FROM RICHARD MAMMANA: REMEMBRANCE OF THINGS PAST & PRESENT

I have never been a member of Saint Mary’s, but it has been one of my spiritual homes for almost thirty years. The chance to unpack that sentence in a few paragraphs is an invitation to write a thank you note to the pile of living stones that are a congregation and its building.

Although childhood choral life had taken me to New York, it was not in person but in a two-inch weekly Saturday ad in the Times that I first encountered Saint Mary the Virgin. Like other Anglo-Catholic adolescents who read Merrily on High too soon, I pored over the pages of the newspaper to see what exciting things were happening in Times Square in the years just before the internet and email moved those things to pixels and away from print. The days of church service listings in newspapers—really, the days of a thrill of curiosity that came from reading them—are long gone, but the idea that the passage of sacred time is marked by a church with its music and sermons and worship in infinite variety remains even for those of us who live in other states.

When college brought me to New York, I found myself a subway ride away from one of the diminishing number of American churches that offered a full round of daily services, and some of the happiest memories of that time in my life are of Friday evening Low Masses in the Lady Chapel. I suspect most of us go somewhere in our minds when we close our eyes and need to be calm: for me the place is usually that quiet room with its faded, painted walls, Our Lord Emmanuel there in the box with the light to tell us he is here to listen, and the little flock called to him from whatever took place outside during the day. I date myself when I write that a Low Mass followed by a trip around the corner to the Virgin Records store was the height of contentment, but it was true. A sermon of merciful brevity, a place to kneel and receive, a $9.99 CD, and the whiff of roasted nut dealers on the corner combine in my heart in the most enduring of sense-memories.

It is no credit to my carbon footprint that I have visited Saint Mary’s more frequently the farther I have lived away—if I am not a founder of the Smoky Mary’s Bridge and Tunnel Club, I am certainly one of its annual dues-paying members and cheerful, dispersed organizers. As in peripatetic adult life I have moved between Pennsylvania and Connecticut with work always based in New York, Saint Mary’s has become my “city church,” in a phrase I don’t much care for because it implies suburban or rural consistencies that no longer exist. What I mean by the term, though, is that whatever brings me to New York—work meetings, or personal research, accompanying friends in succession to the best oncologist, a wedding, a college reunion, a museum trip, an elusive vacation, a board meeting, a funeral—I know there is an altar or five at SMV where the objective reality of Christ’s presence is there for me no matter what the condition of my mind or clothes or soul. He is there, and the people of the congregation and clergy who work to make that true every day of the year have become people to whom I owe immense debts of gratitude and friendship.

The dispersed and dilatory undomiciled congregation of Saint Mary’s is a pleasant place to be, because it means a built-in family of friends no matter where one meets them. I have over and over discovered in places around the region and indeed around the country that when you find out in conversation that someone else knows the experience of going through the narthex from the most pungent city on Earth and into God’s Secret Garden of stillness hidden in plain sight there is an immediate possibility for friendship, connection, conversation and then correspondence over time. I have found, too, that Times Square is a place where one finds grace differently than in other places—not because of any divine change, but because of the intensities of need, poverty, intelligence, and pleasure that take place around it. The church-crawler is excited to find aspects of ritual or architecture that can be found at Saint Mary’s, but I am thankful that the church is a stable and safe setting for the bound-up sacrament of penance, confession, counsel, absolution, and reconciliation.

I have omitted the other stuff—the years of collaboration with the parish archivist and the diocesan archivist to digitize all of Ave (563 issues! 275 megabytes!)—the lasting friendships with parishioners whose support has extended well beyond the circumstances of our meeting—the baffling and spooky discovery that my mother’s paternal family were the printers of the first parish magazine—the archives dives in the subterranean Aladdin’s Cave of the basement—the bare fact that in thirty years of visits I have yet to leave without seeing something new each time—the silliness of an Oktoberfest hymn-sing—the hospitality of the rectory—the embarrassed devotion of a teenager who prayed at Father Brown’s empty tomb.

