DID YOU KNOW?
SAINT MARY’S UNIQUE GOVERNANCE

It’s hardly worth noting that Saint Mary’s is unique. It’s obviously unique in many ways, but did you know that from a governance and organizational perspective, Saint Mary’s is set up unlike any other parish in New York (and most of the country)?

Saint Mary’s doesn’t have a vestry and wardens like most Episcopal churches. Instead, it has a Board of Trustees with officers. The rector of the parish is the President of the Board of Trustees and presides over the meetings, but the rector is ex officio—that is, not a voting member of the Board. There are also three lay officers—the Vice President, the Secretary, and the Treasurer—who are elected each year by the board as a whole and form the Executive Committee. The board is self-perpetuating in that it invites new members as it has vacancies and is not elected by the membership of the parish.

The board, originally the founding sponsors of the parish, operates under by-laws set up when the parish was established, and can have up to ten members who personally have fiduciary responsibility for the parish’s assets and obligations. The board and the rector have different functions and operate in a balance. The rector has authority over all liturgical matters and all matters concerning employment of staff. However, like all vestries, the board controls the finances of the parish, which has big implications for staffing. The board also has the authority to request “a separation of the rector from the parish”—a churchy way of saying the board can ask the bishop to fire the rector. Thankfully, in practice, the rector and the board have worked in harmony and consensus for most of the parish’s history.

Things have changed over the years from the original set up, though. Initially, trustee positions were appointments for life, but during Father Gerth’s rectorship, the board voted to change the by-laws to four-year terms of service for trustees.  After a four-year term, the member must take a break from service for at least one year before being eligible to return.

We also hear from long-time members that 30+ years ago, the trustees were folks that most members didn’t know and never saw. That is certainly different these days; the current trustees are active members in all aspects of life at Saint Mary’s—servers, ushers, readers, musicians, and program volunteers. When the board needs new trustees, it looks to members—and one needs to be a formal member of the parish to serve as a trustee—whose consistent commitment has been expressed by their time, talent, and treasure in support of Saint Mary’s.

Another thing that has changed is how actively the board manages the affairs of the parish. The original by-laws require that the Board meet only once per year, specifically within the octave of the patronal feast (December 8th, the Feast of the Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary). Nowadays, the board meets every month—usually the third Monday of every month—and the Executive Team meets whenever there is a need for a quick decision (usually around spending as no individuals have authority to spend more than $5,000 on their own). The board passes a budget each year and monitors financial performance on a monthly basis. It also appoints committees for stewardship, real estate, audit, archives, and all sorts of special projects and events—this year establishing the search committee for a new rector, for example.

Look for more items in future editions of The Angelus where you can learn more about some of these activities of the Board (like budgets) and other unique aspects of the Church of Saint Mary the Virgin. Watch this space! — The Board of Trustees

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, frigid weather, flood, fire, and earthquake; and we pray especially for, Willard, Jane, Carole, Linda, Don, Michele, Bob, Penny, Steven, Sharon, Pat, Lina, Charlotte, Ginny, Roger, Catherine, Tony, Pat, Gloria, Gladys, Luis, Liduvina, Joyce, José, Lauren, Marjorie, Eric, Carlos, Christopher, Shalim, Greta, Quincy, Ava Grace, Bruce, Barbara, Robert, Pavel, Suzanne, Abe, Ethelyn, Gypsy, Hardy, Margaret, and Ronald, pastor. We also pray:

For the work of the Saint Mary’s Search Committee;
For the Chemin Neuf Community and the Community at the Crossing;
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 and our neighborhood this week;
For an end to gun violence;
For the safety and welfare of our nation, city, and neighborhood.

Grant, O God, that your holy and life-giving Spirit may so move every human heart that barriers which divide us may crumble, suspicions disappear, and hatreds cease; that our divisions being healed, we may live in justice and peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord.   Amen. 

THIS COMING SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 5

PLEASE JOIN US FOR TWO IMPORTANT EVENTS

Please join us at Coffee Hour after the Solemn Mass, when members of the Search Committee will make a presentation about the search for a new rector and will be available to answer questions and receive comments.

Also, you are invited to join us at 5:00 PM for our monthly service of Evensong and Benediction.

