FROM THE RECTOR: NEW GUIDANCE FOR IN-PERSON WORSHIP

On May 5, 2021, the bishop of New York, the Right Reverend Andrew M.L. Dietsche, wrote to the diocese, updating the diocesan guidelines concerning public worship at this point in the COVID-19 epidemic. He was responding, in part, to Governor Andrew Cuomo’s announcement that beginning on May 19, “New York State will adopt the CDC’s ‘Interim Public Health Recommendations for Fully Vaccinated People’ for most business and public settings.” This means, that “given that the CDC has advised that fully vaccinated individuals do not need to wear masks and over 52 percent of New Yorkers over the age of 18 are fully vaccinated, the State will authorize businesses to continue to require masks for all in their establishments, consistent with the CDC guidance. In most settings, vaccinated individuals will not be required to wear a mask. Unvaccinated individuals, under both CDC and state guidance must wear masks in all public settings. The Department of Health strongly recommends masks in indoor settings where vaccination status of individuals is unknown. Mask requirements by businesses must adhere to all applicable federal and state laws and regulations.”

Bishop Dietsche concludes from this that, “Under this plan, the only limitation on the number of people who can gather in our churches will be the continued requirement that people maintain the six-foot social distancing rule. [Furthermore,] the wearing of masks must continue, and the protocols for safe worship will remain in force. This includes all of the practices of Holy Communion laid out in May of 2020,” namely, only the consecrated bread, not the wine is to be administered. The bishop also asks that “choral and congregational singing [take place] only with masks and appropriate distancing.”

With the bishop’s and the governor’s guidelines in mind, and after looking at what other churches and similar institutions are doing now, let me set forth these revised guidelines. You will note that the changes are significant, but not radical. It seems to me that the consensus in church, city, and state is to proceed to open more fully, but to do so cautiously. Therefore, beginning on Sunday, May 23, the Day of Pentecost:

Masks & Face Coverings:
• It is recommended that all continue to wear face coverings for worship and events such as in-person classes. However, fully vaccinated persons (see below for a definition of that term) may remove their masks once seated. Please do wear a mask whenever you are not in your pew.

• Fully-vaccinated worship leaders may also remove their masks while leading worship, this includes celebrants at the altar, thurifers at the altar or altar rail, preachers at the lectern, readers and those leading the prayers of the people at the lectern.

• Teachers may also continue to teach without wearing a mask while standing behind the Plexiglas barrier in Saint Joseph’s Hall.

• Those attending classes in Saint Joseph’s Hall, who have been fully vaccinated, may remove their masks, while sitting in the socially-distanced chairs in the Hall.

• Volunteers at the Drop-by events are expected to wear masks, and we will continue to insist that our guests at those events wear masks as well.

• With those exceptions and special cases in mind, the basic guideline will continue to be as follows: all persons (over the age of two) who are not fully vaccinated are expected to always wear masks, even when sitting in their pew, when attending any indoor worship, a class, or other event. If you are not fully vaccinated, and you do not wish to wear a mask at Saint Mary’s, please stay home.

Social Distancing:
• All persons are encouraged to maintain social distance from others indoors and outdoors. To ensure that this is possible, we will continue to limit our capacity to sixty people. If you aren’t fully vaccinated or aren’t sure if another person is fully vaccinated, it is best to maintain the six-foot distance rule.

Other Considerations:
• Sadly, we cannot yet return to congregational singing. We will return to this issue during the next few months to see how and when we might make a change in this policy.

• As the bishop has requested, Holy Communion will continue to be offered in one kind only, namely the consecrated Bread, while standing at the crossing, with communicant and celebrant both masked and maintaining safe distance. Those ministering Communion will continue to wear a latex glove.

• Coffee Hour will be suspended for the immediate future.

• Our ushers will continue to ask members, friends, and visitors to provide contact information for the purpose of contact tracing.

Definition of “Fully Vaccinated”:
• People are considered fully vaccinated two weeks after they have received the second dose of a two-dose series (Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna), or two weeks after they have received a single-dose vaccine (Johnson & Johnson).

• Unvaccinated people are those individuals of all ages, including children, that have not completed a vaccination series or received a single-dose vaccine. Therefore, “I had Covid” or “I have tested positive for antibodies” or “I’ve gotten one dose, so its close enough” does not mean you are fully vaccinated.