But when I give to Saint Mary’s it is with a heart full for a place full of the love of God. Saint Mary’s is an island of Christian stability and peculiarity in a city, in a world, that needs quiet more desperately than it knows. It is a home where music and scent and the spoken word have taken me to places my mind could not imagine, pulling me over and over back to the arms of Jesus whose love is the same for a boy and for a man who remains a grateful son and child. — Richard Mammana

Richard Mammana is the Associate for Ecumenical and Interreligious Relations at the Episcopal Church Center here in New York. In 1999, he founded Project Canterbury http://anglicanhistory.org, which is a free online archive of out-of-print Anglican books, pamphlets, documents and other related materials. He has for many years taken part in the work of the Living Church Foundation, publisher of The Living Church magazine, and a frequent contributor to its online and print publications. He is an active board member of the Bible and Common Prayer Book Society, founded in 1809 to distribute those books at no charge; a director of the Confraternity of the Blessed Sacrament (American Branch), founded in 1867 to promote greater participation in the Holy Communion; and a trustee of the Yarnall Library at the University of Pennsylvania, founded in 1911 to supply books related to “the History, Doctrine or Worship of the Catholic Church, as treated by the early Fathers and Doctors, or those of the Mediaeval period, or recently by Anglicans.” Nashotah House Theological Seminary houses the Richard Mammana Pamphlet Collection, an archival sub collection with strengths in nineteenth-century Anglican and Episcopal institutions, controversies, homiletics, liturgy, ecumenism, and missionary activity.

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 drought, storm, flood, fire, and earthquake; and we pray especially for, Bob, Penny, Steven, Patricia, Ellie, Allison, Peter, Nadira, Rachel, Mavis, Marilyn, Jane, Joanna, Ginny, Roger, Catherine, Tony, Pat, Lourdes, Luis, Liduvina, Gladys, Joyce, Mary Hope, Marjorie, José, Theo, Brian, Gigi, Julie, Carol, Carlos, Christopher, Shalim, Greta, Quincy, Ava Grace, Bruce, Barbara, Robert, Jeremy, Charlotte, Greg, Abe, Ethelyn, Gypsy, Hardy, Margaret, Hardy, Debbi, deacon, and Rob and Rick, priests.

We pray for the repose of the soul of Herbert Draesel, priest, and

For the Chemin Neuf Community and the Community at the Crossing;

For the religious orders of the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion;

For an end to the divisions among the churches;

For the people of Ukraine and for an end to the Russian invasion;

For coadjutor bishop-elect, Matthew Heyd;

For all those suffering from COVID-19 and for all those recovering from COVID-19;

For all refugees and those seeking asylum;

For the work of Neighbors in Need and for its guests;

For those without food, shelter, or work; and for those seeking work;

For those troubled by depression, anxiety, or addiction;

For all those visiting Saint Mary’s this week;

For the safety and welfare of our nation, city, and neighborhood.

IN THIS TRANSITORY LIFE

The Reverend Canon Herbert G. Draesel, Jr., died peacefully at home on January 14, 2023, after a brief period of illness and hospice care. Canon Draesel, known almost universally as Bert, was ordained in 1964 at the House of Prayer in Newark, He served as curate and then as rector of the House of Prayer. He then served as rector of the Church of Saint Mary the Virgin, Chappaqua, and, later, as the rector of Grace Church, White Plains. In 1984, Canon Draesel accepted the call to serve as rector of the Church of the Holy Trinity on East 88th Street in Manhattan, where he remained for nineteen years. Bert is survived by his wife Ada, their daughters Margaret and Irene, and their families. They ask that any memorial gifts be made to the Church of the Holy Trinity Draesel Fund for the Restoration of the Church Bell Tower. Canon Draesel’s funeral is to be held at the Church of the Holy Trinity, 316 East 88th Street, on Saturday, February 25, at 11:00 AM. Bishop Dietsche will preside and the Reverend Canon Petero A. N. Sabune will preach. Please keep Canon Draesel, his family and friends, and all who mourn in your prayers.