STEWARDSHIP UPDATE

As of January 25, 2023, we have received 84 pledge cards for a total of $364,187, 91% of our $400,000 goal. For that, we thank you! However, we still have not heard from everybody who made a pledge 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 doesn’t—you should make your annual commitment , providing 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

THIS WEEK AT SAINT MARY’S

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.

On Friday, February 10, we commemorate Saint Scholastica, who died around the year 543. From Lesser Feasts and Fasts 2018, “The twin sister of Benedict of Nursia, founder of the Benedictine order, Scholastica is the patron saint of nuns, having dedicated herself to God in her youth. What we know about her we owe to the Dialogues of Gregory the Great. Although tradition has it that she lived in a large religious community in Plumbariola, there is no evidence that a convent existed there at that time. It is now speculated that she lived in a small hermitage with a few other religious women. Plumbariola was convenient to her brother’s monastery at Monte Cassino, and Benedict regularly visited his sister to discuss the scriptures and spiritual matters. On one such visit, late in her life, Scholastica—perhaps knowing that her time was short—begged her brother to remain overnight. Benedict refused, as this would violate his own monastic rule. Scholastica then prayed for God’s intervention, and the weather, which was already threatening, turned violent, so that Benedict was trapped. (Ironically, Scholastica is often invoked against heavy rain!) When he reproved his sister, she replied, ‘See, I asked you, and you would not listen to me. So I asked my Lord, and he has listened to me.’ Gregory writes, ‘It is no wonder that the woman who had desired to see her brother that day proved at the same time that she was more powerful than he was.” Three days later, after he had returned to his monastery, Benedict saw his sister’s soul, in the form of a dove, ascending to heaven. He had her buried in his own tomb, and when he died he was buried with her.”

AROUND THE PARISH

On Saturday, March 4, at 2:00 PM, a Requiem Mass for Emil Bretzger will be celebrated in the church. A reception will take place following Mass in Saint Joseph’s Hall.

Collecting Last Year's Palms: It's time to bring last year's blessed palms back to be burned for Ash Wednesday's ashes. On the next few Sundays, the ushers will have a basket to receive your palms, which we will burn before Ash Wednesday (February 22).

On Sunday, March 19, Dr. David Hurd, organist and music director, will be away from the parish. He will be in Rochester, New York, playing a recital at Rochester’s Third Presbyterian Church. The following day, Monday, March 20, he will be speaking at the Eastman School of Music.

The young adult members of the Episcopal Service Corps will be meeting one day per week until early July at Saint Mary’s. Their formation sessions will be led by Brother Thomas Steffensen, SSF. They will also be helping with the work of our outreach efforts, Neighbors in Need. We are happy to be able to give them a space for them to work and we are grateful to them for their service. If you are interested in learning more about this program, Father Matt serves on their advisory board and would be happy to answer any questions. Please keep the fellows in your prayers.

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 Rosseels and MaryJane Boland in sorting and hanging donated clothes.

We need a few bilingual volunteers—Spanish and English—to join us join us on a weekday afternoon once a month from 1:45 to 2:15 PM to work with our asylum-seeker visitors from South America.

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 from the undercroft and into Saint Joseph’s Hall for set-up in preparation for distribution of clothing the following day.

And we especially need donations of shoes, boots and men’s and women’s pants and tops as well as coats (in all seasons).

This month, February 13–17 is our busy week: Set-up will take place on both Monday, February 13, and Thursday, February 16. Distributions will take place on both Tuesday, February 14, and Friday, February 17.

Please contact us at neighbors@stmvnyc.org for more information about volunteering on any or all of those days or about the goals, work, and methods of Neighbors in Need.

LIVING LENT, PREPARING FOR EASTER

At Saint Mary’s. Saturday, March 25, 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM, Quiet Day, led by Mother Deborah Lee. Mother Deborah will lead reflections and will be available for spiritual direction. Mass will be celebrated at 12:10 PM and lunch in Saint Joseph’s Hall will follow. There will be opportunities for prayer, quiet, journaling, and reading in the church and chapels and in Saint Joseph’s Hall between conferences.