• In all of this, our guiding principles must be as follows: be honest about your health and your vaccination status; and trust, care for others, prudent self-care, and mutual concern must shape all our decisions and our actions.

I am grateful to my brother and sister priests in Manhattan and elsewhere in the diocese, and to many others at Saint Mary’s and in the wider community who have provided me with counsel and advice concerning these matters. Please contact me if you have questions or comments. —Stephen Gerth

YOUR PRAYERS ARE ASKED FOR Ernest, Christopher, Liduvina, Modie, James, Jonathan, Emerson, Rita, Marilouise, Quincy, Florette, John, Shalim, Peter, George, Abraham, Burton, Dennis, Emil, Ethelyn, Hardy, Margaret, and Robert; for Randall, Daniel, and Louis, priests; for all who suffer from COVID-19, remembering especially the people of India; for the people of Israel and Gaza; for the peace of Jerusalem; for all those who work for the common good, and for all the members and friends of this parish. Grant that we may serve Christ in them and love one another as he loves us . . . GRANT THEM PEACE . . . May 23: 1895 Sarah Jane Courtright; 1923 David Hillhouse, priest; 1933 Sarah Cook Montague; 1939 Victor Desiree Estephe; 1951 Emma M. Murtaugh; 1998 John Phillip Gilligan III.

THIS WEEK AT SAINT MARY’S . . . Sunday, May 23, The Day of Pentecost: Whitsunday, Adult Education 9:30 AM in Saint Joseph’s Hall, led by Matthew Lobe, Zoom option available; Mass 11:00 AM, Father Jay Smith, celebrant and preacher . . . Tuesday, May 25, Racism Discussion Group Meeting, 7:00 PM via Zoom. For more information about this ongoing weekly meeting, please speak to Charles Carson, Charles Morgan, Marie Rosseels, or Ingrid Sletten . . . Next Sunday, May 30, Trinity Sunday: Adult Education in Saint Joseph’s Hall, 9:30–10:30 AM, led by Mary Robison; Mass & Te Deum 11:00 AM, Father Stephen Gerth, celebrant and preacher. On Trinity Sunday, the service will be played by Dr. David Hurd, organist and music director, who will be joined by four members of the Choir of Saint Mary’s, Joy Tamayo, Sharon Harms, Christopher Howatt, and Mark Risinger.

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.

Centering Prayer is a method of silent prayer that prepares us to receive the gift of contemplative prayer, prayer in which we experience God’s presence within us, closer than breathing, closer than thinking, closer than consciousness itself. This method of prayer is both a relationship with God and a discipline to foster that relationship. Centering Prayer is not meant to replace other kinds of prayer. Rather, it adds depth of meaning to all prayer and facilitates the movement from more active modes of verbal prayer into a receptive prayer of resting in God. Centering Prayer emphasizes prayer as a personal relationship with God and as a movement beyond conversation with Christ to communion with Christ. The source of Centering Prayer, as in all methods leading to contemplative prayer, is the Indwelling Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The focus of Centering Prayer is the deepening of our relationship with the living Christ. The effects of Centering Prayer are ecclesial, as the prayer tends to build communities of faith and bond the members together in mutual friendship and love.

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 scheduled for Friday, June 18. (Upcoming Drop-by Days will take place on Friday, July 15 and Friday, August 19) 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.

You may also support this ministry by making a cash donation (if using PayPal, please write “Neighbors in Need” in the memo line); or by making a donation of clothing or hygiene items. We welcome donations of gently used or new clothing and footwear; unopened toiletry items; backpacks, or small rolling suitcases. All these items should be clean and in good repair. Everyday wear is desirable, which is to say, no formal wear, party clothes or high-heeled shoes. We are not in need of men’s or women’s suits or evening wear at this time. Popular clothing items are: T-shirts, socks (e.g., white and black ankle socks), polo shirts, shirts, and blouses with collars; underwear for men and women in all sizes, including bras, slips, briefs; thermal underwear, sweaters, sweatshirts; slacks/blouses; caps, and scarves. Small blankets, towels and wash cloths, rain slickers, umbrellas, and zippered jackets are also desirable. Please speak to MaryJane Boland, Marie Rosseels, Sharon Stewart, or Father Jay Smith about scheduling a donation.

