FROM FATHER JACOBSON: THE MOTHER OF THE BODY OF CHRIST

Several months ago, after celebrating a weekday Mass in the Lady Chapel, a woman with an interesting story introduced herself to me. She was visiting from Florida, if I remember correctly, and she explained to me why she had very much wanted to come to Saint Mary’s while in town. She had recently discovered, I believe through 23andMe or Ancestry.com, that she had an uncle whom she had previously not known about. Her uncle had been adopted in the 1940s by one of our sextons and was raised in the parish complex where the sexton lived. Discovering this family history led her to learn more about Saint Mary’s, and the parish had become a special place for her even before she had actually visited it! Her uncle was, in part, raised by Saint Mary’s and so this parish was also, in a sense, family for her too.

In an article for The Angelus around the same time that she visited, I wrote about Saint Paul’s “body of Christ” metaphor and how there are members of the body with whom we have relationships even if they aren’t able to get to Times Square all that regularly (or even ever). There are some who tune in to watch the livestreams and others who stay up to date with the parish through this newsletter. And there are those who are connected to us through an uncle that until recently wasn’t even known to have existed!

When I wrote that article, I wanted to find out if there were ways that we could better serve this part of our wider congregation that, for me, was a little amorphous. So, I invited folks to send me emails and let me know about their “long-distance relationship” with the parish. Here are just a few quick examples of some of the many stories that I received.

I heard from a couple who had independently formed relationships with Saint Mary’s back in the 1970s. At the time, she worked in the neighborhood and would come by for prayer and reflection. He first discovered the parish through a liturgy commemorating Charles the Martyr. Some point later, after they met, they realized that Saint Mary’s was a special place they had in common, and they subsequently began to come regularly to worship with us from their home in New Jersey. Now retired, they continue to be part of our larger community from their home in Florida.

An Anglican from all the way in New South Wales, Australia, also got in touch with me. He first discovered Saint Mary’s in 2002 while in New York on an around-the-world holiday with his family. While he was wandering in midtown, he saw the church and decided that he had to go inside. A sexton showed him around, and he has been a part of our wider family ever since. Reading The Angelus is part of his Saturday morning breakfast routine, and he has read every issue of the newsletter since visiting in 2002! (Note: when The Angelus becomes available online at 3:00 PM on Friday in New York, it is 7:00 AM on Saturday in New South Wales.)

A woman from upstate New York sent me a lovely note and let me know how much she appreciates the preaching at Saint Mary’s. She tunes in regularly online and does so especially for the sermons. After stumbling upon the parish for the first time during an Easter trip to the city, she spoke with Father Jay Smith after Mass and discovered that they have a friend in common. She hopes to be able to join us for the Triduum in 2025 and we hope that she does too!

These are just a couple brief examples of the many letters I received. I enjoyed reading all of them and would be happy to continue to hear from our friends around the world.

Thinking about Saint Mary’s and how the parish forms and maintains these bonds with members of the body of Christ both near and far away, I’m reminded of something that Saint Augustine wrote in the early fifth century about the Blessed Virgin Mary. He said that she is not only the mother of God, but also “the mother of the members of Christ” as she has “joined in bringing about the birth of believers in the Church, who are members of its head.”[1] May this parish named in her honor continue to do its part in mothering the members of the body of Christ both near and far! — MDJ

PRAYING FOR THE CHURCH & FOR THE WORLD

We pray for an end to war, division, violence, and injustice, especially in the Middle East, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Haiti, Ukraine, Russia, Myanmar, Sudan, and Darfur.

We pray for the people and clergy of our sister parish, the Church of All Saints, Margaret Street, London, UK.