Mother Deborah Lee is an Episcopal priest, spiritual director, and retreat leader. She graduated with a Master of Divinity degree and a Certificate in Spiritual Direction from General Theological Seminary. She is an ecumenical spiritual director in private practice and also offers spiritual direction through the Annand Program for Spiritual Formation at Berkeley Divinity School at Yale and the Center for Christian Spirituality at General Theological Seminary. She served as associate rector at Saint Bartholomew’s, Manhattan; priest-in-charge at Saint Paul’s Church, Chester, New York; as assisting priest at Christ Church, New York; and was formerly the Program Manager for Pastoral Care and Community at Trinity Church, Wall Street. She holds a master’s degree in Clinical Counseling and served as a mental health counselor and educator, both internationally and within the U.S. Deborah is a member of Spiritual Directors International (SDI) and subscribes to their ethical standards and practices.

Also at Saint Mary’s on Sunday, March 12, at 12:45 PM. The Saint Mary’s Book Club invites you to join them for a discussion of the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Lent Book for 2023, Failure: What Jesus Said About Sin, Mistakes and Messing Stuff Up by Emma Ineson. From the publisher’s website, “In 2019, Emma Ineson wrote about ambition and what it means for Christians to be successful. And then there was a global pandemic . . . Suddenly failure began to feel very much more familiar than success. But what is failure? What did Jesus think of it? What did he say about sin, mistakes and generally mucking things up? At the start of this wonderfully humorous and encouraging book - which will end at the cross—it’s suggested that our tendency to lump all kinds of failure together could be a bit unhelpful. A more nuanced understanding of what sort of failure we're dealing with might just allow us to make friends with it and respond more appropriately. This idea leads us ‘Towards an (Imperfect) Theology of Failure,’ based on key Christian thinking, and Emma poses the question of whether sin is an individual or corporate thing. Looking at the church, we consider, what is God's purpose for it? And in the light of key concerns such as safeguarding and racial justice, how might we re-examine concepts of success and recognize and measure failure? As the book draws to an end, we are reminded of our calling to live life to the full, to take risks despite our fears. We are bound sometimes to fail! Yet gazing at Jesus - who looked like the greatest failure of all - we may discern in the heartache, vulnerability and humility of failure, the glory of the cross.”

At the Church of the Good Shepherd, 240 East 31st Street, Wednesday Evenings in Lent: “Who-What-When-Where-Why? The Old Testament Lessons of the Easter Vigil,” is the theme of the Lenten program on Wednesday evenings during Lent at the Church of the Good Shepherd, led by Father Stephen Morris. Good Shepherd is a member, along with Saint Mary’s, of the Midtown Manhattan Clericus. You are invited to join the people of Good Shepherd at 6:00 PM each Wednesday in Lent (beginning March 1) for Mass, vegetarian soup, and class/discussion led by Fr. Morris. Discover why we read what we read at the Easter Vigil and the impact these readings can still have in our lives today.

Father Stephen Morris has degrees in medieval history, theology, and special education from Yale, Saint Vladimir’s Seminary, and CUNY (Hunter). He has written books about church history and theology, as well as novels; all his books are available on Amazon. He has lived in New York since 1980 and is the priest-in-charge at the Church of the Good Shepherd in Kips Bay (Manhattan).

ABOUT THE MUSIC ON THE FIFTH SUNDAY AFTER THE EPIPHANY: FEBRUARY 5, 2023

The organ voluntaries on Sunday morning are from Bach’s Passacaglia in C minor. This singular work of Bach is one of the towering masterpieces of Western music. In this piece, simply described as a continuous set of variations on a stated bass melody in triple rhythm, Bach took a common compositional procedure of his time and enlarged it to unprecedented dimensions of expression through variety of texture, richness of harmony and chromaticism, and elegantly proportioned counterpoint. The eight-measure theme, stated on the pedals at the outset, is followed by twenty variations of identical length. These flow seamlessly toward the final variation which is a full double fugue. Bach’s Passacaglia has clearly proven to be the quintessential model for composers as varied as Max Reger, Josef Rheinberger, Benjamin Britten, Healey Willan, and Frank Martin, a small sampling of the many distinguished composers who have contributed significant works in this form to the Western musical repertory. The initial twenty variations will be played on Sunday for the prelude and the concluding fugue will be played for the postlude.

