FROM GRACE MUDD: ON SERVING AT THE ALTAR SINCE CHILDHOOD

It doesn’t take long knowing me to understand that I say, “I could do that!” pretty frequently. Sometimes practical limits come up, but I’ve always been interested in the deep dive with anything I do, and church was never an exception. In the parish where I was raised, kids could start serving as acolytes at age 10 and that’s exactly what I did.

FROM MARIE ROSSEELS: FINDING GOD IN FRIEND & STRANGER

When I first walked through the doors of Saint Mary’s on a hot and humid August day in 2006, I was still new to the neighborhood. Even though I had lived in Manhattan for a very long time, my then employer had recently moved its offices to Sixth Avenue, just around the corner from the church. Other than the occasional visit to a Broadway theater, I’d never had much use for Times Square. From a colleague’s office, I spotted the roof of a church and set out to find it. It was a discovery that would forever change my life.

Poem 133: The Summer Day
by Mary Oliver (1935–2019)

Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean—

FROM CLARK MITCHELL: A CALL TO CARE FOR CREATION

While serving as thurifer recently at Solemn Mass, I began muttering something under my breath as I listened from the smoke room to the Old Testament reading. The lesson was the story of creation, the very first few words of the Bible and, for me, an allegory of how God created the world.

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.

FROM FATHER WOOD: A CONVERSATION WITH DANIEL SANTIAGO CASTELLANOS

Daniel Santiago Castellanos’s newly composed Miss Brevis received its premiere performance here at Saint Mary’s on the Day of Pentecost, May 28, 2023. Daniel is a composer, vocalist, and pianist based in New Jersey, and has been a member of the Choir of Saint Mary’s since the fall of 2018.

FROM FATHER LESH: A VOCATIONAL CALL TO HEAL

Many years ago, while visiting friends at Yale Divinity School, I attended a weekday Eucharist at Christ Church, New Haven. I knew no one present but was well acquainted with the parish. The experience of worshiping there reminded me of what I had grown to love about Saint Mary the Virgin: a deep sense of engagement with centuries of Christians who had gathered to do what our Lord had asked them to do in remembrance of Him.

FROM FATHER JACOBSON: THE ANGLICAN CENTRE IN ROME

This morning, I attended the Tuesday midday Eucharist at the Anglican Centre in Rome. Many at this Mass are parishioners of either Saint Paul’s within the Walls or All Saints’ Church, the two Anglican churches in Rome. Saint Paul’s is part of the Episcopal Church and All Saints’ is a Church of England congregation. A third category are Anglicans from around the world who happen to be passing through Rome for work or as tourists. Afterwards, the Centre hosts a lunch for everyone.

FROM DR. DAVID HURD: FOR EVERYTHING THERE IS A SEASON

One of the things which defines Solemn Mass is the intentionality of its music. Sunday Solemn Mass at Saint Mary the Virgin has a long history of being infused with rich choral and organ music in addition to hearty congregational singing. With the approach of summer, the parish choir will be on hiatus for fifteen weeks, gathering midway to sing on the Feast on the Assumption (15 August), but not resuming a regular schedule until October.

FROM FATHER WOOD: OUR SISTER PARISH IN LONDON

In March 2022, not long after I arrived in New York City to serve as interim rector at Saint Mary’s, I received an email from the Rev’d Dr. Peter Anthony, who had been named vicar of All Saints, Margaret Street, London, not long before, in December 2020. I was delighted because I’d been intrigued by All Saints for years. Designed by famed British Gothic revival architect William Butterfield, the gorgeous red brick All Saints church was completed in 1859.

DID YOU KNOW?
SAINT MARY’S HAS PLEDGERS FROM ALL OVER

When Saint Mary’s was founded in 1868, it was intended to be the parish church for the new residential neighborhood known as Longacre Square—the name of the area before it was changed to Times Square in 1904. That original church community has certainly grown dramatically since those early days, both in number and in geography.

