Weekly Update from Fr. van Dooren 10.3.25
Dear members and friends of our dear parish,
After praying for the See of Canterbury “now vacant” for so many months, we can now add to our prayers The Rt. Rev. & Rt. Hon. Dame Sarah Mullally, Bishop of London, who will become the 106th Archbishop of Canterbury.
The Diocese of London is our companion diocese here in New York. Transfiguration hosted Bishop Mullally two years ago in the rectory when she was meeting with the rectors of New York and London’s linked parishes. Of course, Transfiguration’s linked parish is St. Matthew’s Westminster, who hosted our choir this past summer. Click here to read more about our new Archbishop.
Don’t miss tonight’s special concert at 7 pm featuring two of our dear parishioners. Matei Varga, piano and Susan Olsen Maren, Hardanger fiddle will be performing The Original Hardanger Fiddle Tunes and The Complete Norwegian Peasant Dances, Op. 72 for piano by Edvard Grieg. Suggested donation is $25 for general admission and $15 for students and seniors. To purchase tickets in advance, click here.
Please plan on joining us this Sunday for our yearly celebration of Foundation Day! The sermon text will be our Old Testament story of Jacob’s ladder. Though separated by 4,000 years, the story of Jacob is as living and applicable now as in the day in which Jacob lived.
To add to the festivities, we are hosting a special reception following the 11:00am mass. To supplement the lunch, we're asking for donations of salads and desserts. Volunteers to assist with the clean up would be greatly appreciated. Please contact Lee Alderson, head of hospitality, at leealderson04@gmail.com to coordinate food offerings.
Also on Sunday, we will enjoy our annual pet blessing in the garden. If you have a well-behaved pet, please bring them to this special mass. We will meet in the garden roughly at 12:30 pm for our annual pet blessing. Pets of all faith traditions are welcomed to receive a blessing.
The music this week celebrates the Dedication of the Church and our 177th Anniversary. We begin with the ancient Gregorian Chant introit, "O How dreadful is this place". Worry not - dreadful in this case means “awe-inspiring.” We then sing Anton Bruckner’s beautiful Locus iste (“This place was made by God”) Great hymns include Christ is Made the Sure Foundation and Glorious Things of Thee are Spoken. Our anthem is by William Harris, Behold, the Tabernacle of God is with Men, written in 1954 for new headquarters of The Royal School of Church Music at Addington Palace. Our Mass setting is the Missa brevis by Jonathan Dove, (b. 1959) one of our choristers' favorite settings and a great way to, as in the text of our anthem, “Celebrate the joys of the temple with a season of festivity.”
Next Sunday, October 12 at 1 pm in the Holy Family Chapel, our Adult Christian Education series "A Great Cloud of Witnesses" continues! Matthew Sava will lead our discussion on John Donne (1572-1631). Come learn about this English Metaphysical Poet and celebrated Anglican preacher who recognized that "no man is an island" and asked us to consider "for whom the bell tolls." For the full schedule, click here.
Our Midday Music Concert series will skip a week and continue on Tuesday, October 14th at 1:00pm. Our series “One West / One East” is a collaboration with Marble Collegiate Church, and the next concert will be held at Marble with Eddie Zheng, organ, performing “Ad nos Salutarem” by Franz Liszt. Suggested donation is $10.
On Saturday, October 18 and Sunday, October 19, join with the Church of the Transfiguration, the Episcopal Actors’ Guild, and Houghton Hall Arts Community for a spectacular weekend of music, art, and history celebrating our long tradition of diversity and inclusion! Open House New York is an annual celebration of all the places that make New York a special place to live, work, play, and worship.
Guided tours of the church will be held Saturday at 10:30am, 1:00pm, and 4:00pm, and Sunday at 12:30pm (in Spanish) and 1:00pm. Concerts will be held Saturday at 11:45am (Family Concert) and 3:00pm (piano concert with Matei Varga), and on Sunday at 2:00pm (“Celebrate Freedom” with Episcopal Actors’ Guild). Other events include a presentation on vestments, a tour of the EAG theatre archives, and an art gallery reception.
If you would like to volunteer to be a greeter (two-hour shift), please contact the parish office (parishoffice@littlechurch.org). For details and a complete schedule of events, please click here. Don’t miss it!
The Holy Rosary will be prayed in the Family chapel at 9:30am this Sunday. We will pray the Joyful mysteries.
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. Please contact the parish office 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