Weekly Update from Fr. van Dooren 10.31.25
Dear Little Church family,
Please remember to set your clocks back one hour this Sunday for Daylight Saving time. The good news is that we get an extra hour of sleep. The more challenging news is that we have to allow a little more time for our church commute due to Sunday’s New York marathon. But it will be well worth it as we celebrate one of the most beautiful and important feasts of the Church year, the Feast of All Saints!
Tomorrow, November 1st, we will celebrate the Feast of All Saints on its “fixed date” with a said mass at 12:10pm in addition to Sunday. Did you know that the Feast of All Saints is the only feast that can be celebrated on its fixed date in addition to the Sunday following?!
So this Sunday, November 2nd we will enjoy the Feast of All Saints again at our 8:30 am said mass and our 11 am solemn mass. I am honored to preach on this “Principal” (spelled correctly…smile) and major feast of the Church. It is a feast of our Lord Jesus Christ, but it’s unique among all the feasts of our Lord. Most feasts commemorate an event of our Lord’s life, such as his birth at Christmas and his Resurrection at Easter, but the Feast of All Saints celebrates our Lord Jesus Christ as he is known in the lives of his faithful people! Wow! So come to church this Sunday expecting beautiful music and one of the most joyous celebrations of the year.
For this joyous celebration, the choir will sing two of its favorite anthems, O Quam Gloriosum (O How Glorious is the Kingdom in which the Saints Rejoice with Christ) by the great Spanish Renaissance composer Tomas Luis de Victoria and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Pie Jesu.* We also have many glorious hymns, including For All the Saints, O What Their Joy and Glory May Be, and Fr. van Dooren‘s favorite, I Sing a Song of the Saints of God. The postlude is by John Weaver, who during his long and illustrious career, was the head of both the Juilliard School and the Curtis Institute of Music organ departments. The piece is a joyous, jazzy combination of the two tunes Sine Nomine, and When the Saints Go Marching In. (* Fun fact: Tim Rice, Webber ‘s sometimes lyricist, was a choir boy at the Little Church during summer stays).
And then on Monday, November 3rd, we will commemorate the Feast of All Souls in honor of the Faithful Departed with a said mass at 12:10 pm. Please contact the office at 212-684-6770 or parishoffice@littlechurch.org with names of the departed, which will be placed before the altar and remembered at the intentions of the All Souls mass (Note that we usually offer a much larger mass for the commemoration of All Souls on its fixed date of November 2nd, the day after All Saints, but the weekend dates this year present an unusual challenge).
Next Sunday, November 9, at 1 pm in the Holy Family Chapel, our Adult Christian Education series "A Great Cloud of Witnesses" continues! Nanci Blaisdell will lead our discussion on Evelyn Underhill. Love Downton Abbey? Then come learn about Evelyn Underhill, an English Anglo-Catholic writer who would have made an interesting dinner guest on the show.
The Episcopal Actors' Guild Annual Memorial Service will be held also on Sunday, November 9 at 3 pm. Since 1925, members of NYC's performing arts community have gathered together to honor and celebrate those colleagues we lost in the previous year. EAG is honored to announce that the 2025 Memorial Address will be given by acclaimed actor of stage and screen Mary Beth Peil. This heartfelt event will include music by Claudia Dumschat and the Church of the Transfiguration Choir of Men and Boys and Girls, a personal reflection, a reading of the names, and a call for one final standing ovation. It is always my honor to officiate this service which is free and open to all.
This is the second week of our annual pledge campaign. We are grateful for those who have already made their 2026 pledge, and we are hoping for 100% participation. Many will be able to specify a financial amount of money that will enable the parish’s vestry to prepare a budget for the upcoming year. Others, who at present cannot commit to a specific amount of money, can make an Open Pledge, committing what they can in time, talent, or treasure for the support of the parish. Pledges can be submitted online here, but printed out copies will still be available in the back of the church and in the parish office.
The Holy Rosary will be prayed in the Family chapel at 9:30am this Sunday. We will pray the Glorious mysteries in honor of All Saints.
We continue to live-stream each Sunday’s mass at 11:00am, and a link is sent out each Sunday morning at 8:00am. We live-stream on Facebook and YouTube. Pleas email parishoffice@littlechurch.org if you would like to pray the morning and evening offices with us by Zoom.
Thank you for your continued faith, support, and love for the parish.
Fides Opera
With loving wishes,
Fr. van Dooren