Our Mission

The "Parish Profile" that was developed begins with a page headed "Our Mission."  Three short paragraphs and a picture of the rood are all that are on the page.  The statement of mission is as follows:

The Church of St. Mary the Virgin, New York City, was founded in 1868 with the mission of setting forth Catholic doctrine and ritual within the Episcopal Church.

Leadership in Ministry

In the spring of 1988 while I was serving as curate at Saint Luke's Church, Baton Rouge, the rector and I went to a conference of the National Association of Episcopal Schools which was being held in New Orleans.  I confess I went looking forward mostly to eating several good meals in some of our country's most interesting restaurants.

Identity Contemplated

I don't want to beat a dead horse, as they say (do I have your attention?), but this Eastertide has seemed to me to be all about identity.  It is popping up everywhere: in Frs. Gerth's and Shin's two last Angelus articles, and in my sermon last Sunday.  It is a question that is permeating our consciousness on many levels.  What, as we celebrate 50 years of a treaty organization now engaged in war, is the identity of NATO?  What is the identity we are relaying to our children as we grapple with school violence in the wake of Matthew Shepherd and the slaughter at Littleton?  What is our identity as a free economic nation as we see the ripple affects of economic turmoil in Asia?  What is our identity as Anglicans in the aftermath of the troubling displays at the Lambeth Conference?  It feels as though everything and anything are up for grabs.

Identity and Incarnation

An abbot of a monastery was distressed because the monastery had not gotten any new aspirants for a long time.  The abbot was beginning to see the day the monastery would have to close.  And the brothers were caught in the anxiety over changes they needed to make to revive the monastery, changes of which they were divided.

Identity

Once in a vestry meeting I was criticized by a churchwarden for not talking in the pulpit enough about being an Episcopalian.  It seems I was talking too much about being a Christian.  That was a criticism, I confess, that I have probably worn a little too proudly ever since.  In preaching, writing and conversation it is my practice to use the word Christian whenever possible in preference to all other terms.

A Special Project

Churches are constantly renewing or rebuilding their church homes.  Saint Mary’s recently renewed its church building in a glorious way.  Many, many people contributed small and large gifts to make the renewal possible.  The design for the church and its execution seem to me to be extraordinary and inspired.  I never saw the old Saint Mary’s.  To one who only knows the present building it seems that it was intended from the beginning to be painted in this way.  Again, from my own experience, I can tell you it makes a very powerful first impression.

Wonderful

I was not entirely unprepared for my first Holy Week at Saint Mary’s, but almost everything here is on a different scale.  There were lots of new joys for me.  One of the unexpected and quiet moments I will treasure from this year was the smell of the altar on Good Friday.

Joyful Eastertide

I can’t say I have entered strongly into the sorrows of Holy Week this year.  I’m not sure whether I am still standing in the church at 6:00 PM on the Feast of the Annunciation, bringing up the rear of the procession through Times Square, or being absolutely unable to move in a packed Saint Joseph’s Hall following the Institution service. 

Holy Week

Soon after I arrived at Saint Mary’s some decisions needed to be made about Holy Week.  I understand that most years a bishop is present to preside at the Great Vigil of Easter.  In 1998 the Presiding Bishop was here to preside at all of the Easter Triduum.  No bishop had yet been invited when I arrived and I decided not to try to invite one for this year.

Ninth Rector

On Thursday evening, March 25, I will be recognized formally by our bishop, the parish and the local Episcopal community as the ninth rector of this parish.  The service will happen, entirely appropriately, during a Solemn Mass to observe the Annunciation of Our Lord Jesus Christ to the Blessed Virgin Mary.  I can still hardly believe I am sitting in the rector’s office in this wonderful church.

A Day with the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd
By Nina Pratt

I have taught Sunday School to children in this parish, to inner city kids, to adults in rural parishes, but I have never seen anything like the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd.  I'm still fumbling around on the floor to find my jaw where it dropped.

Mexico

When I entered the seventh grade I began studying Spanish and continued to do so through my first year in college in Charlottesville, Virginia.  In my first college year I took two semesters of Spanish Conversation, classes in which we could only speak and write in Spanish once we entered the room.  But I never went to Mexico.

From the Board of Trustees

At its meeting on Monday, February 22, 1999, the Board of Trustees passed unanimously and with many expressions of affection and respect a motion naming the Reverend Canon Edgar F. Wells “Rector Emeritus”.  Canon Wells is, of course, the retired rector of the parish and the eighth person to serve this parish community as rector.

ESSENTIAL

When I began to prepare the last service booklet as rector of Trinity Church, Michigan City, Indiana, I looked back through the newsletters from my first year
there.  I came across an article entitled "Essential."  It was about what it
would be like if every member of the congregation on Sunday morning experienced
his or her presence during worship as fundamentally essential to the service
itself, like the bread and wine, like the Scriptures.  I had forgotten that I
have been thinking about this for so long because in the past year there has
been a new intensity to my reflections on what it would be like for every person
who is at Mass to experience his presence at the liturgy as essential. 

LENT

A number of years ago the understanding I had of Lent began to change.  It began to change when the congregation where I served began to observe the historic rites of preparation for baptism in Christian tradition.  Those rites begin with the church year on the First Sunday of Advent.  On that Sunday a young adult in his mid-twenties stood before me with his new wife.  She had grown up in the Church.  They had recently been married in her home parish in another state.  At another time either her rector or I would have baptized him before the wedding, just done it to get it done.  But her rector said he deserved something more and
I did too.

BEGINNINGS

I want you to know how happy and excited I am that I have been called to be your
rector.  I never imagined such a ministry for myself.  The Church of Saint Mary
the Virgin is one of the great American parishes.  Saint Mary's ministry and
witness supports much work for Christ in the greater church.  Thank you for
calling me to be your pastor and your priest.  I promise to try to offer my best
efforts and my best love to the call you have given me.