FROM THE INTERIM RECTOR: “ENTERING UPON THIS WORK”

First, let me say thank you!

Thank you to the staff who’ve so graciously welcomed me to New York, and thanks to each of you and to the Board for the trust you’re placing in me to be part of the team to lead and serve alongside you during this period of transition at Saint Mary’s. I arrived on Thursday last and have slowly been getting acquainted with the rectory, church, and neighborhood—venturing a little farther out in each one every day. My family arrives over the course of this week—Renee, my wife, along with Patrick and Flannery, my two youngest children. (Elizabeth, the eldest, is at Rhodes College in Memphis, but you’ll get to meet her in the summer.) In fact, by the time you read this they should be here, and I can’t wait to introduce them to you and to this place I’ve already come to love in just a few days.

At some point, in a homily, I’ll tell you more of my story, but some highlights are: Grew up in small-town Mississippi (about as far from New York City as you can imagine), went to college, became a lawyer, met Renee at Ole Miss, got married, and moved to New England to attend Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. Boston is “home” for us now—Elizabeth was born there; it’s where Renee began the career that’s led her to her position as Chief Financial and Administrative Officer at the Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation; we discovered the Episcopal Church, and I discerned my call to Holy Orders there in a little church on the North Shore. After lots of moving around (fifteen times in almost 22 years of marriage!), I was ordained a deacon in Boston and then a priest in Washington, DC, where I learned the Mass as curate of the Church of the Ascension & Saint Agnes. After almost a decade as associate rector at the Church of the Advent in Boston, we spent the last four years in Nashville where I served as rector of Saint Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church. And now—although I never saw it coming—I get to be your Interim Rector for a while!

Interim ministry is new to me, so I can’t tell you exactly what we’ll be up to together quite yet. I have a lot to learn. But we can’t go wrong in returning to words Father Brown placed in the foundation stone of the first Saint Mary’s church in 1868: 

We enter upon this work, not only with the intention of preaching the comfortable Gospel of Christ, and of ministering the Holy Sacraments to His people, but also, of restoring to its proper place and importance the Worship of God—the rendering Adoration to him as a congregational and ceremonial act . . . which in later times have been forgotten.

I’m excited to begin this work – casting ourselves on the comfortable Gospel, drawing grace from the sacraments, then worshiping, adoring, and being sent out to love and serve Times Square and New York City.

I can’t wait!

And—thanks, again.

YOUR PRAYERS ARE ASKED FOR Fausto, who is gravely ill, and Tevis, Afroza, Ricardo, Emily, John, Philip, Sylvia, Pat, Eloise, Karen, Shalim, Brian, Carmen, Greta, Liduvina, Marilouise, Quincy, Florette, Peter, George, Abraham, Emil, Ethelyn, Gypsy, Hardy, Margaret, the Brothers of the Society of Saint John the Evangelist, and Robert; James, Randall, and Louis, priests; and Andrew, bishop. We are also asked to pray for all refugees and migrants; all victims of natural disaster; all who work for the common good; and all the benefactors, friends and members of this parish. We pray this week for justice and peace in Ukraine. We also pray for the repose of the soul of Maria José Miranda Coelho. May she rest in peace and rise in glory . . . GRANT THEM PEACE . . . February 20: 1871 John Clark Pancoast; 1872 William Hardy; 1899 Adeline Gardner; 1923 Esther Mertz Lindsey; 1932 Gustav Friedauer; 1933 Theodore Ross; 1973 Viola Katherine Sadowsky; 1985 Therese Anna Furlong; 2009 Charles Everett Whipple II, priest.

THIS WEEK AT SAINT MARY’S . . . On Sunday, February 20, The Seventh Sunday after the Epiphany, the Adult Education class will meet from 9:30 AM to 10:30 AM in the Arch Room, on the second floor of the Mission House. Access is via 133 West Forty-sixth Street. The class will be led by V.K. McCarty . . . Monday, February 21, Washington’s Birthday (Presidents’ Day), Federal Holiday. Mass 12:10 PM. Parish offices closed. Evening Prayer will not be said in the church . . . Tuesday, February 22, Racism Discussion Group Meeting, 7:00 PM via Zoom. For more information about this ongoing weekly meeting, please call the parish office . . . Thursday, February 24, Saint Matthias the Apostle, Mass 12:10 PM . . . Friday, February 25, Saint Mary’s Online Centering Prayer Group, 6:30 PM. Send an e-mail for more information . . . Holy Eucharist and the Daily Office: The Angelus is recited Monday through Saturday at 12:00 PM and 5:00 PM. Evening Prayer is normally said in the church Monday through Saturday at 5:00 PM, except on Federal holidays and certain holy days. Solemn Mass is celebrated at 11:00 AM on Sunday morning and Evening Prayer is said at 5:00 PM in the church on Sunday afternoons.