SEARCHING FOR THE NEW RECTOR: AN UPDATE

I am pleased to report, on behalf of the Rector Search Committee, that our process is underway and that we have had two significant meetings this week. One of our first tasks has been to create a congregational survey that will soon be going out to all parishioners in both electronic and paper form. This survey will give each of you an opportunity to share your views about Saint Mary’s and its programs, both present and future. You will also have the chance to describe the qualities you would most like to see in our next Rector. After the survey has been distributed, we will plan an informal conversation after coffee hour on an upcoming Sunday, inviting anyone who is interested to stay and discuss the topics covered in the survey. The tentative date for this conversation is after Mass on Sunday, February 5, in Saint Joseph’s Hall.

All of the information collected in the survey will be used by the Search Committee to create a “Parish Profile,” a public statement of who we are that will be distributed widely in hopes of attracting the right kind of candidates. We know from conversations with others around the Diocese that this profile is a vital document that must be a candid and realistic reflection of our parish as it truly is, both in its strengths and in its areas for growth and improvement. During our committee meeting this week, we prayed together, asking for God’s guidance and blessing. On Tuesday, co-chair Mary Robison and I had a wonderful visit with Bishop Allen Shin, who shared with us some words of wisdom regarding the function of our committee as well as his views of Saint Mary’s rich history, views rooted in deep affection for our parish. As one of our former curates, Bishop Shin has remained a faithful friend of Saint Mary’s and has assured us of his continuing, prayerful support. We would ask each of you to keep the Search Committee in your prayers as well, asking for the guidance of the Holy Spirit in our lives and in our deliberations in the months ahead. — Mark Risinger, Co-Chair

STEWARDSHIP UPDATE

As of January 19, we have received 80 pledge cards for a total of $353,767—that’s up $15,000 from last week’s total and raises us to 88% of our $400,000 goal. For that, we thank you! However, that is still only 61% of the pledging units from last year, so if you’re part of the Saint Mary’s family and have yet to submit a new pledge card for 2023, we need you! If you pledged last year and assume your pledge carries over, it actually does not—you should provide instructions for 2023. The work of prayer and mission at Saint Mary’s is only possible because of the financial support of people like you. Our true operating budget far exceeds our stewardship goal, so the remainder must be drawn from our endowment, which is simply unsustainable. Watch this newsletter for more information about finances at Saint Mary’s in the coming weeks. And in the meantime, please consider making your pledge today —it's as simple as clicking here to make your pledge online. — Father Sammy Wood

NEIGHBORS IN NEED: ANSWERING THE CALL TO SERVE

We Need Volunteers! We need one or two people for several hours once a week to partner with Marie and MaryJane in sorting and hanging donated clothes.

We also need one or two strong people (with good knees!) for an hour or two twice a month to carry bags and clothing on hangers up the stairs and into Saint Joseph’s Hall for set-up in preparation for distribution of clothing the following day. Next week, set up will take place on Monday, January 23. Please contact us at neighbors@stmvnyc.org for more information about volunteering or about the goals, work, and methods of Neighbors in Need.

RELIGIOUS LIFE SUNDAY, JANUARY 22, 2023

The General Convention of The Episcopal Church recently approved Resolution 2022-B004, “Foundation of Religious Life Sunday,” which is to be commemorated each year on the Third Sunday after the Epiphany. The purpose of this observance is to share with all Episcopalians an awareness of, and a gratitude for, the Church’s vowed religious orders and communities, their residential as well as their dispersed ways of life, and the resources and support they offer the wider church.

On this first Religious Life Sunday, we are pleased and honored to be able to welcome Brother Robert Sevensky, OHC, to Saint Mary’s. Brother Robert is a member of the Order of the Holy Cross. He resides at Holy Cross Monastery, West Park, New York, where he serves as Assistant Superior, archivist, health-care coordinator, and, so he says, “general factotum.”

A native of Scranton, Pennsylvania, Brother Robert did undergraduate studies at the University of Scranton and the Catholic University of Louvain (Belgium). He holds a doctorate in philosophy from Boston College. Prior to entering monastic life in 1986, he taught in the field of ethics, religion, and medicine.