We pray for those who have asked us for our prayers, for Gary, Jane, Ruth Ann, Michele, Vicki, Georgia, Janet, Zoë, Desarae, Grace, David, Ana, Maria, Brett, Barbara, Jacques, Claudia, Suzanne, Dorian, Margaret, Leroy, Steve, Susanna, Rolf, Adair, Josh, Maddie, Hattie, Paul, Nettie, Chrissy, Maureen, Tessa, Robert, Duncan, Justin, Audy, Jan, Pat, Marjorie, Sharon, Quincy, June, Tony, Barbara, Cedric, Elena, Thomas, Rick, José, Shalim, Carlos, J.C., Gene, Hardy, Gypsy, and Liduvina; Keith, James, Jim, Barbara-Jean, Eleanor-Francis, and Laura Katharine, religious; Lind, deacon; and Jay, Julie, Jean, Robby, and Stephen, priests.

For Keenen, Dafne, Andrew, Tilly, and Dax, who are to be baptized, and for Joachim, who is to be received into the Episcopal Church.

We pray also for the repose of the souls of Thomas Lawson, and of those whose year’s mind falls on November 24.

IN THIS TRANSITORY LIFE

Thomas Seay Lawson, Jr., the brother-in-law of parishioner Allen Reddick died at his home in Montgomery, Alabama, on Sunday, November 17, 2024. He was 89 years old. He was a life-long member of Saint John’s Episcopal Church in Montgomery, where he served on the vestry and as a teacher of the “Speaking the Word” class for lay readers. Mr. Lawson had a distinguished career as an attorney, devoting more than five decades to the law. After leaving the active practice of law, Mr. Lawson spent the next twenty years performing as a professional actor on stage and in film. He spent several years living here in New York and appeared in a number of short and feature films. He also played roles onstage both here in New York and at several regional theaters. Mr. Lawson is survived by his wife, Caroline Reddick Lawson, his children and stepchildren, and seven grandchildren, in addition to his sister, Jule Lawson Lanier, and a number of nieces, nephews, and cousins. Please pray for Thomas, Caroline, Allen, their friends and family, and for all who mourn.

WE ARE GRATEFUL

Father Warren Platt joined us for the Solemn Mass last Sunday, November 17, and then, afterwards gave a presentation on his new history of Saint Mary’s. The presentation was moderated by parishioner, Mary Robison. We are very grateful to Father Platt and to Mary for all that they have done to bring this new book to fruition.

UPCOMING AT SAINT MARY’S

Wednesday, November 27
Eve of Thanksgiving Day
Sung Mass with a Quartet from the Choir 6:00 PM
Evening Prayer is not said publicly in the church on the Eve of Thanksgiving Day.

Wednesday, November 27
“Group Seeks God” will not meet on the Eve of Thanksgiving Day.

Thanksgiving Day
Mass 10:00 AM in the Lady Chapel
Federal Holiday Schedule: the church opens at 9:00 AM and closes at 12:00 PM. Parish offices are closed.

Sunday, December 1
The First Sunday of Advent
Mass 9:00 AM
Adult Formation 9:45 AM
Litany and Solemn Mass 11:00 AM
Evensong & Benediction 4:00 PM

Advent Wreath Making on Sunday, December 1 at Coffee Hour
Join us on the first Sunday of Advent, December 1, at Coffee Hour after the 11:00 AM Mass to make an advent wreath for your home. All supplies will be provided. The suggested donation to cover the cost of materials is $30 per wreath. We also ask that you confirm you'll be making a wreath with us because we only have supplies for 24 wreaths.
Let Father Sammy know to set aside a space for you while supplies last.

Saturday, December 7, 2024
Volunteer Opportunity at 12:45 PM
Sending Cards to Homebound Parishioners and to Incarcerated People in Need of Christmas Greetings
See details below in News & Notes

Monday, December 9
The Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary (tr.)
Morning Prayer 8:00 AM
Sung Mass 12:10 PM
Organ Recital 5:30 PM
Solemn Mass 6:00 PM

STEWARDSHIP CAMPAIGN 2025

Stewardship packets went out in the mail a couple of weeks ago. We hope that you’ve given some thought and said a prayer or two in order to decide how you plan to support Saint Mary’s during 2025. In your packet was a pledge card (also available online). If you have not yet returned that card, we hope that you will do so this coming Sunday, November 24, when pledge cards will be offered and blessed during the Offertory at the Solemn Mass. That blessing is a holy and hopeful moment when we commit ourselves to the ministry and worship of the parish that we love.

