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An invitation from the Sisters of Life:

Dear Friends,

Monday, Dec. 28th marks the Feast of the Holy Innocents. Each year the Franciscan Friars and Sisters of the Renewal and all of the Sisters of Life gather to commemorate this day by prayer and witness – please join us!

Mass 8:00 am – Fr. Benedict Groeschel main celebrant joined by Msgr. Phillip Reilly and other priests:

Church of the Holy Innocents / 128 West 37th Street (btn B’dway and 7th Ave.)

Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament follows Mass, then people can either remain in the Church to adore our Lord or attend the rosary procession to the local abortion clinic. Upon return from the clinic there will be a special luncheon. Please promote this to your friends and keep the spiritual success of this effort for Life in your prayers.

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MUSIC FOR THE CELEBRATION OF CHRISTMAS

Christmas Eve, Thursday, December 24, 2009

Hour of Festival Prelude Music for choir, brass, organ, and timpani at 9:30 P.M.:

Bring A Torch, Jeanette, Isabella – Chapman
From Heaven Above To Earth I Come (Orgelbüchlein), BWV 606 – Bach
O Magnum Mysterium – Victoria
All My Heart This Night Rejoices – Ebeling
I Wonder As I Wander – arr. Niles
Greensleeves – arr. Purvis
Noel no. 10, Grand Jeu et Duo – Daquin
Whence Is That Goodly Fragrance Flowing – arr. Willcocks
I Sing Of A Maiden – Hadley
Infant Holy, Infant Lowly – arr. Willcocks
Sonata in F Major for Trumpet – Baldassare
Three Chorale Preludes on In Dulci Jubilo – Bach: BWV 608 (Orgelbüchlein), BWV 751 (Trio), BWV 729 (Fantasia)
O Holy Night – Adam
Congregational Carols

Solemn High Mass at 10:30 P.M.:

Introit: Dominus dixit (Plainchant)
O Come, All ye Faithful
Mass in F Major – Darke
Star Carol – Rutter
In The Bleak Midwinter – Darke
Silent Night – arr. Bani
Hark! The Herald Angels Sing – arr. Ban
Praise The Lord With Drums And Cymbals – Karg-Elert

Christmas Day, Friday, December 25, 2009

Prelude Music at 11:30 A.M.:

O Little One Sweet – harm. Bach
Canonic Varation II on Vom Himmel hoch, BWV 679 – Bach
Up! Good Christen Folk, And Listen – harm. Woodward
Berceuse – Vierne; What Child Is This – Manz
Noel no. 4, En duo, sur les Jeux d’anches – Daquin

Solemn High Mass at 12:00 Noon:

Introit: Puer natus (Plainchant)
O Come, All Ye Faithful
Missa de Angelis
Sequence: Jubilemus Salvatori (Plainchant)
Christmas Song – Holst
Nativity Carol – Rutter
Silent night – arr. Bani
Joy To The World – arr. Bani
Dieu Parmi Nous (La Nativité du Seigneur) – Messiaen

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Click above for video of the Mass of Solemn Profession celebrated here this past November 7th, during which Fr. Gabriel Gillen, O.P., and I professed our final vows in the Order of Preachers.

The music heard in the video is an ancient Dominican chant entitled “Sicut in holocaustis arietum.” It was sung during the Offertory of the Mass by a schola composed of student brothers from the Dominican House of Studies, who traveled to New York to attend the Profession Mass. The full text of the chant reads, in English: “As a holocaust of rams and bullocks, and of thousands of fatted lambs, so let our sacrifice be in your sight on this day, that it may be pleasing unto you. For there is no shame for those who put their trust in you, O Lord.” In his Summa Theologiae, St. Thomas Aquinas uses the image of the holocaust, mentioned in the chant, to illustrate the complete nature of the sacrifice required by religious when they make solemn profession. “The religious state may be considered . . . as a holocaust,” writes the Angelic Doctor, “whereby a man offers himself and his possessions wholly to God” (ST.II-II.186.7).