MUSIC AT SAINT MARY’S . . . Composers of organ music in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries produced a wealth of pieces based upon the melodies of the well-known hymns of their time. Some of these were plainsong or chorales based upon plainsong. Others were tunes of the time or adaptions of contemporary popular songs, but they all took on a life of their own when paired with sacred texts and sung during worship. Even instrumental settings of these melodies conjured the devotional intent of these sacred songs, and such pieces were used as introductions to singing or as substitutions for sung stanzas. Today some of these chorale melodies are not recognized as widely as they were in times past, but many organ pieces based upon them still have great expressive power. Bach’s setting of the chorale Komm, Heiliger Geist, Herre Gott (“Come, Holy Ghost, Lord God”), Sunday’s prelude, is one of Bach’s Great Eighteen Leipzig settings. It delivers the rushing wind and burning flame of Pentecost in a brilliant and energetic torrent of counterpoint which dances and cavorts above the chorale melody stated on the pedals in long notes. Whether or not one recognizes the melody, the excitement of Pentecost can be felt in this music. The postlude on Sunday is Bach’s setting of Komm, Gott, Schöpfer, Heiliger Geist (“Come, God, Creator, Holy Ghost”), the German adaptation of Veni Creator Spiritus (“Come, Creator, Holy Spirit”). In his setting, which is also from the Great Eighteen Leipzig collection, Bach states the chorale melody twice. The first statement is in the uppermost voice, heard above an oddly off-beat accompaniment. The accompanying voices then break into flowing fantasia and the chorale melody re-appears for its second statement in long notes in the bass register.

The setting of the Mass on Sunday is the Mass for four voices by Thomas Tallis (c. 1505–1585). Tallis was one of the most foundational composers of English church music. His long life and musical career included service under four English monarchs—Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary Tudor, and Elizabeth I—with all the shifts in the church’s liturgical and institutional life which these different reigns occasioned. Tallis’ early life is not well documented, but references to his musical employment begin to appear as early as 1532 when he was appointed organist at the Benedictine Priory of Dover. Notably he was later employed at Canterbury Cathedral and served as a Gentleman of the Chapel Royal. Along with William Byrd (c. 1505–1585), Tallis enjoyed an exclusive license to print and publish music which was granted by Elizabeth I in 1575. While he was one of the first musicians to compose for the new Anglican rites of the mid-sixteenth century, Tallis retained an affection for the Latin forms and continued to compose extensively for them. Tallis’s unnamed Latin Mass for four voices probably dates from the 1550s. Its musical style reflects the trend of that time away from very florid liturgical settings and toward syllabic and chordal compositions, favoring clearer declamation of the text.

Complementing Tallis’s Mass for four voices at Mass on Sunday is his anthem O Lord, give thy Holy Spirit, sung during the Communion. In four voices and with English text, this is a setting of a prayer for enlightenment by the Holy Spirit from Lidley’s Prayers (1566). This anthem exemplifies the simplicity and clarity of text setting which composers of church music were encouraged to adopt in Tallis’ time. Though suitable at all times, and particularly at Pentecost, this prayer for the Holy Spirit’s help is also often associated with the season of Advent.

AROUND THE PARISH . . . Neighbors in Need: On Friday, May 21, 1:45–3:00 PM, our volunteers—MaryJane Boland, Christopher Henderson, Deacon Lind Phillips, Marie Rosseels, Sharon Stewart, and José Vidal—along with sexton, Harka Gurung, and Father Jay Smith—welcomed and assisted 29 of our neighbors, providing clothing and toiletries. It was a good day and a successful one. Thank you to all our volunteers . . . We are grateful to our ushers and acolytes who have been serving faithfully since July 1, 2020. They have helped us to open for public worship and to stay open. If you think you have what it takes and would like to join their ranks, please speak to Father Gerth, Father Smith, or Marie Rosseels . . . Sunday Volunteers Needed: Beginning on Sunday, May 9, we will need one volunteer each week to take some photographs during the Mass. These pictures are used to illustrate the Angelus and on social media. We also need a volunteer to set up their iPhone at the crossing, connect to the Saint Mary’s Facebook page, and to begin, monitor, and end the livestream. If you would like to volunteer for one or both of these very important tasks, please speak to the rector, who will be able to provide additional details . . . Would you like to donate altar flowers? We are looking those willing to donate altar flowers for all the Sundays in July and August, except for August 15. The suggested donation is $250. Donors often give flowers in memory, thanksgiving, or celebration of people or life events they would like to pay tribute to. Please contact Chris Howatt, if you would like to donate or speak to Brendon Hunter for more information.