During the next few weeks, we’ll hear from members of the Stewardship Committee, telling their stories and why they make a pledge each year to Saint Mary’s. First up is parishioner Allen Reddick:

I was raised an Episcopalian in my family’s small Alabama town. Without the tiny Episcopal Church, my faith and my life could not have flourished. I’ve belonged to Episcopal or Anglican churches throughout the world, and Saint Mary the Virgin, which I found less than three years ago, enriches me like no other. Having retired from a career as a professor, now with a fixed monthly income, I pledge to Saint Mary's, and have increased my pledge each year, tightening my monthly budget, enhancing my way of life, and simplifying my daily choices. This commitment to Saint Mary’s reminds me that it matters, that I am indeed committed, and that Saint Mary’s is at the center of my life in New York, in my neighborhood of Hell’s Kitchen, and beyond. — AR

BIDDING FATHER JAY SMITH FAREWELL

Father Jay Smith will be retiring in early 2025. His last Mass at Saint Mary’s will be on January 12, 2025, the Baptism of Our Lord. Father Smith will be the celebrant and preacher at both Masses that day. We are planning a festive reception following Solemn Mass to celebrate his retirement, at which time we will also present him with gifts from the parish. We will be installing an icon, written by parishioner and iconographer-in-residence Zach Roesemann, in the Lady Chapel dedicated to Father’s long service. We will give him and José a memory box with a collection of letters, pictures, and anecdotes from their long service at Saint Mary’s—lighthearted, serious, funny, whatever is right for you. And, as is traditional for the retirement of a priest, we will send him off with a “purse,” a financial commitment to their new life. How can you help? Contributions for the memory box can be given by December 22 to MaryJane Boland or Grace Mudd (or sent to them online) and questions can go to them too. Contributions for the cost of the icon and for the purse can be made by check or via online donation with a note on the memo line. — Grace Mudd and MaryJane Boland 

ADULT FORMATION

Come join us for class on Sunday, November 24, 2024, 9:45–10:40 AM in Saint Joseph’s Hall, as Father Peter Powell continues his series of classes on The Passion and Resurrection Narratives in the Gospels. This series continues every Sunday through and including December 15 (and, yes, the class meets on Thanksgiving weekend). Father Pete says his plan for this coming Sunday, November 24, is to include a discussion of two interesting and problematic verses in Luke 22 and then a broader discussion of the historical reasons for Jesus’ arrest, trial, and execution.

NEWS & NOTES

It rained here in New York on Thursday this week. The rain was welcome, since rainfall was well below average in September, October, and thus far, in November. On Monday, Mayor Eric Adams, declared a Drought Watch for the City (not yet an Emergency). The city’s reservoir system is at 59.4% of capacity. Normal is 80.2% at this time of year. The New York City Department of Environmental Protection suggests ways to conserve water here.

Our fellow parishioner, Gypsy da Silva, has been living in a care facility in northern New Jersey for a couple of years now. We recently learned from Gypsy’s sister, Ginger, who lives in Amsterdam, that Gypsy recently fell and was hospitalized for a bit and then went to a rehabilitation center in Wayne, New Jersey. Her rehab has apparently gone well, and her condition is much improved, though she will be using a walker for a time. We believe that she will be returning to the Van Dyk Memory Care Center in Hawthorne, New Jersey, very soon. If you’d like to send Gypsy a note or card, or if you are thinking about visiting her, please speak to Father Matt Jacobson.

Many Saint Marians remember our parishioner, Dick Leitsch, who died in 2018, with affection, respect, and pride. Dick played a central role in the movement for gay and lesbian rights in the 1960s and beyond. His determination and his courage were unequaled. We learned recently that the work of Village Voice photographer, Fred W. McDarrah, will be featured in an exhibition that opens today at the New-York Historical Society. McDarrah took the famous photo of the “Sip In,” in which Dick asks the bartender at a Greenwich Village bar for a drink, adding fatefully and illegally, “I am a homosexual.” The photo is now in the collection of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., and is featured on the exhibition website. For more information about the exhibition see below.

