FROM MARYJANE BOLAND: “LET BIRDS FLY ABOVE THE EARTH ACROSS THE FIRMAMENT OF THE HEAVENS”

Early one morning in May, my husband and I took Father Sammy “birding”—bird watching—in Central Park. He claimed that he was “not a nature guy” and that he didn’t visit parks, but I think he had heard me talk about birding enough that he was curious. So, with loaned binoculars in hand, he joined some fifteen of us during spring migration. He was a quick learner. His first bird was a magnolia warbler. We helped to define what made it a magnolia and not a northern parula or a Canada, other warblers we saw that morning. A little later, he was first to spot another bird—and to call it out as a magnolia!

Magnolia warblers weigh three ounces, are five inches long and migrate through New York City from their winter homes in Mexico and Central America to their breeding grounds in Canada. And they are not the longest distance migrants: blackpoll warblers migrate from the southern tip of South America. More than 350 species of birds can be found in our area. I feel God’s presence when I am watching these birds: their beauty, their behavior, their amazing feats of migration, their drive to breed and raise babies in the few months in the north (or even in Central Park) before they are called to return. Yes, I’m a birder who makes lists of the birds she sees, but it’s the pleasure of seeing the bird, not making the list, that brings me joy and renews my connection with God. I know there are people who say they are “spiritual but not religious.” When I’m out birding, I feel that spiritual side—and it simply brings me closer to God.

As I’m called to help our neighbors through Saint Mary’s Neighbors in Need program, I’m also called to help my bird neighbors through my work with New York City Audubon. Cornell Lab of Ornithology estimates that 2.9 billion birds have been lost since 1970—lost to habitat loss, collisions with buildings, being caught by free-roaming cats. Here in New York City, with leadership from NYC Audubon, we are working to prevent collisions and protect habitat. NYC Audubon lobbied and educated City Council members about collisions, and since 2020, Local Law 15 has required bird-friendly design and materials in all new and remodeled buildings. Birds migrate at night and are attracted to light. Since 2021, another local law requires all public buildings to turn out their lights from 11:00 PM to 5:00 AM during spring and fall migration. We are working with the City Council to extend this requirement to private buildings. 

As to habitat protection, habitat protection means safeguarding natural areas such as Jamaica Bay, Floyd Bennett Field, and Freshkills Park, and encouraging the development of green roofs, such as the seven acres of green roof on the Javits Center in Manhattan or the Kingsland Wildflowers Green Roof in Brooklyn, both of which absorb stormwater runoff, reduce energy consumption, and provide a habitat for local breeding birds. The Javits roof has logged more than fifty species of birds.

We need more people driven to know and protect birds, and half of the many walks offered by NYC Audubon are free in order to encourage new birders. This spring, walks were organized in public housing in all five boroughs of New York (NYCHA in Nature), and walks were held for Black Birders Week and Pride Month and with our Young Conservationists Group. I consider myself among the luckiest of people to be able to work with my neighbors, human and avian, in the volunteer work that I do.

MaryJane Boland has been a parishioner of Saint Mary’s since June 2004, has served twice on the Board, and has been active as a server, an usher, and a volunteer for Neighbors in Need. At NYC Audubon, she has been active with bird walks and on the Events Committee for many years and has recently been elected to the Board. She is retired after a rewarding career in the Executive MBA program at NYU Stern School of Business.

THE PARISH PRAYER LIST

We pray for the sick, for those in any need or trouble, and for all those who have asked us for our prayers. We pray for those celebrating birthdays and anniversaries this week; for those who are traveling; for the unemployed and for those seeking work; for the incarcerated and for those recently released from prison; for those struggling with depression, anxiety, or addiction; and for those living amid violence, or with drought, storm, inclement weather, flood, fire, or earthquake.

We pray especially this week for the people of the Hudson Valley and all those affected by the recent floods in the Northeast.

We pray for Bishop Andrew Dietsche and Mrs. Margaret Dietsche as they prepare for retirement and their departure from New York.

We pray for the people and clergy of All Saints, Margaret Street, London, United Kingdom.

We pray for peace throughout the world, and especially for the people of Ukraine, Sudan, South Sudan, Ethiopia, Israel, Gaza, the West Bank, Syria, Yemen, and Myanmar.