FROM JOHN DEREK YARED ANDEMIKAIL NORVELL: PINKSTER AND AFRICAN AMERICAN NEW YORK

“Pinkster” is the Dutch term for the fiftieth day after Easter, which closes the Paschal season. Bantu African captives from Congo and Angola brought their celebration with them when they were taken as captives to the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam (now Manhattan) in 1626. They were the first Catholics to reach New York shores, and they were using a liturgical rite known as the Congolese rite that had begun in the fifteenth century.

FROM FATHER SMITH: “THE GOVERNING AUTHORITY OF THE BIBLE”

At our recent Annual Meeting, Father Wood asked the congregation to consider these questions:

1. Why do we exist as a congregation (“mission”)?

2. What do we contribute to our community or our world in a unique way?

3. What purposes or principles must we protect as central to our identity (“core”)?

4. What are we willing to let go of so the mission will continue?

FROM FATHER WOOD: BEAUTY CAN SAVE THE WORLD

I was reminded the other day listening to my friend Fr. Wesley’s podcast, the first in a three-episode arc about the need for a New Renaissance. I was reminded again this week when our Morning Prayer readings included Wisdom 13:3, calling God “the author of beauty.” I was reminded when MaryJane and Daniel took me birding for the first time on Tuesday, and I saw Yellow-throated Warblers and a Scarlet Tanager “up close” through borrowed binoculars. I was reminded standing slack-jawed in the Sistine Chapel a few weeks ago, and I’m reminded every time I walk through our nave, stare up at the mural behind our high altar, and listen to our choir (and you!) sing on a Sunday. 

DID YOU KNOW?
SUPPORTING THE FREE CHURCH OF SAINT MARY’S

The actual legal name the Church of Saint Mary the Virgin is “The Society of the Free Church of Saint Mary the Virgin in the City of New York.” The term “Free Church” was an important part of the name because, unlike other Episcopal churches in New York in the nineteenth century, Saint Mary’s did not charge pew rents. That is, you didn’t need to pay to have your family’s name on a little plaque in order to sit on that bench. This designation and practice established Saint Mary’s as a parish for all comers—something we may recognize as a sign that now appears on all Episcopal churches: “The Episcopal Church Welcomes You!”

FROM DR. DAVID HURD: SOME THOUGHTS ON MUSIC AND THE THEMES OF THE EASTER SEASON

One access point to the common themes of the Easter season which have generated liturgical foci in scripture, preaching, and musical expression, is found by looking at the collects assigned to the seven Sundays from Easter Day until Pentecost.

FROM BROTHER THOMAS STEFFENSEN, SSF: TO SEE THE PATH GOD HAS LAID OUT FOR US

This January, I was once again offered the opportunity to work with the Episcopal Service Corps. Each year, a handful of individuals move from different parts of the United States to New York for a year of intentional community, service, spiritual growth, and social justice in a program that is supported in part by the Episcopal Diocese of New York.

FROM FATHER JACOBSON: ON THE FOURTH CENTURY & EASTER WEEK INSTRUCTION

The fourth century was a dynamic period for the Church. Though it began with the Great Persecution of Diocletian in 303, the status of the Church was about to change significantly as Christianity went from being the faith of a persecuted minority to the religion of the Empire. This change began in 306, with Constantine ordering the return of Christian property taken during the persecution, but really gained momentum in earnest after his victory at the Milvian Bridge in 312.

EASTER
by Gerard Manley Hopkins
(1844–1899)

Break the box and shed the nard;
Stop not now to count the cost;
Hither bring pearl, opal, sard;
Reck not what the poor have lost;
Upon Christ throw all away:
Know ye, this is Easter Day.

DID YOU KNOW?
BUDGET TIME AT SAINT MARY’S

The third week of January, the Board of Trustees adopted the 2023 parish budget, a document developed each year by the treasurer, the parish administrator, our bookkeeping firm, and other trustees and members of staff. This document anticipates our income and outlines funding for staff, operations, physical plant, and mission programs (music, hospitality, education, outreach, etc.)