Brother Robert has filled many roles in the Order, including novice master, director of Associates, and Prior of Mount Calvary Monastery in Santa Barbara. He was the Superior of the Order of the Holy Cross from 2008 until 2017. He continues to offer retreats, conferences, and spiritual direction. He is a member of the Commission on Ministry for the Diocese of New York and serves as chair of the Board of Examining Chaplains for the diocese.

Brother Robert will be the preacher at Solemn Mass on Sunday and afterwards will lead a discussion of the religious life in Saint Joseph’s Hall beginning around 12:45 PM. All are invited to stay after Mass and join in the conversation.

ABOUT THE MUSIC ON THE THIRD SUNDAY AFTER THE EPIPHANY: JANUARY 22, 2023

The setting of the Mass on Sunday morning is Missa Petre ego pro te rogavi by Alonso Lobo (c. 1555–1617). Lobo was one of the most highly regarded Spanish composers of polyphony in his time, being a slightly younger contemporary and friend of Tomás Luís da Victoria (c. 1548–1611). Having previously been named a canon in the collegiate church of his hometown of Osuna, located about eighty kilometers from Seville, Lobo was appointed assistant to Francisco Guerrero (1528–1599) in Seville in 1591. Two years later, Lobo was elected Chapel Master at Toledo Cathedral. In 1604, he returned to Seville as Chapel Master, where he served until his death. His surviving works, published in 1602 in Madrid, include six Masses and seven motets. Missa Petre ego pro te rogavi, dated 1595, is based on Guerrero’s motet of the same name. It was composed for the feast of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, traditionally commemorated on June 29. This Mass setting is sung on Sunday in recognition of the Confession of Saint Peter, commemorated this past Wednesday, and the Conversion of Saint Paul, to be observed on Wednesday, January 25. These two commemorations bookend the annual ecumenical Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. Lobo’s setting of the Mass is for four voices until the final Agnus Dei when the addition of a second soprano part expands the texture to five voices.

The French composer and organist, Maurice Duruflé (1902–1986), was steeped in liturgical chant from his childhood as a chorister at the Rouen Cathedral choir school. He first entered the Paris Conservatory in 1920, becoming professor of harmony in 1943, a position he retained for nearly thirty years. He is remembered for his lifelong association with the stunningly beautiful church of St. Étienne-du-Mont, Paris, where he was named titular organist in 1929. The first of his Quatre motets sur des thèmes grégoriens (1960) is his setting of the Maundy Thursday antiphon Ubi caritas, sung on Sunday during the administration of Communion. This setting, which quotes the ancient Gregorian melody for this antiphon, is elegant in its expressive simplicity and it has become the virtual default choral setting of this beloved liturgical text which beckons us to unity in God’s love.

Sunday’s organ voluntaries also are both compositions of Maurice Duruflé. Prélude sur l’introït de l’epiphanie quotes the plainsong introit chant for Epiphany and dates from 1961. The Fugue, Opus 12, dates from 1962. It is dedicated to Duruflé’s friend, Canon Henri Doyen, organist of the Grand Orgue at Soissons Cathedral. Like several of his other compositions which are built upon pre-existing melodies, the Fugue is based upon the eight-note melody played on the hour by the Cathedral’s bells. These two pieces, released later than the larger organ works for which Duruflé is best remembered, are both finely crafted works exhibiting the composer’s textural refinement and conservatively distinctive harmonic palette. — David Hurd

AROUND THE PARISH

Parishioner Robert Picken, who has been living in recent years on Long Island, has been seriously ill in recent months and has asked us for our prayers. Parishioners Penny Allen and Steven Eldredge both had orthopedic surgery this week. Penny is recuperating for several more days at the Hospital for Special Surgery and Steven is at home. Parishioner Abe Rochester broke an ankle not long ago and has been recuperating slowly at home, confined to the second floor of his and Suzanne’s home in the Bronx. Please keep our sisters and brothers in your prayers.