MARK YOUR CALENDAR . . . Sunday, May 30, Trinity Sunday, Mass & Te Deum 11:00 AM . . . Monday, May 31, The Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary . . . Monday, May 31, Memorial Day . . . Sunday, June 6, Corpus Christi, Mass & Benediction 11:00 AM . . . Friday, June 11, Saint Barnabas the Apostle . . . Saturday, June 19, Juneteenth, Celebration of the Emancipation of the Enslaved People of the United States . . . Thursday, June 24, The Nativity of Saint John the Baptist . . . Friday, August 6, The Transfiguration of Our Lord Jesus Christ, Mass 12:10 PM . . . Sunday, August 15, The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary . . . Tuesday, August 24, Saint Bartholomew the Apostle, Mass 12:10 PM.

CHRISTIAN EDUCATION . . . We have begun a new adult-education series on Sunday mornings at 9:30 AM, How We Interpret Scripture and Why It Matters. The series will continue through and including Sunday, May 30. The classes will be led 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, do theology, speculate about cosmology, discuss morality, prepare baptismal candidates, and care for the newly baptized.

If you would like to attend one of these classes, please e-mail Grace Mudd and ask for the Zoom link.

On Sunday, May 23, the Day of Pentecost, Matthew Lobe will lead the class in person in Saint Joseph’s Hall. An opportunity to join the class via Zoom will also be available that day. Matthew grew up in the Pacific Northwest. He did his master’s degree in organ and sacred music at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh. While there, he also served as organist and choir director at Emmanuel Lutheran Church in Export, Pennsylvania, and sang in the Pittsburgh Compline Choir. In the summer of 2017, he moved to Rochester, New York, and began to pursue his interests in design. Matthew was baptized here at Saint Mary’s at the Easter Vigil on April 3, 2021. He lives on West Forty-sixth Street, with his partner, Jeremy Jelinek, who led the class on May 2. On May 23, Matthew will discuss how scripture influences text and music in hymnody by taking a closer look at two well-known hymns. We are very grateful that both Matthew and Jeremy have agreed to lead the class this spring, so soon after joining the Saint Mary’s community.

On May 30, Trinity Sunday, Mary Robison will lead the class and conclude the series with a presentation on research tools for studying the Bible. Mary is a longtime member of Saint Mary’s and is currently a member of the parish’s board of trustees. She has worked as a reference librarian at the General Theological Seminary and, at present, works at the Yonkers Public Library as Riverfront Adult Department Head.

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.

AT THE MUSEUMS . . . At the National Museum of African American History and Culture, 1400 Constitution Avenue NW, Washington, DC, an online exhibition, Pauli Murray’s Proud Shoes: A Classic in African American Genealogy. Pauli Murray (1910–85) was an African-American activist, lawyer, writer, poet, and an Episcopal priest. She was involved in the movement for civil rights for African Americans as early as the 1930s. Along with George Houser, James Farmer, and Bayard Rustin she helped found the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE). She was a feminist who helped found the National Organization for Women. She was a longtime friend of Eleanor Roosevelt’s. Like Mrs. Roosevelt, she was an Episcopalian. She attended the General Theological Seminary in the early 1970s and was ordained priest in 1977, the first African-American woman to be ordained priest in the Episcopal Church. Pauli Murray lived for many years with her partner, Irene Singer, who died in 1973, just before Murray matriculated at General. Pauli Murray wrote a memoir, Proud Shoes: The Story of an America Family, that was published in 1956, a book that is still in print. Several biographies of Murray have been written since that time. Some of her recent biographers have revealed that Pauli Murray, who died in 1985, was what today’s activists and theorists would describe as “gender fluid.” In short, the life of the Reverend Pauli Murray is worth studying all on its own. She was a strong, courageous, and accomplished person. She was a faithful disciple of Jesus Christ, and she lived through and contributed to some of the central progressive causes of the United States in the twentieth century and made significant contributions to our own Episcopal Church.

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.