We pray for reconciliation among the churches and people of the Anglican Communion.

We pray for John, Humberto, and Joan, who are gravely ill, and Alice, Claudia, Barry, Anthony, Joyce, June, Carl, Cooki, Steven, Sharon, Barbara, Bruce, Robert, Theo, Carlos, Christopher, Liduvina, Richard, Chuck, Frank, Brendan, José, Willie, Carmen, Susan, Paris, Charlotte, Chelsey, Keith, Jennifer, Harka, Julie, Carole, Suzanne, Greta, Quincy, Daniel, Ava Grace, Phyllis, Jim, Abe, Bob, Gypsy, Hardy, Margaret, and Randy; for David and Thomas, religious; and Allan and Stephen, priests.

We pray for the repose of the souls of Luigi Molozzu, Benno Schmidt, and those whose year’s mind falls on July 16: Valentine Gauther (1899); Beverley Ward (1915); Alma Katherine Cooke (1918); Frances Brock Hirsch (1967).

IN THIS TRANSITORY LIFE

Francesco Luigi (“Gigi”) Molozzu, died while in hospice care in Milan, Italy, after a long illness. Please pray for Gigi, his daughter, Alice, a close friend of Father Matt’s, and their family and friends.

A MESSAGE FROM THE BISHOP OF NEW YORK

Bishop Andrew Dietsche made the following announcement to the people and clergy of the diocese this week, “Though my original plan was [to complete my work and ministry here in New York and] to leave after Easter Day, 2024, in recent weeks I have become convinced that the Holy Spirit, which has with great steadfastness governed this process from its beginning, is now leading me to leave sooner. With [my wife] Margaret’s full consent, I have decided that my last official diocesan service will be the celebration of the Nativity of our Lord on Christmas Eve. In December, we shall begin the arduous task of moving from Ogilvie House to our new home in New Hampshire. After a Christmas pilgrimage to the Holy Land, leaving on Boxing Day and returning on Epiphany, I shall spend the remainder of January and until February 10th exiting my office, concluding any remaining tasks to which I am beholden, and finishing our move. On February 10th, Bishop [Matthew] Heyd will officially be instituted as the Diocesan Bishop.” Please keep Bishop and Mrs. Dietsche in your prayers.

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 anointing and prayers for healing. On Saturdays, Mass is celebrated at 12:10 PM and Evening Prayer is prayed at 5:00 PM. On the third Saturday of each month, a Requiem Mass is celebrated at 12:10 PM in the Mercy Chapel. On Sundays, Solemn Mass is offered at 11:00 AM and Evening Prayer at 5:00 PM.

Friday, July 14, 5:30–6:45 PM, The Centering Prayer Group meets in Saint Benedict’s Study.

Saturday, July 15, 12:10 PM, Monthly Requiem Mass in the Mercy Chapel.

Sunday, July 16, The Seventh Sunday after Pentecost, Lectionary Year A, Proper 10. Summer schedule. Solemn Mass 11:00 AM. A cantor will assist the congregation’s worship. The readings are Isaiah 55:1–5, 10–13; Psalm 65:9–14; Romans 8:9–17; Matthew 13:1–9, 18–23.

Monday, July 17, William White, Bishop of Pennsylvania, 1836.

Wednesday, July 19, Macrina, Monastic and Teacher, 379.

Friday, July 21, Neighbors in Need Drop-by Distribution, 1:30–3:00 PM.

Saturday, July 22, Saint Mary Magdalene.

Sunday, July 23, The Eighth Sunday after Pentecost, Lectionary Year A, Proper 11 (John Cassian, Abbot at Marseilles, 433). The readings are Wisdom of Solomon 12:13, 16–19; Psalm 86:11–17; Romans 8:18–25; Matthew 13:24–30, 36–43.

Friday, July 21, 5:30–6:45 PM, The Centering Prayer Group meets in Saint Benedict’s Study.

LIFE AT SAINT MARY’S: NEWS & NOTICES (AND REQUESTS FOR HELP)

The Monthly Requiem Mass will be celebrated in the Mercy Chapel on Saturday, July 15, at 12:10 PM. Prayers are offered for those members of the parish who died during the month of July between 1870 and 2022 and for those named by the members of the congregation. For more information about the Guild of All Souls, please speak to Father Sammy Wood.