The EDNY Young Adult Network will be hosting their annual Saint Nick’s Celebration at Saint Mark’s Church in-the-Bowery on Saturday, December 7th at 7:00 PM! The Young Saint Marian’s Group plans to attend this fun, festive gathering for young Episcopalians and invites you to join us. Please email Katherine to RSVP!

Come join us for some loneliness prevention in Advent . . . “I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.” You are invited to join some of your fellow Saint Marians on Saturday, December 7, at 12:45 PM, following the noonday Mass, for some communal Christmas “scribing.” The plan is to send messages of hope to 50 people who are incarcerated—all of whom have asked for a card or note during the Christmas season. The event is being organized and led by parishioner Jennifer Stevens, who will bring bagels and materials for the mailing. This gathering is also an opportunity for us to write Christmas cards to some of our fellow parishioners who are homebound or unable to visit us in person. Who knows, maybe we will even be inspired to fold some origami to include for our parishioners? Let’s see what God has in store for us. If you cannot join us on December 7, please pray for our endeavor. You can also help by making donations of cards or stamps. Please contact Jennifer if you plan to come.

“Waiting for God Who Waits for Us,” An Advent Quiet Day . . . The Church inhabits time differently from the world around us—or at least we should. And that is never more apparent than in the season of Advent. While Times Square and Fifth Avenue are bustling their way toward Christmas, we are invited to wait for the God who graciously waits for us. Join us at Saint Mary’s for our annual Advent Quiet Day on Saturday, December 14, from 9:00 AM until 3:00 PM. We will begin the day praying the Daily Office together, then sit for three short reflections led by Father Sammy Wood before heading into long periods of reflection and silence. Throughout the day we will draw on the writings of people like Paula Gooder—The Spirit of Advent: The Meaning is in the Waiting (Paraclete 2008); James K. A. Smith—How to Inhabit Time: Understanding the Past, Facing the Future, Living Faithfully Now (Brazos 2022); and Fleming Rutledge—Advent: The Once & Future Coming of Jesus Christ (Eerdmans: 2018). Lunch will be provided, so please RSVP to Father Wood by December 11 so we can have ample food for all of us.

Mark Your Calendar: Parish Retreat . . . If you’re unable to join us for the Advent Quiet Day on December 14—and even if you are—we hope that you will be able to join us on Saturday, January 11, for a Parish Retreat. The theme of the retreat is “The Benedictine Promise”—Benedictine Spirituality and Practice. The retreat, which will take place here at Saint Mary’s, will be co-hosted with our friends uptown at the Church of the Holy Trinity, Inwood, and will be led by Sister Michelle Heyne of the Order of the Ascension. For more information, please speak to Father Wood.

Preparing for baptism . . . We expect to have several candidates for Father Smith to baptize on January 12, his last Mass before retirement, and Father Sammy Wood is coordinating their preparation. If you are interested in receiving the sacrament of baptism, or having your child baptized, please contact Father Wood.

OUTREACH AT SAINT MARY’S

Neighbors in Need . . . If you would like to volunteer or make a cash donation, please speak to MaryJane Boland. We are also eager to receive donations of new or lightly used sneakers and shoes, in all sizes, for both men and women. The November Drop-by was held on Friday, November 15, when we served 52. Next month’s Drop-by will take place on the second Friday of the month, not the third: December 13, not December 20.

We are looking for a few more good volunteers, who feel called and inspired to give this work a try. Please speak to MaryJane Boland or Father Jay about our work and how you might help.

Also, we need coats and other warm-weather clothing—socks, scarves, caps, packs of new thermal underwear, new or lightly used boots (and, as always, shoes and sneakers, new or lightly used in all sizes for both men and women), and gloves. These items can be brought to church with you. Speak to a sexton, who will tell you where you can deposit your donations and we thank you!

