FROM JENNIFER STEVENS: HEARING & DOING THE WORD

Despite the many logistical challenges of the pandemic—or perhaps because of them—I found and followed a path which has led me to prison ministry. There is truth in theologian Frederick Buechner word’s, “The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.”

In-person Bible study has long been one of my greatest joys. Before COVID, I had looked forward each week to taking time away from our busy world to gather in a small group for studying, grappling with, and reflection on the biblical text. The Bible can be read alone, with just the reader and God. But in my experience, the fellowship of studying with others is invaluable.

Then, COVID-19 came and settled in. Bible study came to a screeching halt, as did all in-person volunteering. At precisely the moment when we all needed human contact and companionship, those things were not available…or were they?

A great deal of my pandemic reading was about mass incarceration, a subject which predates my becoming active in church life. Church has enhanced my appreciation for our brothers and sisters in prison, hearing as we do, Jesus’s words in the Gospel each week. 

During my pandemic reading, I had a heightened awareness of the stories of men and women yearning for affirmation, for human contact, and for relationship with God. In other words, human needs are the same on either side of the prison wall. And this started me thinking…

Is it possible, I wondered, that some program exists that would allow me to apply my zest for Bible study to my interest in serving incarcerated people? Ideally, all while social distancing. Too audacious to imagine, right? Well, as Jesus informs us in Chapter 7 of the Gospel according to Saint Matthew, “...knock and the door will be opened.”

Since May of 2021, it has been my pleasure to serve as a volunteer mentor to forty-eight (and counting) students enrolled in the Bible Study program of Crossroads Prison Ministry. Each week, I open my mailbox to find a completed lesson for review. I immediately thank God for bringing this person into my life.

At my kitchen table, with a big pot of coffee and my trusty cat nearby, I am once again engaged in the joy of shared Bible study. Worldly circumstances mandate that the Crossroads student and I are not together in the same place. But God-created fellowship prevails, it knows no boundaries of time or place. While I am reviewing the lesson, reading the scripture and writing supportive comments into the margins of the lesson book, I feel that somehow I am thoroughly with the student and the student is with me. It is as if they have pulled up a chair at the table, as we discuss one of the Psalms.

The Crossroads Prison Ministry program is designed to be circular. Each reviewed lesson is returned to the student, accompanied by a letter of encouragement. I decorate the return envelopes with colorful postage stamps and prayerfully drop them into the mailbox for their return trip. 

The students in the Crossroads Prison Ministry program face the stigma imposed by society. It is a pleasure to remind them of God’s love and forgiveness in the Good News of Jesus Christ. The students with whom I study are sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers. But most of all, they are God’s children.

Jennifer Stevens is a parishioner of the Church of Saint Mary the Virgin. She is a member of the Guild of Readers and is serving an apprenticeship in the “control room,” so she can join a team of technicians trained to run our livestream. She has an interest social-justice issues, and, at her former parish, oversaw the volunteers working in that church’s shelter program. She works in veterinary client services at an animal hospital on the East Side of Manhattan.

Jennifer’s essay is the latest in a series of essays about the many ways that the people of Saint Mary’s serve God and neighbor both here and away from here.

THE PARISH PRAYER LIST

Prayers are asked for the sick and for all those for whom prayers have been asked, especially Ben, who is gravely ill, and James, Claudia, Tom, John, Laverne, David, Allen, Mavis, Brianna, Nik, Richard, Alonza, Carmen, Emil, Pat, Shalim, Greta, Gladys, Liduvina, Quincy, Florette, José, Marjorie, James, Frank, Abraham, Ethelyn, Gypsy, Margaret, Robert, and Luc, religious.

TIMES AND LOCATIONS OF DAILY AND SUNDAY LITURGIES:

Monday–Saturday: Daily Mass 12:10 PM, Lady Chapel
Monday–Sunday: Evening Prayer 5:00 PM, Choir and Church
The Solemn Mass on Sunday morning at 11:00 AM is celebrated in the Church

WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE BAPTIZED, CONFIRMED OR RECEIVED?

We received news that the Bishop of New York will be with us at the Solemn Mass on All Saints’ Day, Tuesday, November 1, 2022, at 6:00 PM. The bishop’s visitation is a time when Baptism, Confirmation, and Reception into the Episcopal Church are particularly appropriate. If you would like to be baptized—or confirmed or received—please speak to Father Wood, Father Smith, or Father Jacobson.

We will plan on holding a series of “confirmation classes” before the bishop’s visitation. If you have already been confirmed but would like to learn more about the fundamentals of the Christian faith, please let us know. We would love to have you join the class.

