FROM THE RECTOR: MANY THINGS TO REPORT

First topic—New Video and Sound System: At  the meeting of Saint Mary’s Board of Trustees on Monday, May 24, 2021, the first item of business was a presentation by Christopher Howatt, office manager, on proposals from Audible Difference, Inc. (ADI), to install professional-grade video equipment for live-streaming and recording services, as well as a new sound system for the church. Board members MaryJane Boland, Clark Mitchell, Mark Risinger, and I have been working with Chris to evaluate and recommend this proposal. ADI has installed systems at a number of religious institutions, including the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine and the Brick Presbyterian Church.

It is estimated that it will take eight weeks for all the equipment to arrive. Installation will begin shortly after delivery. After Chris had answered questions, he left the meeting, assured of the board’s gratitude. The board then discussed the proposal in some detail. There is a general sense that this ministry is important not just to the people of the parish but to the wider church. We expect the system will be installed by Labor Day. The decision to go forward was approved unanimously.

Second topic—Music: Since the church reopened for worship on July 1, 2020, on most Sundays, a cantor has been the only person permitted to sing during the Sunday Eucharist. On feast days during this time, a quartet has sung in the organ gallery at Mass, while masked and safely distanced. At its meeting on Monday, the Board reviewed this situation and considered plans for 2021–2022. It is necessary to make decisions about music during the spring, since, New York City church singers are hired now for the upcoming season, which, for us, begins on the first Sunday in October.

After a discussion of our current financial situation, the members of the board expressed their appreciation for Dr. David Hurd’s contributions to our common life, as well as for the accomplishments of the remarkable ensemble of singers David has assembled. With that in mind, and optimistic about the future, the board decided to  restore Dr. Hurd’s position to full-time as of September 1, 2021, and to increase the choir budget for the coming season. This increase will allow us to have eight singers on most Sundays and principal feast days when the Solemn Mass returns, we hope, in October. The motion to do all this also passed unanimously.

Third topic—Worship Schedule: Beginning Tuesday, June 1, the church will be open on Sundays from 9:30 AM until 5:30 PM and Monday through Saturday from 11:00 AM until 5:30 PM. In addition to the celebration of the Eucharist, Daily Evening Prayer will be offered at 5:00 PM every day of the week, with members of the parish and the wider community invited to pray the Office with the clergy.

Fourth topic—Prayer Books and Hymnals: We’ve returned our Prayer Books and Hymnals to the church. Though we won’t be singing anytime soon, the Hymnal is a great source for devotions even if one is not singing. I’m looking forward to being able to say as we begin the 12:10 Mass on Monday, May 31: “Welcome to the Church of Saint Mary the Virgin, the Episcopal parish for Times Square. Today is the Feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The Holy Eucharist is celebrated using the order found beginning on page 355 off the red Prayer Book.” —Stephen Gerth

PRODUCTION NOTE: The Angelus has been delayed since yesterday by limited internet service for the church’s network. This has also meant that I have been unable to access photos taken by Father Jay Smith. I hope to include some of them next week. —S.G.

YOUR PRAYERS ARE ASKED FOR Christopher, Liduvina, James, Jonathan, Emerson, Rita, Marilouise, Quincy, Florette, John, Shalim, Peter, George, Abraham, Dennis, and Emil; for James, religious, and Randall, Daniel, and Louis, priests; for all who suffer from COVID-19; for all those who work for the common good, for all the members and friends of this parish; and for all those who have died in the service of this country. Grant that we may serve Christ in them and love one another as he loves us . . . GRANT THEM PEACE . . . May 30: 1889 Clarissa Pierson Chew; 1896 Emeline Place Hayward; 1921 Almira Guion; 1955 Bertha Francesca Werner.

THIS WEEK AT SAINT MARY’S . . . Sunday, May 30, Trinity Sunday, Adult Education 9:30 AM in Saint Joseph’s Hall, led by Mary Robison, Zoom option available; Mass and Solemn Te Deum 11:00 AM, Father Stephen Gerth, celebrant and preacher; Evening Prayer 5:00 PM . . . Monday, May 31, The Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Memorial Day, Mass 12:10 PM. The church will close at 2:00 PM. Evening Prayer will not be said in the church on Memorial Day and the parish offices will be closed that day . . . Tuesday–Saturday, June 1–5, Mass 12:10 PM and Evening Prayer 5:00 PM. The church is open from 11:00 AM until 5:30 PM . . . Tuesday, June 1, Racism Discussion Group Meeting, 7:00 PM via Zoom. For more information about this ongoing weekly meeting, please call the parish office . . . Next Sunday, June 6, The Body and Blood of Jesus: Corpus Christi: Mass & Eucharistic Benediction 11:00 AM, Father Jay Smith, celebrant and preacher; Evening Prayer 5:00 PM.