The setting of the Mass on Sunday morning is Communion Service by Leonard Raver (1927–1993). Dr. Raver’s musical life in New York City included serving on the faculties of The General Theological Seminary and The Juilliard School, and at various times as parish musician at All Saints Episcopal Church and Holy Trinity Episcopal Church on Manhattan’s East Side. He was organist of the New York Philharmonic from 1977 until 1990. A native of Wenatchee, Washington, his undergraduate studies were at the University of Puget Sound. Graduate studies brought him first to Syracuse University and finally to Union Theological Seminary in New York City. Dr. Raver was an avid champion of contemporary music and especially of new music which incorporated the organ. In his career as a recitalist, he commissioned or premiered major works by distinguished American composers including Ned Rorem, Daniel Pinkham, Vincent Persichetti, William Albright, Gardiner Reed, and David Diamond. The source of Dr. Raver’s unpublished Communion Service is an undated manuscript which probably originated in the late 1960s while he concurrently taught at General Seminary and directed music at All Saints Church. The text is essentially the Order of Holy Communion from the Book of Common Prayer 1928, and the scoring is for unaccompanied voices in four parts. The performing edition of this setting sung on Sunday was prepared by David Hurd. Notations were made in this newly created edition to reconcile the music with the customary liturgical texts as we know them. As such, the choir will omit the ritually irregular Amens with which Dr. Raver had ended both his Sanctus and Benedictus. (It is interesting to note that the text of The Book of Common Prayer 1928 did not include Benedictus qui venit but did end Sanctus with Amen.) Also, the text underlay at the end of Agnus Dei has been altered to resolve another Amen which the standard liturgical text does not include.

The motet sung during the administration of Communion on Sunday morning is a setting of a prayer for God’s guidance first noted in a Sarum Primer published in London in 1514. This prayer has been reprinted in countless devotional collections. It was found in The Hymnal 1940 (466) and at 694 in The Hymnal 1982. Many choral settings of this prayer exist as well. The present setting was composed by David Hurd in 1992 in honor of the Reverend William Dearnaley (1946–1999), and first sung at All Saints Church, East Sixtieth Street, Manhattan. At the time, Fr. Dearnaley was Interim Priest-in-Charge and Dr. Hurd was Music Director at that parish. This choral setting is a dialogue between a tenor soloist and choir in eight voices. — David Hurd

ADULT EDUCATION 2023

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

This Sunday in Saint Joseph’s Hall: On three 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, discussing some medieval ideas about the “real presence,” focusing on Thomas Aquinas. He’ll talk about Aquinas as teacher, reader of Aristotle, and philosopher-theologian. But he’ll also talk about Aquinas as poet and author of Eucharistic hymns that we still sing here at Saint Mary’s today.

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 (February 26, March 5, 12, 19, 26, and April 2), Father Peter Powell will lead a Bible Study at 9:30 AM. This year he and the class are studying some of the New Testament’s later epistles in the Pauline tradition.

MARK YOUR CALENDARS

Monday, February 20, Washington’s Birthday (Presidents’ Day). Federal Holiday Schedule. The church opens at 9:00 AM. Mass is celebrated in the Lady Chapel at 10:00 AM. The church closes at 12:00 PM. The parish offices are closed. Morning and Evening Prayer are not said in the church.

Sunday, March 12, 2:00 AM: Daylight Saving Time begins. Clocks will be set forward one hour.

Friday, March 24, The Eve of the Annunciation of Our Lord Jesus Christ to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Organ Recital 5:30 PM. Solemn Mass 6:00 PM. Timothy Pyper, music director at the Church of the Holy Apostles, will play the recital. Mother Anna Pearson, rector of the Church of the Holy Apostles, will preach.

THE COMMUNITY AT THE CROSSING

Applications are now open for the inaugural Community at the Crossing cohort, which will begin in September 2023! The CATC is an ecumenical program for spiritual formation of young adults and is based in NYC at the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine. It is open to young adults in the U.S. who are 21-30 years old and come from any Christian denomination. Members will spend a year in prayer and discernment, biblical and theological formation, intentional community, and service and mission. There is both a full-time residential tract as well as a part-time one, for locals who already live and work or study in NYC. If you are interested in learning more, you can download a flyer, explore the webpage, or speak with Father Matt.

If you know somebody who might be a good fit for this exciting new program, please encourage them to consider applying!

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.