FROM MARYJANE BOLAND: ALL OUR NEIGHBORS IN NEED

For many years, Saint Mary’s Neighbors in Need program has provided gently-used clothing, newly-purchased underwear, and toiletries to neighbors in need. Some of our clients are just that: people who live nearby; others are homeless. Some have jobs, some do not, all find it difficult to make ends meet. They all come to us seeking the sort of assistance that we offer. Many churches offer a food program. Saint Mary’s is one of a very few that provides clothing and hygiene items. Through the years, generous donations of clothing and money from parishioners, friends (both near and far away), and people who work in the neighborhood have made our monthly drop-by day a success.

In the last few weeks, we have been seeing an increasing number of migrant families, mostly asylum seekers, from Colombia, Venezuela, Central America, Haiti, and Mexico, many of whom are being bused here by governors of other states. The stories of these refugees are heartbreaking. They come from many walks of life. They have walked thousands of miles to get to the U.S. They come to our church wearing T-shirts when the temperature is 50 degrees. They wear flip-flops. They are young. They come with children and babies. They support each other. They have nothing, yet they are pleasant and cheerful, and almost no one speaks any English. They don’t know the ways of the City. We know the City is trying to figure out how to help them. Some are living temporarily in shelters. Some are in the hotel right next door. A few children have already been enrolled in local schools.

Thanks to our two Spanish-speaking sextons and to one or two bilingual parishioners, we have been able to talk to our visitors and learn some of their needs beyond just clothing. Midtown Clericus, a group of midtown parishes, is meeting to see what each church can uniquely offer. Saint Mary’s is part of that discussion. We will talk about social workers, attorneys, access to medical care and to job opportunities, and determine which parishes can help and how they can form partnerships to respond to this emergency.

While Saint Mary’s Neighbors in Need program continues to work with our long-time neighbors, we are stepping up our efforts to help our new friends in our area of expertise: clothing. How can you help? Our most urgent need is bilingual Spanish speakers who can act as interpreters when we distribute clothing to this group. The schedule is in the works, but you can express your interest by emailing us here. And we know this: we need cold-weather clothing, especially coats, jackets, sweaters, and pants for men, women and children. We need sturdy shoes for adults and children. We need financial donations for the items we buy (underwear, toiletries, and additional clothing when our inventory is insufficient). Several of our parishioners have organized clothing drives in their own buildings with immediate and very generous results. If you would like to do that too, we are happy to consult.

Marie Rosseels, Father Jay Smith and I have been deeply involved in this ministry for a long time, and we would welcome your questions. Send us a message here. Cash can be donated online by clicking here and choosing Neighbors in Need for your gift. Clothing can be left with a sexton at any time that the church is open. Your prayers and your help are deeply appreciated. — MJB

MaryJane Boland, a member of the parish, is on the Saint Mary’s Board of Trustees and serves in many ministries at parish, including Neighbors in Need. Several years ago, she retired as Director of Student Services in the NYU Stern School of Business Executive MBA program to do more volunteer work. She says she has been richly rewarded by that decision.

THE PARISH PRAYER LIST

We pray for those who are sick and for those in any need or trouble; we pray for those celebrating birthdays and anniversaries this week; for those living with storm, flood, fire, and earthquake, and we pray especially for David, Robert, Nancy, Sharon, Penny, Greg, Glee, Horacio, Richard, Nadira, Peter, Eric, Carlos, Christopher, Linette, Larry, Luis, Liduvina, Stuart, David, Sterina, Barbara, Allen, Marjorie, Shalim, Greta, Liduvina, Quincy, José, James, Frank, Laverne, Abraham, Gypsy, Hardy, Margaret, Emil, Pat, Robert; Nicholas, religious, Matthew and Scott, priests; and for the repose of the soul of Barbara Klett.

You are invited to keep these intentions in your minds, hearts and prayers this week:

We pray that God will grant to all those in authority the wisdom and strength to do God’s will.
We pray also for peace in Ukraine; and
For those ill with COVID-19;
For those suffering from depression, anxiety, or addiction;
For all refugees and for those seeking asylum in the United States, especially those now sheltering in the Times Square neighborhood;
For those without food, shelter, or work;
For those seeking work;
For the work of Neighbors in Need;
For the Search Committee of the parish.