AROUND THE PARISH

Mother Anna Pearson, rector of the Church of the Holy Apostles and Executive Director of the Holy Apostles Soup Kitchen in neighboring Chelsea, tells us that the numbers of children and their families are coming to the parish’s Soup Kitchen in increasing numbers this summer. The parish is trying to raise money so they can serve up to a million meals before autumn. Mother Pearson writes, “Can you join us by donating $28 to our Summer Meal Drive to ensure that those who visit us this summer won't have to choose between food and medical care, or between food and paying the rent? For the next week, Google, [whose New York offices are not far from Holy Apostles] is matching all donations, so your contribution will have double the impact.”

Choir member and parish administrator, Christopher Howatt, will be presented in concert Sunday, July 10, from 5:00 to 7:00 PM as part of the Township of Weehawken’s 2022 Concert Series. Chris, along with music director Steven Ray Watkins, will be offering “Songs of Heart, Hope and Home,” at the Township’s Hamilton Park, overlooking the New York City skyline. The park is located on JFK Boulevard East at Duer Place in Weehawken. For weather updates check the Township website at www.weehawken-nj.us or visit Weehawken Township Government Page on Facebook or @weehawkennj on Twitter. The concert is FREE. Bring a lawn chair or blanket, and enjoy songs ranging in style from Dolly Parton to Sondheim.

We hope to receive donations for flowers on the following Sundays: July 31, and August 7 and 28. There are also dates available in the fall and winter months. Please contact Chris Howatt, our parish administrator, if you would like to make a donation.

THIS WEEK AT SAINT MARY’S

Sunday, July 10, The Fifth Sunday after Pentecost, Solemn Mass 11:00 AM. The readings are Deuteronomy 30:9–14; Psalm 25:3–9; Colossians 1:1–14; Luke 10:25–37. Father Jay Smith will preach the sermon. The celebrant is Father Sammy Wood. The musical setting of the Mass will be Missa de Santa Maria Magdalena by Healey Willan (1880–1968). The cantor will be Joy Tamayo. During Communion, Joy will sing “The Crucifixion” from Hermit Songs, Opus 29, by Samuel Barber (1910–1981).

Neighbors in Need Drop-by Day, Friday, July 15, 2:00–3:00 PM. Volunteers work from 1:15 to 3:30 PM.

Commemorations this Week: Monday, July 11, Benedict of Nursia Abbot of Monte Cassino (c. 540); Friday, July 15, Bonaventure, Bishop and Friar, 1274.

The Holy Eucharist is celebrated Monday–Saturday at 12:10 PM in the Lady Chapel.

The chalice is now being administered at all the Eucharists here at Saint Mary’s. Please speak to one of the priests if you have questions.

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 invite you to join us.

The Anti-Racism 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.

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 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.

HEALING MASS ON THURSDAYS

The noonday Mass on Thursdays at 12:10 PM includes anointing, also known as unction, and prayers for healing immediately after the homily or, on holy days, after the Nicene Creed. “Unction is the rite of anointing the sick with oil, or the laying on of hands, by which God's grace is given for the healing of spirit, mind, and body” (Book of Common Prayer, page 861). Anointing is a much-respected rite here at Saint Mary’s, and all are invited, though none are compelled, to come to the rail for anointing during Mass should they wish.

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 August Drop-by will take place on Friday, August 19.

We also welcome donations of jeans, socks, and underwear for both men and women.

If you would like to volunteer for Neighbors in Need, please contact Marie Rosseels.

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

The name Healey Willan (1880–1968) is well known to Episcopalians because of his Missa de Santa Maria Magdalena, composed in 1928, which appeared in The Hymnal 1940 and was retained in The Hymnal 1982. The setting, which we will sing on Sunday morning, has been sung widely throughout the Episcopal Church, as well as in other denominations, for decades. Willan’s career and reputation, however, went far beyond composing this beloved Mass. He composed more than eight hundred works including operas, symphonies, and other music for orchestra and band, chamber music, and music for piano and organ, in addition to a great quantity of choral music. His liturgical music includes fourteen choral Masses, occasional motets, canticles, and hymn settings. Willan was born in England and began his career as an organist in London parish churches. He joined the faculty at Toronto University in 1914, later becoming Professor of Music there. In 1921, he was named organist at Toronto’s Church of Saint Mary Magdalene, a position he retained until his death. Said to have described himself as “English by birth; Canadian by adoption; Irish by extraction; Scotch by absorption,” Willan was a champion of historic liturgical chant and the aesthetic of Renaissance church music. He incorporated these influences and mingled them with an appreciation of the rich harmonic palette of the late nineteenth-century masters. Through his compositions and choral direction, he significantly set the standard for North American Anglo-Catholic church music in his time. In 1956, Willan became the first non-English church musician to be awarded the Lambeth Doctorate, Mus.D. Cantuar.