THE COMMUNITY AT THE CROSSING
AT THE CATHEDRAL OF SAINT JOHN THE DIVINE

Applications are open for the 2025-2026 cohort!

“The Community at the Crossing is an ecumenical program for spiritual formation in the heart of New York City. Our vision is to equip each member to serve Christ in their chosen path by providing the space and formation necessary to establish rhythms of life and to discern God’s call. Members spend a year in prayer and discernment, service and mission, biblical and theological formation, and intentional community, choosing as their sisters and brothers people who are radically different from themselves.”

Membership is open to any Christian between 21-33 years old, from all church backgrounds, and anywhere in the US.

Their events are open to anybody of any age! Join Community members to pray and learn, or engage with them out and about. Stay tuned for some new ways people of all ages can become more deeply involved in the community.

If you know someone who might be appropriate for the program, encourage them to learn more about the Community and discern if they might be called by God to join. Please speak with Father Matt, who serves on the advisory board, if you have any questions.

ANGLICAN HERITAGE PILGRIMAGE: JUNE 9–20, 2025

Father Sammy Wood will be leading a pilgrimage to England in June 2025! For Episcopalians in the Anglican tradition, England holds a place of distinct significance. The Church of Saint Mary the Virgin’s Anglican Heritage Pilgrimage will trace Christianity’s early days in Great Britain, medieval England, and the Reformation as we experience the treasures of our Anglican tradition. Skilled guides will lead our small group through the sacred places that bore witness to Christian saints, Protestant martyrs, and significant events in Anglican church history. Click here for additional details and please speak with Father Sammy if you have any questions.

The deadline for deposits has been extended to January 3! We hope that you will be able to join us!

ABOUT THE MUSIC AT THE SOLEMN MASS ON SUNDAY NOVEMBER 24, 2024, THE LAST SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

Sunday’s organ voluntaries are based upon the chorale Nun danket alle Gott (“Now thank we all our God”). Both prelude and postlude are by German composers, but they are two centuries apart in origin. The chorale itself, now sung internationally and interdenominationally, was authored in 1630 by Martin Rinckart (1586–1649), archdeacon in Eilenburg, Saxony. Johann Crüger (1598–1662) is credited with composing the melody for Rinckart’s words which appeared in the 1647 third edition of his Praxis Pietatis Melica. This text and melody combination, in English translation by Catherine Winkworth (1827–1878), has been in Episcopal hymnals since 1871. The prelude by Johann Sebastian Bach is one of his Leipzig Eighteen Great Chorales. Each phrase of the melody is introduced in turn by three accompanying voices before being presented in unornamented form in the soprano register. The postlude, from Sigfrid Karg-Elert’s Choral Improvisationen, Opus 65, is one of the composer’s most popular organ pieces. It is subtitled Marche triomphale and marked Pomposo e con brio. The chorale melody is not stated literally and may not be recognized immediately, but a spirit of exuberance and joy is clearly present in the opening and final sections of this setting.

The musical setting of the Mass is the Missa Simile est regnum caelorum of Tomás Luís de Victoria (c. 1548–1611). Victoria is considered the most important Spanish composer of Renaissance polyphony. Born in Ávila, the seventh of eleven children, he began his musical education as a choirboy at Ávila Cathedral, and began his classical education at San Gil, a Jesuit school for boys founded in 1554. By 1565, Victoria had entered the Jesuit Collegio Germanico in Rome, where he was later engaged to teach music and eventually named maestro di cappella. Victoria knew and may have been instructed by Palestrina (1525–1594) who was maestro di cappella of the nearby Seminario Romano at that time. During his years in Rome, Victoria held several positions as singer, organist, and choral master and published many of his compositions. He was ordained priest in 1575 after a three-day diaconate. There are twenty authenticated Mass settings of Victoria in addition to two Requiems. The Missa Simile est regnum is one of Victoria’s twelve parody Masses in which he quotes musical ideas from pre-existing musical composition. In this case, Victoria’s musical quotes are from a motet by his friend and contemporary, Franciso Guerrero (1528–1599). Guerrero’s motet on Matthew 20:1–4 likens the Kingdom of God to a landowner justly hiring laborers for his vineyard. Victoria’s Mass skillfully reutilizes distinctive melodic features of Guerrero’s motet, such as the rising perfect fifth which begins most of its movements. With the exception of the Benedictus in three voices, Victoria’s Mass, like Guerrero’s motet, is voiced in four parts. However, the final Agnus Dei spectacularly employs two choirs of four voices each which sing in strict canon.