A Prayer for the Election of a Bishop

Almighty God, giver of every good gift: Look graciously on your Church, and so guide the minds of those who shall choose a bishop for the Diocese of New York, that we may receive a faithful pastor, who will care for your people and equip us for our ministries; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

REQUIEM MASS FOR BARBARA LARSEN KLETT

Barbara Klett was a longtime member of Saint Mary’s. She served on the Board of Trustees and volunteered countless hours over the years in the parish’s Finance Office. She died on January 28, 2021. Shortly after her death, her body was interred at the Trinity Church Cemetery in uptown Manhattan. Father Gerth officiated at the Service of Committal. There will be a Mass for the Departed for Barbara on Saturday, October 15, at 2:00 PM. Father Jay Smith will celebrate and preach. All of the parish’s members and friends are invited to attend the Mass.

THIS WEEK AT SAINT MARY’S

Saturday, October 15, 2:00 PM, Mass for the Departed: Barbara Larsen Klett. A reception follows in Saint Joseph’s Hall . . . Saturday, October 15, 2022, 8:00 PM, New York Repertory Orchestra. Admission is free. A donation of $15.00 is requested . . . Sunday, October 16, The Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 24C), Adult Education 9:30 AM in the Parish House; Solemn Mass 11:00 AM. The readings are Genesis 32:3–8, 22–30; Psalm 121; 2 Timothy 3:14–4:5; Luke 18:1–8. Father Wood will celebrate, and Father Jacobson will preach. The musical setting of the Mass on Sunday is Mass for Four Voices by William Byrd (c. 1540–1623). The Communion motet is Eternal Spirit of the Living Christ by David Hurd (b. 1950).

Commemorations this Week: Monday, October 17, Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch and Martyr, c. 115; Tuesday, October 18, Saint Luke the Evangelist; Wednesday, October 19, Henry Martyn, Priest and Missionary to India and Persia, 1812.

AROUND THE PARISH

Wednesday, November 2, is All Souls’ Day. There will be two Masses that day: a Said Mass at 12:10 PM in the Lady Chapel and a Sung Mass, which concludes with the Blessing of the Vault, at 6:00 PM in the church.

On the five weekdays after All Souls’ Day, we will celebrate the parish’s annual Masses for the Departed at 12:10 PM in the Lady Chapel. As is our custom, we invite the members and friends of the parish to submit the names of their departed loved ones for remembrance in the Prayers of the People at each of those Masses.

Click here to download the All Souls’ form.

SAINT MARY’S BOOK CLUB

The next book that we will read is Joan Didion’s The Year of Magical Thinking. This non-fiction book is a brilliant, compelling, and moving reflection on mortality, family, marriage, illness, and death. It was much praised when it appeared in 2005 and it won the National Book Award that year. It is available in paper, hardcover, and as an e-book at the usual online retailers. The book will be a fitting continuation of our November meditations on life, death, and resurrection following All Souls’ Day. However, Didion’s reflections are so humane, so personal, and so honest that the book is never grim. Please join us. The group will meet in Saint Benedict’s Study on Sunday, November 20, at 1:00 PM. Please contact Father Jay Smith, if you would like to attend.

COMING UP

On Tuesday, November 1, All Saints’ Day, Solemn Mass will be celebrated at 6:00 PM in the church. The Bishop of New York, the Right Reverend Andrew M.L. Dietsche will celebrate and preach. Mass is preceded by an organ recital that begins at 5:30 PM.

Friday, November 11–Saturday, November 12, 246th Diocesan Convention, Westchester Marriott, Tarrytown, New York.

Thursday–Saturday, November 3–5, and Monday–Tuesday, November 7–8, Masses for the Departed 12:10 PM each day in the Lady Chapel.

Sunday, November 6, 5:00 PM, Evensong & Benediction.

Daylight Saving Time will end at 2:00 AM on Sunday, November 6. Clocks should be turned back one hour.

Wednesday, November 16: Evening Meet and Greet with Candidates for Bishop Coadjutor of the Diocese of New York at St. Andrew’s, Harlem, 2067 Fifth Avenue, between 127th and 128th Streets. 2 or 3 Train to 125th Street.

