural composition and often integrates Asian and western instruments. In 2020, he was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship to further his intercultural composition projects. Womack’s setting of a text based upon the thirteenth chapter of First Corinthians was composed in 1993.

More about our cantor: Chris Howatt has been a regular member of the Choir at the Church of Saint Mary the Virgin for more than ten years and stepped into the role of office manager at the church five years ago. Not only is he an actively performing singer in the realms of musical theatre and cabaret, he was a member of the Associate Chorus of the Metropolitan Opera for two seasons. He has been heard on recordings as diverse as Jessye Norman’s Christmas CD In the Spirit, to singing backup for The Pet Shop Boys on their cover of the Village People’s “Go West.” As an accompanist and music director he has worked with such talents as David Hyde Pierce, Howard McGillin, Tyne Daly, Rita Moreno, Brad Oscar, Cady Huffman, and others. He has served as musical supervisor for productions of Sylvia, Lend Me a Tenor, and Inspecting Carol at George Street Playhouse, as well as musical director for their world premiere production of Come Back, Come Back, Wherever You Are, written and directed by the late theatrical legend Arthur Laurents. For several years he displayed both pianistic and vocal talents as music director/arranger and performer with the two-time MAC Award nominated vocal group Boulevard East, producing and recording their CD, Timeless, as well as performing with them in various cabaret venues.

OUTREACH AT SAINT MARY’S . . . On March 18, the New York State Senate passed the Humane Alternatives to Long-Term Solitary Confinement Act (HALT). Sponsored by Senator Julia Salazar (D, Brooklyn), this legislation (S.2836) limits the use of segregated confinement for all incarcerated persons to 15 days, implements alternative rehabilitative measures, including the creation of Residential Rehabilitation Units (RRU), expands the definition of segregated confinement, and eliminates the use of segregated confinement for vulnerable incarcerated populations. Additionally, this bill establishes guidelines for humane conditions in segregated confinement, outlines reporting requirements, and adds due process protections by prohibiting placement in segregated confinement prior to a disciplinary hearing and by allowing access to counsel. The Nelson Mandela Rules, adopted by the United Nations, define segregated confinement for more than 15 days as torture. HALT will bring New York in compliance with this international standard and save the State tens of millions of dollars over the next several years. The bill has now been sent to Governor Cuomo for his signature. If you support this bill, you are invited to call the governor and inform his office of your support: 518-474-8390.

MARK YOUR CALENDAR . . . March 28, Palm Sunday, Mass 11:00 AM . . . April 1, Maundy Thursday, Liturgy 6:00 PM . . . April 2, Good Friday, Liturgy 12:30 PM . . . Saturday, April 3, Easter Eve, Great Vigil of Easter 6:00 PM . . . Sunday, April 4, Easter Day, Mass 11:00 AM.

CHRISTIAN EDUCATION . . . On Sunday, March 15, 9:30–10:30 AM, Father Peter Powell will continue his series on the Revelation to John, the Christian Bible’s final book. No prior experience is necessary, and attendance at the autumn session is not a prerequisite to attend classes during the winter and spring. We invite you to join us in person or via Zoom . . . Coming Up . . . Father Powell’s final class in the Revelation series is Palm Sunday, March 28. The Adult Education class will then take a two-week Easter Break. There will be no class on Easter Day, April 4, or on the First Sunday of Easter, April 11. Beginning on April 18, and continuing, we hope, until the Sunday before Memorial Day, we will begin a new series, To Read and Mark: How We Interpret Scripture and Why It Matters. The classes will be led, mostly, by a new teacher each Sunday. We will not be focusing just on modern historical-critical methods of interpreting the Bible, but rather on the variety of ways in which Christians have used and interpreted the Bible over the centuries: to create art and music, shape liturgy, found religious orders, discuss morality, prepare baptismal candidates, and care for the newly baptized. Stay tuned for more details.

In the meantime, if you would like to attend Father Powell’s classes via Zoom, please send an e-mail to Grace Mudd or to Father Powell, who will send you a link. The class will meet in Saint Joseph’s Hall, with face coverings and social distancing required.

For all these classes, seating in Saint Joseph’s Hall will be arranged to maximize social-distancing. Unfortunately, we will not be able to provide refreshments. All those attending the class must wear a face covering.

WORSHIPPING SAFELY AT SAINT MARY’S: If you are at all unwell, please do not come to church. If you are experiencing symptoms, contact your primary-care physician and get tested. If you have a fever of 103.5, which is not being handled by an analgesic, and/or you are having difficulty breathing (by difficulty we mean you must stop talking in order to focus on your breathing), go to an emergency room immediately. That said, we are very happy to be able to welcome you to worship with us here at Saint Mary’s (11:00 AM on Sunday, 12:10 PM Monday–Saturday).

When you arrive, please fill out the contact sheet at the ushers’ table. Please take a seat in one of the open pews, and feel free to ask an usher, one of the brothers, or a member of the clergy if you have questions about seating, Communion, or safe-distancing. Face masks are required while in the church building. We know all too well that many of these precautions are tedious, but we accept them as a way to keep ourselves and each other safe and healthy. We continue to pray for those who are sick and for a swift end to the epidemic.

AT THE MUSEUMS . . . Reconstructions: Architecture and Blackness in America, at the Museum of Modern Art, 11 West Fifty-third Street (between Fifth and Sixth Avenues), New York, New York, until May 31. From the museum website: “How does race structure America’s cities? MoMA’s first exhibition to explore the relationship between architecture and the spaces of African American and African diaspora communities, Reconstructions: Architecture and Blackness in America presents ten newly commissioned works by architects, designers, and artists that explore ways in which histories can be made visible and equity can be built.

Centuries of disenfranchisement and race-based violence have led to a built environment that is not only compromised but also, as the critic Ta-Nehisi Coates contends, “argues against the truth of who you are.” These injustices are embedded in nearly every aspect of America’s design—an inheritance of segregated neighborhoods, compromised infrastructures, environmental toxins, and unequal access to financial and educational institutions.

Each project in the exhibition proposes an intervention in one of ten cities: from the front porches of Miami and the bayous of New Orleans to the freeways of Oakland and Syracuse. Reconstructions examines the intersections of anti-Black racism and Blackness within urban spaces as sites of resistance and refusal, attempting to repair what it means to be American.

Reconstructions features works by Emanuel Admassu, Germane Barnes, Sekou Cooke, J. Yolande Daniels, Felecia Davis, Mario Gooden, Walter Hood, Olalekan Jeyifous, V. Mitch McEwen, and Amanda Williams, as well as new photographs by artist David Hartt.

The Museum is also offering an online course, on Coursera, that is linked to the exhibition. Information about the course, Reimagining Blackness and Architecture, is available here.

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.