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. Last Friday, May 21, we served 29 guests. Our next Drop-by Day is scheduled for Friday, June 18. (The next two Drop-by Days will take place on Friday, July 16, and Friday, August 20) 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 . . . The organ prelude and postlude on Sunday are, respectively, the Prelude and the Fugue in E-flat Major, BWV 552, by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750). This majestic Prelude and Fugue are the opening and closing pieces of Bach’s 1739 Clavierübung III, one of the most remarkable and important collections of organ music by a single composer ever compiled. This third part of the Clavierübung (“Keyboard Practice”) also contains the “Catechism” chorales—extended settings and settings for manuals alone—and four two-voice keyboard “Duets.” While theological references in the chorale preludes are to be expected due to the music’s association with liturgical texts, much has also been written about the religious imagery of the Prelude and Fugue in E-flat. The sections of the Prelude in a French Overture style have been said to express the dignity and power of God the Father. The echo passages and those with downward rushing scales have been said to represent respectively God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. These three musical ideas of the Prelude, the three sections of the Fugue, and the three flats of the key signature might all be intended to reflect the Trinity. In addition, many will notice the clear resemblance between the subject of the Bach’s Fugue and William Croft’s hymn tune St Anne, most often sung with the Psalm 90 paraphrase “O God, our help in ages past.” While it is doubtful that Croft and Bach were aware of one another’s works, Bach’s Prelude and Fugue in E-flat has nonetheless been subtitled the “St. Anne.”

The musical setting of the Gloria in excelsis, Sanctus, and Benedictus on Sunday are from the Missa Brevis by Andrea Gabrieli (c. 1533–1585). Andrea Gabrieli, uncle of the even more prolific Giovanni Gabrieli (c. 1556–1612), is credited with bringing international stature to the Venetian musical compositional culture, where the Netherlands school had previously been dominant. Andrea Gabrieli, composer and organist, is principally associated with Saint Mark’s, Venice, where he was organist from 1566 until his death. It is in this post that his reputation as a composer soared, and he became known especially for his ceremonial music. Gabrieli’s style included mediating the juncture of polyphonic and homophonic textures, use of voices and instruments together in choirs, and setting multiple choirs of musicians in vibrant dialogue with one another. The Missa Brevis is a relatively modest work in four voices. While much of the text of this setting is declaimed in rhythmic unison, imitative counterpoint and flowing melodic lines are also very much in evidence. The Agnus Dei on Trinity Sunday is by Thomas Morley (c. 1557–1602) from his 1597 treatise A Plain and Easy Introduction to Practical Music where it was meant to stand as an example of his principles of composition. Morley’s Agnus Dei appears in the treatise as a motet, rather than as a setting for the Mass. For our purposes, its slightly variant text has been conformed to the traditional liturgical Latin words.

The massive output of composer Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (c. 1525–1594) established a canon and set standards for Catholic church music in the Renaissance which persist to our own time. Among his compositions are more than one hundred Masses and more than three hundred motets. Palestrina stood on musical foundations largely laid by the Netherlandish composers Guillaume Dufay (c. 1397–1474) and Josquin des Prez (c. 1450–1521). Sunday’s Communion motet is Palestrina’s Benedicta sit sancta Trinitas. It was originally published in his first book of four-voice motets for the feasts of the year (Motecta festorum totius anni liber primus) and is in his characteristic fluid imitative style.

The musical setting of Te Deum laudamus, customarily sung following Communion on Trinity Sunday at Saint Mary’s and elsewhere, is an adaptation of Slavonic chant by Mason Martens (1933–1991) to Canticle 21 of The Book of Common Prayer. Martens was a prominent composer, editor, publisher, and scholar whose work richly informed the development of liturgical music in the period of revision anticipating The Book of Common Prayer (1979) and The Hymnal 1982 of the Episcopal Church. The materials he produced, out of a strong commitment to the normalcy of liturgy being sung, continue to be greatly beneficial to the Church. His four-voice adaptation of Slavonic chant for Te Deum, found at S288 in The Hymnal 1982, is based upon a proper melody in Sputnik Psalomshchika published in Saint Petersburg in 1916.

AROUND THE PARISH . . . 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 . . . Please speak to the rector if you’d like to volunteer to take photographs on Sunday morning, during Mass or the adult-education classes. The photographs are used to illustrate the weekly newsletter.

MARK YOUR CALENDAR . . . 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 . . . Monday, September 6, Labor Day.

CHRISTIAN EDUCATION . . . The adult-education series, How We Interpret Scripture and Why It Matters, will conclude this coming Sunday, May 30. If you would like to attend the class, please e-mail Grace Mudd and ask for the Zoom link.

Mary Robison will lead the class and she will 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.

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.