FROM THE AIDS WALK TEAM

The Walk is finally here! This Sunday, Saint Mary’s AIDS Walk Team will gather after Solemn Mass and walk the Central Park route (a few hours after the other teams). You will probably notice some parishioners on Sunday at Mass dressed and ready for the Walk.

Given the challenges of the current fundraising environment, we initially set a modest goal of $40,000. This was indeed a modest number when considering that in 2019, the last year before the pandemic, we raised $62,757. Nevertheless, that’s where we set our hopes and we ended up beating and raising the goal twice this year! First at $45,000 and then at $50,000. We are currently at $52,431 and rank second overall among teams in the event.

Let’s see how far we can go! As a team, we can continue to raise money through June 10.

The money we raise goes primarily towards the Gay Men’s Health Crisis (GMHC), the nation’s leading provider of HIV/AIDS care, prevention services, and advocacy. GMHC serves nearly 13,000 people each year who live with and are affected by HIV/AIDS in all five boroughs of New York City. Over 60% of GMHC’s clients are people of color, nearly 75% identify as LGBTQ+, and over 80% percent are people living at or below the Federal poverty line. GMHC provides HIV and STI testing, food and nutrition programs, housing support, workforce development, legal assistance, advocacy for benefits and health insurance, mental health and emotional support, and substance-use counseling. GMHC believes that we can end AIDS at epidemic levels by addressing the underlying causes of new HIV infections, shifting cultural beliefs, and promoting healthy behaviors. Saint Mary’s supports this philosophy.

Our parish has a long history with AIDS Walk and has been supporting teams since 2006. Click here to watch a video about our history with the Walk or read more about it on our webpage.

Importantly, it isn’t too late to join us! Click here to join the team or to donate.

Donations are also possible via check, payable to “AIDS Walk New York,” and can be given to one of the team leaders: MaryJane Boland, Clark Mitchell, or Father Matt Jacobson. Feel free also to contact us with any questions. Any support, large or small, matters and is very much appreciated. Thank you for your support! —MaryJane, Clark, and Father Matt

THE PARISH PRAYER LIST

Prayers are asked for the sick and for all those for whom prayers have been asked, especially Bradley, Louis, Charles, Barbara, Carlos, Christopher, Joan, Emil, James-George, Marjorie, Pat, John, Karen, Shalim, Greta, Liduvina, Quincy, Florette, Brian, Carmen, Peter, George, José, Abraham, Ethelyn, Gypsy, Margaret, and Robert; for Allen, bishop; and for the members of our Episcopal religious orders, especially the Sisters of the Community of the Transfiguration and the Brothers of the Society of Saint John the Evangelist.

FROM THE FINANCE OFFICE

Our parish accounts recently moved from HSBC Bank to Citizens Bank. As part of that move, our account numbers and bank transfer numbers changed. We have successfully migrated over all the regular automatic payments and deposits (payroll, investment income, taxes, etc.). All credit card processing is already running on the new accounts as well. However, there might still be some donors out there using old legacy account numbers for transfers. If you are notified by your financial institution that a transaction with Saint Mary's was unsuccessful, rejected, or returned, please contact Chris Howatt  in the parish office (chowatt@stmcnyc.org; 212-869-5830, ext 10), so we can make sure you have the new account information. Thank you!

AROUND THE PARISH

Last Wednesday at the noon Mass, we blessed an icon of the Reverend Dr. Pauli Murray (1910–1985). The icon was painted by Saint Mary’s resident iconographer, Zachary Roesemann, and was commissioned by the General Theological Seminary. Zach tells us that the icon was delivered to General this past Monday and was received with excitement and much happiness. It will be unveiled at the seminary on Tuesday, May 17, during an alumni event at which General’s 2022 Distinguished Alumni Award will be awarded posthumously to the Reverend Dr. Pauli Murray ’76. We will publish photographs of the icon in an upcoming edition of the Angelus. Pauli Murray’s autobiography, Song in a Weary Throat: Memoir of an American Pilgrimage and a biography of her by Rosalind Rosenberg, Jane Crow: The Life of Pauli Murray, are available at www.bookshop.org.

Father Victor Conrado will be traveling later this month to be with his mother, Carmen, who will be undergoing surgery. Please keep them in your prayers.

Father Jay Smith has been away from the parish this week, and will not be with us on Sunday, May 15. He is on retreat. Please keep him in your prayers.

On Monday, May 9, at the noon Mass we prayed for the repose of the soul of George Blackmore Handy, who died on that day in 2012. George was head usher for many years and was a beloved member of the parish. He was a friend of many here and also served as a mentor to a great number of parishioners, encouraging them to serve not only as ushers, though certainly that, but in other ways as well. Those of us who knew him remember him with fondness. Please keep him and all those he guided in your prayers.

Saint Mary's is now a sponsor of The Living Church and members of the parish are eligible for a complementary one-year digital subscription to The Living Church magazine. Click here to sign up, making sure to select “The Church of Saint Mary the Virgin, New York, NY" from the dropdown list of parishes. According to their website, "The Living Church keeps you informed about what’s happening in the Episcopal Church, Anglican Communion, and beyond. Published twenty times a year, every issue includes news and commentary on the issues of the day, plus reflections on ministry and theology.”

Did you know that St Mary’s has an automated external defibrillator (AED)? It’s a machine that can detect an abnormal cardiac rhythm that requires treatment with an electrical shock and is located in the Sextons’ Lodge. In order to continue to have the machine here, we need to field a team of 6-10 folks that can operate it in an emergency. Training on the machine takes about 3 hours, and you receive certification in both CPR and AED use. If this life-saving ministry is something you are interested in, please email Parish Administrator Chris Howatt.