LOOKING AHEAD . . . March 2, Ash Wednesday, Mass & Imposition of Ashes 12:10 PM, Solemn Mass & Imposition of Ashes 6:00 PM . . . Friday, March 4, Evening Prayer at 5:00 PM & Stations of the Cross at 5:30 PM . . . Sunday, March 13, Daylight Saving Time begins . . . Thursday, March 17, Saint Patrick, Mass 12:10 PM . . . Saturday, March 19, Saint Joseph, Mass 12:10 PM . . . Friday, March 25, The Annunciation of Our Lord Jesus Christ to the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mass 12:10 PM, Organ Recital 5:30 PM, Solemn Mass 6:00 PM.

AROUND THE PARISH . . . Parishioner Hardy Geer is scheduled to undergo a medical procedure on Friday, February 18. He expects to return home the same day and to recuperate at home. Parishioner Emil Bretzger continues in hospice care at his home in New Jersey. Please keep Hardy and Emil in your prayers . . . Parishioner Ricardo Miranda’s father, Fausto Ribeira Miranda, is suffering from the symptoms of COVID-19 and is gravely ill. He lives in Brazil and is now at home. Please keep him and Ric in your prayers . . . Father Peter Powell is in the United Kingdom this week visiting family. He hopes to be back at Saint Mary’s on February 27. He will resume his series on the Holiness Code in Leviticus on the First Sunday in Lent, March 6

ADULT EDUCATION . . . This coming Sunday, February 20, V.K. McCarty will begin her two-part series, “Encountering Women in the Ministry of Saint Paul” in our adult-education program. The class will meet between 9:30 and 10:30 AM in the Arch Room, on the second floor of the Mission House. Access is via the door at 133 Forty-sixth Street, just east of the main doors of the church.

V.K. was born in Boston and studied acting and voice at Michigan State University, the University of Louisville, and the University of London. After her theater training, she performed here in New York, in regional theater, and at several music festivals.

She later worked as a book editor and studied at the General Theological Seminary, where she earned a master’s degree with a focus on biblical studies. She worked as the acquisitions librarian at the Saint Mark’s Library at General for fourteen years. She has also served the church in several ways, as a hospital chaplain and as an acolyte and a trainer of acolytes at the Church of Saint Ignatius of Antioch. She has taught and was director of Christian education at several parishes in New Jersey, and has taught adult education at other parishes, including the Church of Saint Luke in the Field in Greenwich Village.

V.K. has studied and has an interest in the history of Christian pilgrimage, the history of Byzantium, ascetical theology, and biblical languages. She has edited several volumes, including a history of General Seminary. In March 2021, Gorgias Press published her book, From Their Lips: Voices of Early Christian Women, which won a Best Independent Book Award this year in the category of religion and spirituality. Her research for that volume will be the focus of her classes on February 20 and 27. We are very excited that V.K. has agreed to share her work with us.

NEIGHBORS IN NEED . . . As this edition of the Angelus is being written and edited, The Outreach Team is making preparations for its Drop-by Day on the afternoon of Friday, February 18. The next Drop-by Day is scheduled for Friday, March 18. Volunteers work from 1:30 PM until 3:30 PM. Our guests are invited into the church a bit before 2:00 PM, and we close our doors at 3:00 PM. We need at least 6 volunteers for each Drop-by. If you would like to volunteer, please send an email to neighbors@stmvnyc.org or call the Parish Office at 212-869-5830. The April Drop-by will take place on Friday, April 22, the fourth Friday of the month, instead of the third, because April 15 is Good Friday.

We are especially eager to received donations of coats, thermal underwear, socks, and sweatshirts during these winter months. We are always happy to receive transit cards with one or two trips on them as well. Thank you to all who have supported this important ministry.

ABOUT THE MUSIC . . . The organ prelude on Sunday is one of the many settings by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750) of Allein Gott, the chorale which paraphrases Gloria in excelsis (“All glory be to God on high”). This chorale remains well represented in modern hymnals of various denominations and languages including The Hymnal 1982 (#421). Today’s prelude is one of the three settings of Allein Gott among the “Great Eighteen” Leipzig chorales of Bach’s later years. It is an extended trio for two manuals and pedal, in the key of A Major, in which only the first phrase of the chorale melody is ever quoted when it appears near the end in the pedal voice. The postlude is Bach’s Alla breve in D. The French composer and music educator Olivier Alain describes the Alla breve as “written in free, but very elaborate contrapuntal style, a grand Ricercare for full organ, the theme of which already foreshadows the Gratias agimus tibi of the B minor Mass.”