Sunday’s organ voluntaries are also compositions of Healey Willan. The prelude and postlude are two of Willan’s Five Preludes on Plainchant Melodies, published in 1951. Christe, Redemptor omnium, played as the prelude, is the second of the five. This Mode 1 plainsong melody appeared at 485 in The Hymnal 1940 with the hymn “Jesus, thou joy of loving hearts.” (A newer translation of that hymn, “O Jesus, joy of loving hearts,” appears in The Hymnal 1982 with a different chant tune.) The Hymnal 1982 offers the Christe, Redemptor omnium melody at 85 with the hymn “O Savior of our fallen race,” a modern paraphrase of the Latin hymn traditionally sung in the Christmas season. Willan’s organ prelude is a slowly flowing meditation which slips in and out of measured time to accommodate the free rhythm of the chant melody which appears, phrase by phrase, in the tenor register. Aeterna Christi Munera, the first of Willan’s Five Preludes on Plainchant Melodies, is based on the hymn “The eternal gifts of Christ the King” as it was found at 132 in The Hymnal 1940. (The Hymnal 1982 unfortunately has substituted another chant melody for this hymn.) In this vigorous prelude, Willan develops each of the four phrases of the chant melody in separate imitative sections, each concluding with the chant heard in the uppermost voice. One might hear the influences of J. S. Bach, Felix Mendelssohn, and Max Reger coming together in Willan’s writing.

Sunday’s cantor, soprano Joy Tamayo, a regular member of the Choir of Saint Mary’s, will sing Samuel Barber’s “The Crucifixion” from Hermit Songs during the administration of Communion. Twice a winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Music, Samuel Barber (1910–1981) remains one of the most revered twentieth-century American composers. His Hermit Songs, Opus 29, was premiered in 1953 at the Library of Congress, sung by soprano Leontyne Price, with the composer at the piano. Barber’s Hermit Songs is a cycle of ten settings of anonymous poems written by Irish monks and scholars from the eighth to the thirteenth centuries. “The Crucifixion” is the fifth song of the cycle. The original text is from The Speckled Book (Leabhar Breac), a collection of Irish homilies dating from the twelfth century. The English translation which Barber set is by the noted literary critic, journalist, poet and scholar, Howard Mumford Jones (1892–1980).

FROM PARISH ARCHIVIST, MARY ROBISON: SAINT MARY’S IS A HOST FOR SACRED SITES WEEKEND

We’re excited to be part of the Sacred Sites open-house weekend to be held Saturday–Sunday, July 23–24, 2022. Offered by the New York Landmarks Conservancy each year, participants tour historic houses of worship throughout the City. Find out more and see a map of this year’s locations on their website.

This year we’re going to try something different. Rather than asking people to serve as docents in the church, ready to give tours, we’ll place QR codes in various parts of the church: when these codes are scanned with a smartphone, the visitor will hear an audio recording that explains what they’re looking at, and why it’s important to us. (A binder also will be available with this material printed for those who don’t use this technology.)

To all our readers: If you are interested, I can provide the text, and you can easily record these short pieces with your smartphone. If you’re not the audio-recording type, perhaps you might like to hang out for a couple of hours over that weekend to welcome visitors?

Please send me an email message if you’d like to: 

— record a few paragraphs about St. Mary's history, interiors, or sacred art;

— hang out for a couple of hours the weekend of July 23–24 to welcome visitors

It’s exciting to be able to show Saint Mary’s to our fellow New Yorkers. I’m very grateful to everyone here at the parish whose helped with this project. — Mary Robison

LIFE IN TIMES SQUARE

The Times Square Alliance/Times Square Arts invites New Yorker to in event in Times Square on July 13 and 14: the inaugural chapter of The American Manifest by Charles Gaines. This chapter is entitled Manifestos 4: The Dred and Harriet Scott Decision. Free tickets for seating on the iconic Red Steps have just been released for both evenings of Manifestos 4: The Dred and Harriet Scott Decision.

Manifestos 4: The Dred and Harriet Scott Decision
July 13 & 14, 2022 | Performance Times: 7–8:30pm
Duffy Square, Broadway & 46th St

For this five-part performance featuring a woodwind quintet, piano, and tenor, Gaines transforms the original text of the Supreme Court’s 1857 Dred and Harriet Scott historic decision, which decreed that people of African ancestry were not U.S. citizens, and therefore could not sue for their right to freedom. Federally sanctioning white supremacy, the ruling has long stood as one of the court’s most disastrous decisions, irrevocably altering the course of the country’s social, cultural, and political evolution. In his return to this historical court case and its trial documents, Gaines places the inextricable legacy of slave labor in our nation’s economy directly in the center of modern-day capitalism and commerce—Times Square.

The work builds upon Gaines’s Manifestos series, in which he disarms and draws upon historical texts, uniting the rational, mathematical, and lyrical structures of music with the irrationality of violence, racial tensions, and social injustice.

Manifestos 4 is accompanied by a sculpture installation entitled Roots by Charles Gaines in Duffy Square, July 13–September 23, 2022.

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