THIS WEEK AT SAINT MARY’S

The Adult Education Class will meet on Sunday, May 15, 9:30–10:30 AM, when Father Matthew Jacobson will lead the class in a discussion of the gospel appointed for the day, John 13:31–35, which includes these verses, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

The Holy Eucharist is celebrated at the High Altar Monday–Saturday at 12:10 PM. Members of the congregation are now invited to sit in the pews in choir.

The Racism Discussion Group Meeting: The Group meets online on most Tuesday evenings from 7:00–8:00 PM. For more information about this ongoing weekly meeting, please call the parish office, or speak to one of the current members of the group, such as Charles Carson, Charles Morgan, Marie Rosseels, or Ingrid Sletten.

Holy Hour. Wednesday mornings 11:00–11:50 AM, in the Lady Chapel. A time for silent prayer and contemplation before the Blessed Sacrament. The Holy Eucharist follows at 12:10 PM. We were happy that we had five people join us last Wednesday for the Holy Hour. We invite you to join us.

The Saint Mary’s Centering Prayer Group meets online on most Friday evenings at 6:30 PM. If you are interested in participating, please send an e-mail to this address or speak to Ingrid Sletten or Blair Burroughs.

A Time for Prayer and Preparation Before Mass on Sunday: The acolytes, readers, and members of the audiovisual team are invited to gather in in the Lady Chapel each Sunday between 10:00 and 10:20 AM for a time of silent prayer and preparation before Mass. All are invited to join them.

ABOUT THE MUSIC

The musical setting of the Mass on Sunday morning is Messa a quattro voci da cappella by Claudio Monteverdi (1567–1643). Monteverdi, the great Italian madrigalist, was one of the most important composers to flourish at the juncture of European Renaissance music and the emergence of the Baroque musical art. He was one of the several legendary musicians who directed music at San Marco, Venice, and later in his life was ordained a priest. With his L’Orfeo, written in 1609, Monteverdi became the founder of opera as we know it today. His Vespro della Beata Vergine of 1610 may well have provided a model and an inspiration for the great Passions and oratorios of the later Baroque composers—notably Bach and Handel—that would also stand as monumental pillars of sacred music even to our own day. Monteverdi’s Mass for Four Voices was published posthumously in 1650 in a collection which also included psalms and a litany to the Blessed Virgin.

In the collect appointed for the Fifth Sunday of Easter, we pray to “so perfectly know Jesus to be the way, the truth, and the life, that we may steadfastly follow his steps in the way that leads to eternal life.” The beloved English priest and poet, George Herbert, (1593–1633) offered his reflection and prayer to Jesus as the way, truth, and life (John 14:6) in “The Call” (The Temple, 1633). Herbert’s three-stanza poem points toward “love,” its final word, and the new commandment which our Lord gives in Sunday morning’s Gospel (John 13:34). Herbert’s prayer-poem has inspired many musical settings. One of the most well-known is from Five Mystical Songs by Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872–1958), which has been distilled into many modern hymnals. (See 487 in The Hymnal 1982.) The setting of Herbert’s “The Call,” sung at the Solemn Mass as the Communion motet, is by David Hurd, organist and music director at Saint Mary’s. This setting for four-part choir was commissioned in honor the Reverend Dr. William Greenlaw and Mrs. Jane Greenlaw in 2008, shortly before Father Greenlaw’s retirement as rector of Holy Apostles Church, Chelsea, Manhattan.

The organ prelude and postlude on Sunday morning are, respectively the Prelude and the Fugue in D Major, BWV 532, of Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750). This is a youthful and exuberant piece, and sparkles with a joyful Easter spirit from the opening ascending pedal scale which launches the three-sectioned Prelude. The opening and closing sections of the Prelude are in a free fantasia style, while the center section features more ordered writing and is marked Alla breve to indicate a feeling of two beats to the bar. The Fugue is built on a theme presented as a short figure repeated four times followed by a brief pause and the sequential repetition of a similar figure. From this simplicity of melodic material, Bach builds a bright and energetic piece, and not without a sense of humor.

NEIGHBORS IN NEED

The Neighbors in Need program is Saint Mary’s principal outreach ministry. It was founded by members of the parish, along with resident sisters and friars and members of the parish’s clergy staff. We “own” it and run it. We provide clothing and basic, but essential, hygiene items to our neighbors in Times Square. Your cash donations and gifts of new and lightly used clothing make this ministry possible.

The May Drop-by will take place on Friday, May 20.

With the arrival of warmer weather, we are now eager to receive donations of lighter clothes such as shirts, blouses, T-shirts, slacks, shorts; jeans, socks and athletic shoes.

However, as you do your spring cleaning, please know that we would love to receive donations of coats, jackets, and sweatshirts. We did not receive many coats from our usual suppliers this past winter and we would like to prepare for Winter 2022–2023.

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.

ADULT EDUCATION . . . On Sunday, May 15, the Fifth Sunday of Easter, Father Matt Jacobson will lead the class in a discussion of John 13:31–35, the gospel passage appointed for the day. Father Jacobson will preach at the Solemn Mass that morning at 11:00 AM. The “Getting Ready for Mass” series will continue for the next few weeks with Father Smith teaching on May 22 and Father Powell on May 29. The Adult Forum then breaks for the summer months.

This edition of the Angelus was written and edited by Father Matt Jacobson and Father Jay Smith. Father Jacobson also 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.