THIS WEEK AT SAINT MARY’S

Saturday, January 21, Agnes, Martyr at Rome, 304, Mass 12:10 PM

Saturday, January 21, Eve of the Third Sunday after the Epiphany, Evening Prayer 5:00 PM

Sunday, January 22, The Third Sunday after the Epiphany & Religious Life Sunday, Adult Education 9:30 AM, Solemn Mass 11:00 AM, Brother Robert Sevensky, preacher, Evening Prayer 5:00 PM

Wednesday, January 25, The Conversion of Saint Paul the Apostle, the Conclusion of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, Morning Prayer 8:00 AM, Holy Hour 11:00 AM, Mass 12:10 PM, Evening Prayer 5:00 PM

Thursday, January 26, Timothy and Titus, Companions of Saint Paul, Morning Prayer 8:00 AM, Mass & Healing Service 12:10 PM, Evening Prayer 5:00 PM

Friday, January 27, John Chrysostom, Bishop of Constantinople, 407, Morning Prayer 8:00 AM, Mass & Healing Service 12:10 PM, Evening Prayer 5:00 PM

Saturday, January 28, Thomas Aquinas, Priest and Friar, 1274, Mass 12:10 PM and Evening Prayer at 5:00 PM

Saturday, January 28, Eve of the Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany, Evening Prayer 5:00 PM

Sunday, January 29, The Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany, Adult Education 9:30 AM, Solemn Mass 11:00 AM, Evening Prayer 5:00 PM

Our regular daily liturgical schedule, Monday through Friday, is Morning Prayer 8:00 AM, Mass 12:10 PM, and Evening Prayer at 5:00 PM. Holy Hour is offered on Wednesday at 11:00 AM and Thursday’s Mass includes a Healing Service. On Saturday, Mass is celebrated at 12:10 PM and Evening Prayer is prayed at 5:00 PM. On Sundays, Solemn Mass is offered at 11:00 AM and Evening Prayer at 5:00 PM.

ADULT EDUCATION 2023

The Eucharist: the Gifts of God for the People of God
January 22 & 29; February 5, 12, 19; April 23, 30; and May 7, 14, at 9:30–10:30 AM

This Sunday in Saint Joseph’s Hall: Father Sammy’s contribution to our year-long adult formation series on the Eucharist is a move from the theoretical to the practical, a chance to unpack some of the theology of our “central act of worship” and to ask how it affects our everyday lives at St. Mary’s. Week One (January 15) laid some groundwork with a session on the Meaning of the Mass. Week Two (January 22) will build on that foundation by looking at the Movement of the Mass, our ceremonies and rituals; and the final installment—Week Three (January 29)—follows the path we’ve been on to its logical conclusion—that we’re Moving from Mass to Mission. Please join us in Saint Joseph’s Hall at 9.30 AM on Sunday for coffee and conversation.

On the Sundays in February, Father Jay Smith will teach a series of three classes in which he will continue last fall’s conversation about Eucharist as Presence, contrasting Catholic and Protestant conceptions of the Eucharist, discussing theology and doctrine, as well as poetry and hymn. Two weeks after Easter Sunday, and following Father Powell’s Bible Study during Lent, Father Matthew Jacobson will bring us back to the Holy Eucharist as he discusses the Mystagogical Catecheses of Ambrose of Milan and Cyril of Jerusalem, who wrote during a golden age of patristic thought in the fourth century.

Lent Comes and Bible Study Returns

On Sundays in Lent, Father Peter Powell will lead a Bible Study on Sunday mornings, also at 9:30 AM. This year he and the class are studying some of the New Testament’s later epistles in the Pauline tradition.

CONCERTS AT SAINT MARY’S

On Saturday, February 11, 2023, Saint Mary’s resident orchestra, the New York Repertory Orchestra will present a concert in the church at 8:00 PM. Admission is free. A $15.00 donation is most welcome. The concert includes the following music: Rautavaara: Adagio Celeste; Mozart: Violin Concerto No. 4, Sheryl Staples, violin; Tubin: Symphony No. 5.

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.