Clifford Maxwell (1917–1999), a native of Barbados, grew up in Brooklyn and was very active in the New York community of church musicians for many years. He served various Episcopal and Lutheran congregations in Brooklyn and Manhattan as organist and choirmaster for decades and spent several summers traveling and studying in France and Germany. In retirement, he was active as a volunteer in Trinity Parish’s noonday music ministry. He composed his setting of two stanzas from George Hugh Bourne’s powerful hymn, Lord, enthroned in heavenly splendor (307 in The Hymnal 1982) in 1949 while under the tutelage of Harold Friedell at Saint Bartholomew’s Church, Manhattan. Despite the tone of the text, Maxwell’s setting, sung at Solemn Mass on Sunday during the administration of Communion, is more meditative than triumphal in its musical projection of the risen, enthroned Christ.
— David Hurd

CONCERTS AT SAINT MARY’S

The New York Repertory Orchestra
Saturday, December 7, 2024, 8:00 PM

J.S. Bach/Webern: Ricercar a 6
Anton Bruckner: Symphony No. 6
Admission is free. A $15.00 donation is gratefully received.

The Young New Yorkers Chorus
YNYC Mixed & Treble Ensembles present Holiday Modulations
Friday, December 13, 8:00 PM
Saturday, December 14, 8:00 PM

Witness the combined excellence of both YNYC Ensembles as they sing a program full of wintry, solemn, powerful repertoire about the holidays. Works by Joanna Marsh, Dale Trumbore, Saunder Choi, Zanaida Robles, B.E. Boykin, Joel Thompson, Eric William Barnum, and more! Please note that only Saturday night's performance will be livestreamed. Livestream ticket buyers will receive a link to the livestream via email on the day of the performance. Buy tickets here.

AT THE NEW-YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Central Park West & 77th Street

Fred W. McDarrah: Pride and Protest
November 22, 2024 - July 13, 2025

Experience crucial moments in the history of LGBTQ+ civil rights captured by famed Village Voice photographer Fred McDarrah in the latter half of the 20th century.

Fred W. McDarrah: Pride and Protest depicts moments in the history of LGBTQ+ civil rights captured by famed Village Voice photographer Fred McDarrah in the latter half of the twentieth century. Featuring more than sixty black-and-white photographs, the images offer unique insights into the triumphs and struggles of LGBTQ+ history, including the Mattachine Society “Sip-In” at Julius’ Bar on 10th Street in 1966, [led by Saint Mary’s parishioner, the late Dick Leitsch], the Stonewall Uprising in 1969, and the annual Pride marches that followed.

McDarrah often captured moments that other photographers didn’t; he was one of the few photographers to capture the Stonewall Uprising. In later years, he followed AIDS marches and ACT UP protests at City Hall and photographed the AIDS Memorial Quilt. Other photos on view capture the vibrancy and culture of Greenwich Village during the latter half of the twentieth century and feature personalities such as James Baldwin, Andy Warhol, Marsha P. Johnson, Susan Sontag, Cecil Beaton, Candy Darling, Tennessee Williams, and Larry Kramer.

We need your help to keep holding our services. Click below, where you can make one-time or recurring donations to support Saint Mary’s. We are very grateful to all those who make such donations and continue to support Saint Mary’s so generously.

Saint Mary’s is a vibrant Anglo-Catholic witness in the heart of NYC. With our identity in Christ and a preference for the poor, we are an inclusive, diverse community called to love God and each other for the life of the world.

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.

[1] Augustine, De Virginitate 6