Sunday morning’s setting of the ordinary is the Chichester Mass of William Albright (1944–1998). This setting was commissioned for the ninth centenary of Chichester Cathedral and was first performed there on June 14, 1975. Walter Hussey (1909–1985), who was dean of Chichester Cathedral from 1955–1977, was a noted patron of the arts, and was the impetus behind the commissioning of an impressive list of choral works, beginning in 1943 with Benjamin Britten’s Rejoice in the Lamb which was commissioned while Hussey was vicar of Saint Matthew’s, Northampton. William Albright was born in Gary, Indiana, attended The Juilliard School, the Eastman School of Music, and the University of Michigan, where he later served on the faculty. He received a Fulbright scholarship in 1968 to study in Paris with Olivier Messiaen, whose influence combined with many others in fueling Albright’s “poly-stylistic” musical range. The Chichester Mass uses traditional Book of Common Prayer texts. It includes chant-like choral writing reminiscent of Stravinsky as in the Gloria; random as well as highly structured polyphonic elements as in the Sanctus and Benedictus; and cluster harmonies as in the Agnus Dei.

The motet during Communion on Sunday morning is a setting of Love (III) from George Herbert’s 1633 collection The Temple: Sacred Poems. This musical setting by David Hurd, music director at Saint Mary’s, is for unaccompanied choir. It was composed in 1991 for the fortieth anniversary of the ordination to the priesthood of the Reverend Charles W. Scott who was then an associate priest at All Saints Church, Manhattan. The music is reflective of the syllabic and chordal style which Thomas Tallis and other early Anglican composers were encouraged to adopt to enhance clarity and maximize intelligibility. At the same time, the six-voice texture and harmonic vocabulary of this setting give Herbert’s seventeenth-century poem a twentieth-century expression.  — David Hurd

AROUND THE DIOCESE . . . At diocesan convention last November, the bishop of New York, the Right Reverend Andrew ML Dietsche, called for the election of a bishop coadjutor. The new coadjutor will succeed Bishop Dietsche when he retires. The members of the Committee for the Election of a Bishop have been named. More information is available on the diocesan website . . . It has been reported that on Tuesday, January 11, 2022, LGBTQ Bishops within the Anglican Communion “had a very Christ-centered meeting via Zoom with the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Reverend Justin Welby, which was very fruitful as we make our way towards the Lambeth Conference 2022 . . . In our meeting, we had an opportunity to hear and share stories that allow us to continue to walk in love. We are tremendously grateful to the archbishop and his staff for their time and compassionate listening.”

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.

WOULD YOU LIKE TO MAKE A DONATION FOR ALTAR FLOWERS? . . . It is still possible to give altar flowers for Sunday, February 27, the last Sunday before Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent. Other dates available are Sundays, May 15 and 22, the Day of Pentecost, and Trinity Sunday. If you’re interested in these or any future dates in 2022, please contact Father Smith and Chris Howatt to arrange the donation. The suggested amount is $250, which can be shared between multiple donors. We also welcome donations to help with flowers and decorations at Easter. For questions about flowers and the Flower Guild, please contact Brendon Hunter.

AT THE MORGAN LIBRARY & MUSEUM, 225 Madison Avenue at Thirty-sixth Street, Holbein: Capturing Character, February 11 through May 15, 2022. Hans Holbein the Younger (1497/98–1543) was among the most skilled, versatile, and inventive artists of the early 1500s. He created captivating portraits of courtiers, merchants, scholars, and statesmen in Basel, Switzerland, and later in England, and served as a court painter to Tudor King Henry VIII (1491–1547). Enriched by inscriptions, insignia, and evocative attributes, his portraits comprise eloquent visual statements of personal identity and illuminate the Renaissance culture of erudition, self-fashioning, luxury, and wit.

Holbein: Capturing Character is the first major exhibition dedicated to the artist in the United States. Spanning Holbein’s entire career, it starts with his early years in Basel, where Holbein was active in the book trade and created iconic portraits of the great humanist scholar Erasmus of Rotterdam (1466–1536). Holbein stayed in England in 1526–1528 and moved there permanently in 1532, quickly becoming the most sought-after artist among the nobles, courtiers, and foreign merchants of the Hanseatic League. In addition to showcasing Holbein’s renowned drawn and painted likenesses of these sitters, the exhibition highlights the artist’s activities as a designer of prints, printed books, personal devices (emblems accompanied by mottos), and jewels. This varied presentation reveals the artist’s wide-ranging contributions to the practice of personal definition in the Renaissance. Works by Holbein’s famed contemporaries, such as Jan Gossaert (ca. 1478–1532) and Quentin Metsys (1466–1530), and a display of intricate period jewelry and book bindings offer further insights into new cultural interests in the representation of individual identity and highlight the visual splendor of the art and culture of the time. (Holbein’s famous portraits of Thomas More and Thomas Cromwell are currently on view uptown at the Frick Collection’s temporary home at 945 Madison Avenue at Seventy-fifth Street.)

Entry to the Museum is by timed ticket and capacity is limited. Advance reservations are suggested. Please note, service fees apply for online ticket sales. The Morgan Library & Museum is open Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday from 10:30 am to 5 pm, and Friday from 10:30 am to 7 pm.

This edition of the Angelus was written and edited by Father Sammy Wood and Father Jay Smith. Father Matt Jacobson is responsible for helping to edit the newsletter and for 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.