Sunday, November 20, The Last Sunday after Pentecost.

Wednesday, November 23, The Eve of Thanksgiving Day, Sung Mass 6:00 PM.

Sunday, November 27, The First Sunday of Advent.

Saturday, December 3, 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM, Advent Quiet Day, led by Father Sammy Wood.

NEIGHBORS IN NEED

The October Drop-by will take place on Friday, October 21, 1:00–3:00 PM.

We are hoping to enlist the help of more volunteers for this Outreach Program since the need for clothing and hygiene items among our neighbors has increased dramatically.

We are especially hoping to recruit volunteers who are fluent in Spanish as well as English.

If you would like to volunteer for Neighbors in Need, please send us a message at neighbors@stmvnyc.org. Our goal is to continue to distribute clothing and hygiene items to those in need in the Times Square neighborhood. We are grateful to all those who continue to support this ministry.

ABOUT THE MUSIC AT THE SOLEMN MASS ON SUNDAY, OCTOBER 16

Jean Adam Guilain is the composer of Sunday’s organ voluntaries. His dates are not certain, his nationality was actually German, and his original name was Johann Adam Wilhelm Freinsberg. However, he came to Paris sometime before 1702 and probably soon became a student of Louis Marchand (1669–1732). In 1706, he published his two-volume Pièces d’orgue pour le Magnificat sur les huit tons différents de l'église (“Organ pieces for the Magnificat on the eight church tones”). Only the first of these two volumes is extant. It contains a suite of seven pieces for each of the first four church modes. The lost volume undoubtedly contained pieces of very similar character for tones five through eight. Guilain’s suites were intended to be played at Vespers, their movements in alternation with chanted verses of the canticle. Despite his German origin, Guilain’s organ suites are idiomatically very French. Typical of organ suites of his time, each movement is designated by a description of the character of the piece, indicating the organ stops intended to be used. Thus, in the course of such a suite, one hears the characteristic timbres of the instrument in stylized segments. The first three movements of Guilain’s suite on the second tone are played for the prelude this morning, and the sixth movement is the postlude.

The setting of the Mass on Sunday is the Mass for Four Voices of William Byrd (c. 1540–1623). Byrd composed settings of the Latin Mass for three, four and five voices. The Mass for Four Voices dates from about 1592 and was probably the first of the three to be composed. The whole business of Latin Masses in post-Reformation England needed to be a somewhat clandestine matter to protect those involved from the possibility of arrest. This being the case, Byrd’s part books were undated and without title page or preface, nor was the printer (Thomas East) identified. Fortunately, Byrd’s settings survived the period in which their performance—if not their very existence—was illegal and are now rightly regarded as great treasures of Western music. Although composed with the Continental Tridentine liturgy in mind, Byrd’s Mass for Four Voices was also influenced by the pre-Reformation Mean Mass of John Taverner (c. 1490–1545), particularly in the opening of the Sanctus. The older Taverner setting had already served as a model for settings by English masters Christopher Tye (c. 1505–c.1573), John Sheppard (c. 1515–1558) and Thomas Tallis (c. 1505–1585). Byrd’s four-voice Agnus Dei ends with a particularly expressive Dona nobis pacem.

Eternal Spirit of the Living Christ—composed by Saint Mary’s music director, David Hurd, and sung as the Communion motet on Sunday—was commissioned by the Association of Anglican Musicians for their 2006 Conference and the Anglican Musicians Foundation in celebration of the fortieth anniversary of the Association of Anglican Musicians in Indianapolis, Indiana. In this choral setting of a hymn by the Finnish theologian Frank von Christierson (1900–1996), the text alternates between chant-based and freely-composed statements of each of its three stanzas. The melodic foundation of the chant-styled sections is drawn from the plainsong Lord’s Prayer as previously adapted by Winfred Douglas and well-known to Episcopalians for generations. Since Christierson’s text centers on the pursuit of right prayer, this musical reminder of the most foundational and seminal prayer of all Christians, which Jesus himself taught his disciples, seemed particularly apt.