Our senior sexton, Mr. Harka Gurung, has stepped down from his position after working at Saint Mary’s for nearly ten years. His reliable dedication to his work—and the church—is greatly appreciated, and we would like to acknowledge Harka and his many contributions to our common life here. We will be honoring him at the coffee hour following Solemn Mass on Sunday, August 6, so please plan on attending if you are able. For further information on this special celebration and fond farewell, please contact the Parish Office. — Chris Howatt

Parishioner Barbara Stettner worshiped with us recently while on a visit to New York. Barbara moved to Tucson, Arizona, some years ago to care for her mother, who recently passed away in her early nineties. It was good to see Barbara back in her accustomed seat in the nave and have a chance to catch up.

Being Hospitable, Welcoming Our Guests . . . Hospitality is an important ministry at Saint Mary’s, since it is our privilege to welcome guests from near and far almost every Sunday morning. Coffee Hour and other receptions are an important part of that ministry, but the cost of hosting such events continues to rise. We are seeking your help. We invite the members and friends of the parish to volunteer to “host” a Coffee Hour or reception. That can be done in one of two ways: you can make a cash donation, or you can provide food and beverages for the event. If you make a cash donation, the suggested amount is $100.00. If you would like to do this, please contact the Parish Office or speak to Father Jay Smith.

In order to prevent duplications, and therefore waste, if you plan to bring food for a Coffee Hour, please let us know a week ahead of time. That way we can work with Marcos Orengo, our weekend sexton, to prepare for that day’s event. We are grateful to all those who have already made donations to support this ministry.

Donations for altar flowers. If you would like to make a donation to cover the cost of flowers to be placed on the high altar and at the shrines on an upcoming Sunday or holy day, there are many available dates coming up: Sunday, July 23, and 30; and, in August, the following Sundays are available: August 20 and 27, and several dates in September and October. The suggested donation is $250. To reserve a date and make your donation for the altar flowers, please contact Chris Howatt. If you’d like to explore other dates or have questions about the flowers or the Flower Guild, please contact Brendon Hunter.

For those looking to assist with the response to the recent floods in the Northeast, it is possible to donate to Episcopal Relief & Development’s U.S. Disaster Response via this link, which “enables local partners to prepare for and quickly respond to emergencies throughout the U.S.”

We are grateful to parishioner Clint Best, who kept the parish office open for several days this past week while our parish administrator, Chris Howatt, was away on vacation. As always, thank you, Clint.

Jorge Trujillo, one of our sextons, will be on vacation until July 23. We are grateful to Marcos Orengo and Shalim Peña, who have been readjusting their schedules and filling in for Jorge during his absence. Please keep Jorge and his wife, Margarita, in your prayers as they travel.

Father Jay Smith will be away from the parish on vacation between July 4 and August 2.

Father Sammy Wood will be away from the parish August 14–18. He and his wife Renee will be with their son Patrick as he travels south to begin his first year at university.

ABOUT THE MUSIC AT THE SOLEMN MASS ON THE SEVENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST, JULY 9, 2023

Sunday’s organ voluntaries represent two generations of nineteenth-century French organ composers. The prelude is the second of three movements from the second Organ Sonata of Alexandre Guilment (1837–1911). Guilmant became organist of Saint Sulpice, Paris, in 1863, Notre Dame in 1868, and La Trinité in 1871, where he remained for thirty years. He was a founder of the Schola Cantorum and succeeded Widor as professor of organ at the Paris Conservatory in 1896. Having been a student of Jacques-Nicolas Lemmens (1823–1881), Guilmant’s students included such legendary musicians as Joseph Bonnet, Nadia Boulanger, and Marcel Dupré. He was a prolific composer, having written more organ music between 1861 and 1911 than Franck, Saint-Saëns, Widor, and Vierne together. While his compositions were the vogue of his time, they were less frequently played after his death. In recent years, however, the renewed interest in romantic organ repertoire has stimulated a fresh look at the works of Guilmant. Eight multi-movement sonatas, composed between 1874 and 1906, figure prominently among Guilmant’s organ compositions. The second movement of his second Sonata is gentle, lyric, and succinct.

