Dear Friends,
Congratulations to Mother Alison Turner who has completed her doctoral studies at the General Theological Seminary after five years of hard work, which she self-funded. She has been using all her spare time and all her days off to complete her studies so that it did not interfere with her parish and Choir School duties. It was a lovely Memorial Day and the sun was shining as we arrived at the Chapel of the Good Shepherd at the Seminary; the music was stirring, and it was a joy to also see many young people being awarded their MDiv degrees and about to be ordained as deacons in the Church, as well as two bishops, including the Armenian Church Archbishop, being awarded honorary DD’s. Mo. Turner’s doctoral thesis was on Safeguarding Children and Vulnerable Adults and the Baptismal Covenant. In fact, her research and recommendations are already being used by the Diocese of New York!
We are now in Ascensiontide, the last part of Eastertide, when we pray for the gift of the Holy Spirit. The nine days between Ascension and Pentecost created the traditional novena or nine days or nine minutes or nine repetitions of prayer for a particular intention. On Sunday, the lector will use special prayers to pray for the gift of the Holy Spirit to be poured out onto our community. The nine days between Ascension and Pentecost are an opportunity for us to pray for a deepening of the mission of our church.
A Prayer
Almighty God, who on the day of Pentecost
didst open the way of eternal life
to every race and nation
by the promised gift of thy Holy Spirit:
Shed abroad this gift throughout the world
by the preaching of the Gospel,
that it may reach to the ends of the earth;
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who liveth and reigneth with thee,
in the unity of the same Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
On Saturday, June 7, we will hold our commencement exercises for the Choir School and our Grade 8 boys will graduate. On Sunday, June 8, we will have our valedictory mass at 11am, appropriately, on the Feast of Pentecost. Some people have assumed that, with the new collaboration with Professional Children’s School, this will be the last commencement exercises of the Choir School. In actual fact, we already have next year’s in the calendar, to which we will welcome members of the PCS community. The only difference will be that our grade 8 boys next year will receive diplomas from PCS, but they will still graduate from the Choir School as well as PCS and we will continue the tradition of awarding prizes.
Affectionately,
Your Priest and Pastor,
Carl