MAKING DONATIONS FOR FLOWERS AND DECORATIONS

Dates for altar flower donations are available for the following Sundays: October 23 and 30; and November 13. Opportunities to donate for Sundays and feast days in 2023 will be announced soon. Flowers on the high altar, at the shrines, and other areas of the church, are part of our offering to the glory of God and add to the beauty and solemnity of our worship. Often, the flowers are given in the memory, celebration, or honor of someone, a life event, or other occasions, which is printed in the bulletin.

We also welcome donations for flowers and other decorations at Christmas and Easter. Please contact Chris Howatt if you would like to make a donation for one of the available dates or for the holy days.

ADULT EDUCATION OCTOBER–DECEMBER 2022

This coming Sunday, October 16, at 9:30 AM, in Saint Benedict’s Study, we will continue our study of the Holy Eucharist in the Adult-Education program. Father Jay Smith will teach the class on October 16. Brother Thomas Bushnell returns for the classes on October 23 and 30.

October 2: The Eucharist as Meal
October 9: The Eucharist as Sacrifice
October 16: The Eucharist as Memory
October 23: The Eucharist as Prayer
October 30: The Eucharist as Presence

Participation by the members of the class is invited and encouraged.

To find Saint Benedict’s Study, please enter Saint Joseph’s Hall via the entrance at 145 West 46th Street, bear right and head down the long hallway which takes you past the rest rooms, the windows, and then heads toward the Sacristy. The classroom is located on your left, just short of the doors to the Smoke Room, the Control Room, and the Sacristy.

On Sundays in November, and on the first two Sundays in December, Father Peter Powell will teach a series of classes on Ephesians, Colossians, and 2 Thessalonians. Father Peter writes:

“We have the church that we have largely because of Paul of Tarsus. The New Testament includes many letters ascribed to Paul, and what those letters all have in common is the founding or nurturing of what we now call a church. Seven of the letters are accepted by all scholars as authentic, which is to say that they were almost surely written by Paul himself. Scholars disagree about the rest. Some scholars argue for Pauline authorship, some disagree, often vigorously.

What difference does this make? That’s the underlying question we will explore for six weeks each Sunday morning in November and early December, and then again during Lent. All of the letters are included in the biblical canon, and are, therefore, of equal value, at least theoretically. However, most of us, whether consciously or not, value some parts of the bible more than we do others. For instance, I prefer Mark over the other gospels and Romans and 1 Corinthians over the other epistles. I have my reasons for these preferences, but I recognize that preferring certain books can mean neglecting others.

Some people value Paul’s “authentic” letters more than they do the rest. This series of classes gives us an opportunity to discuss those canonical issues, but also to read some texts that it would be a shame to neglect. We will begin with Colossians, then study Ephesians, and finally turn to 2 Thessalonians. If we have time we’ll look at 1 & 2 Timothy and Titus. I hope you will join us. I think we will enjoy reading these challenging texts together.”

SCHEDULE OF SERVICES ON SUNDAYS AND WEEKDAYS

Sunday
The church opens at 9:00 AM and closes at 6:00 PM.
Adult Education will normally take place at 9:30 AM in Saint Benedict’s Study.
Solemn Mass is at 11:00 AM.
On the first Sunday of every month, there will normally be Evensong and Benediction in the church at 5:00 PM. On other Sundays, Evening Prayer is said at 5:00 PM.

Monday–Friday
The church opens at 7:00 AM and closes at 7:00 PM.
Morning Prayer is said in the church at 8:00 AM.
Mass is celebrated at 12:10 PM, normally in the Lady Chapel.
Evening Prayer is said in the church at 5:00 PM.
On Wednesdays, Holy Hour is kept in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament at 11:00 AM in the Lady Chapel.
The Mass on Thursdays normally includes Anointing and Prayers for Healing.

Saturday
The church opens at 10:00 AM and closes at 6:00 PM.
Mass is celebrated in the Lady Chapel at 12:10 PM.
Evening Prayer is said in the church at 5:00 PM.

This edition of the Angelus was written and edited by Father Jay Smith, except as noted. Father Matt Jacobson also edits the newsletter and is responsible for formatting and posting it on the parish website and distributing it via mail and e-mail, with the assistance of Christopher Howatt, parish administrator, and parish volunteer, Clint Best.