The musical setting of the Mass on Sunday is New Plainsong by David Hurd. This setting was composed in 1978 at the request of the Standing Commission on Church Music of the Episcopal Church as the revision of The Hymnal 1940 was gaining momentum. The Commission desired a setting which would be for the “Contemporary” Eucharistic texts what John Merbercke’s 1550 setting had been for the “Traditional” English words. As such, New Plainsong is chant-like and almost entirely syllabic, that is, only one note is sung per syllable. Modest keyboard accompaniment is provided but its movements may also be sung unaccompanied. New Plainsong subsequently has been published in The Hymnal 1982 and in worship resources of several other denominations. A revised edition of New Plainsong issued in 2018 also accommodates newer Roman Catholic usage. 

The cantor on the Seventh Sunday after Pentecost is Daniel Santiago Castellanos. During the Communion he will sing Ave Maria in E by Camille Saint-Saëns (1835–1921). Saint-Saëns’ involvement in Paris church music began when he was appointed at age seventeen to an organist post at Saint Séverin. Soon thereafter he was appointed to a similar post at Saint Merry. His last and most remembered tenure as organist was at the Church of the Madeleine where he served from 1857 to 1877. The genre of the “solo motet” may have originated in Italy with works by Lodovico Viadana (c. 1560–1627) that specified solo vocal performance. In France, this genre was distinguished from vernacular sacred songs (cantiques) by its adherence to Latin liturgical texts. Saint-Saëns’ settings of Ave Maria for solo voice and organ exemplify this genre. His catalogue of works published by Durand includes eleven motets for solo voice and organ. Such solo motets and similar works for two, three, or four voices and organ became fashionable in later nineteenth-century France as a practical response to the short supply of trained church musicians resulting from the social, political, and ecclesial instabilities which characterized the earlier part of the century. Saint-Saëns’ Ave Maria in E is in two sections: a simple Andantino in triple meter followed by a more animated Allegro moderato in duple meter.

More about our Cantor on Sunday: Daniel Santiago Castellanos is a composer, tenor, and pianist based in New Jersey. His piece for mezzo-soprano and piano, Death is nothing at all, won first prize at the 2019 NYC songSLAM competition. Ensembles that have performed his music include the Semiosis Quartet, JACK Quartet, The Orchestra Now (TŌN), Da Capo Ensemble, and The Saint Thomas Choir of Men and Boys. He received two bachelor’s degrees from Bard College Conservatory of Music and received a master’s degree in music composition from the Mannes School of Music in May 2023. Daniel has been a member of the Choir of Saint Mary’s since the fall of 2018. For more information visit daniel-castellanos.com.

SUMMER IN THE CITY

Bryant Park Picnic Performances: June 1 to September 14, 2023 . . . From the Bryant Park website: “We are so excited to welcome you back for the 2023 season of Picnic Performances! Over the past few years, Picnic Performances has grown into one of New York City’s foremost outdoor celebrations of music, theater, and dance. Last summer more than 75,000 people attended the series, and nearly half a million watched the free performance livestreams. This summer Bryant Park continues to serve as a vital platform for a wide range of NYC arts institutions. We are thrilled to partner again with Carnegie Hall, Alvin Ailey, and New York City Opera and to begin collaborations with Drom, Jalopy Theatre, and Roulette. We welcome world-class local artists as well as performers from as far away as Italy, Colombia, Turkey, Finland, and South Africa. Picnic Performances is one of the easiest ways to experience this city’s extraordinary arts and culture. Bryant Park sta­ lends out more than five hundred free picnic blankets and sets up hundreds of our iconic bistro chairs. Attendees can bring their own picnic or purchase food and drinks from curated local vendors. There are no tickets or lines: just come to the park and enjoy.”

The Picnic Performances take place at 7:00 PM (except on June 24 when the performance begins at 5:00 PM). To take a look at the brochure which gives the date of the performances and a description of the performers, please follow this link.

Bryant Park is located between 42nd and 40th Streets and 6th and 5th (almost) Avenues. It has great seating, some of it in the shade surrounding the lawn. There are also small tables that make it a favorite location for lunch and post-Solemn Mass brunch for many Saint Marians.

COMING UP

Sunday, August 6, The Transfiguration of Our Lord Jesus Christ

Tuesday, August 15, The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Monday, September 4, Labor Day, Federal Holiday Schedule

Friday, September 8, The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary

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.