Fr. Dominic Izzo, O.P., Prior Provincial of the Province of St. Joseph, celebrated and preached the Mass.

The St. Vincent Ferrer Chorale shared musical duties with the chant schola, thus adding their own beauty and reverence to the solemn liturgy. Other student brothers assisted at the altar. Fr. Jordan Kelly, O.P., served as the Master of Ceremonies.

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On Tuesday, November 17, the Church of St. Vincent Ferrer will host an organ recital performed on its famous 86-rank Schantz pipe organ.  Dr. Mark Bani, the parish’s music director, will be the featured organist.  He will perform compositions by Bach, Boyce, Mozart, Widor, and Barber.

The recital will begin at 7:00 PM.  It is free and open to the public.

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On November 12, Professor Helen Alvaré delivered the parish’s annual St. Albert’s Day Lecture.  Before an eager and enthusiastic audience, she addressed the topic, “The Catholic Voice in the Public Square: Sectarian or Civic?”  Over the course of her remarks, Professor Alvaré shared the wisdom she has gained as a Catholic lawyer and lobbyist regarding how believers ought to engage public debate on difficult moral questions.  She focused specifically on the debates surrounding abortion, health care, and marriage, and the recommendations she gave for approaching each were both insightful and encouraging.

Below you’ll find both audio and video of Professor Alvaré’s lecture, as well as audio of the Q & A session that followed her presentation.

Click here for the video report covering the lecture that aired on NET NY‘s “Currents.”

St. Albert's Day Lecture 2009 Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

St. Albert's Day Lecture 2009 Q & A Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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Below you’ll find video of the three presentations given at last week’s forum on Caritas in Veritate. Enjoy!

Introductions

Fr. Peter John Cameron, O.P. — “Building a ‘Human Ecology’ on Truth and Love”

Fr. Allen Moran, O.P. — “Caritas in Veritate and the American Economy”

Archbishop Timothy Dolan — “The ‘Hermeneutic of Continuity’ and the Church’s Social Doctrine”

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On the evening of August 26th, a crowd of 350 gathered at the Church of St. Vincent Ferrer for a public forum on Pope Benedict XVI’s new encyclical, Caritas in Veritate. The panel of speakers included: Fr. Peter John Cameron, O.P., the editor-in-chief of Magnificat; Fr. Allen Moran, O.P., a professor of economics at Providence College; and the Most Reverend Timothy Dolan, the Archbishop of New York. Each speaker highlighted a certain aspect of the Holy Father’s wise and in some ways innovative treatment of the Church’s social doctrine. After the presentations, members of the audience addressed questions to the panel.

In the first presentation of the evening, Fr. Cameron reflected on Pope Benedict’s concept of “human ecology.” Employing numerous quotations from the encyclical itself, Fr. Cameron made clear the Pope’s concern that the contemporary interest in conservation and ecology be shaped by an overarching concern for the conservation of human dignity. From the Christian point of view, the Pope argues, a proper and just concern for the environment can only be exercised from within a prior and larger concern for the human person and his flourishing. Through several poignant real-life illustrations, Fr. Cameron demonstrated the Holy Father’s point. He explained that once a person discovers his inherent human dignity, which for many occurs through adversity and suffering, that dignity becomes something he naturally begins to protect not only in himself but also in others. This spontaneous drive to protect others’ dignity, Fr. Cameron explained, points to the reality of “human ecology.”

Fr. Allen then addressed the more practical aspects of Caritas in Veritate, particularly Pope Benedict’s assessment of the economic crisis that currently grips a large portion of the world. After first distinguishing positive and normative economics, Fr. Moran demonstrated why this distinction is important. Positive economics, he explained, seeks simply to describe what is happening in the financial world. It reports on the ups and downs of financial activity and tries to uncover their causes. Not completely detached from positive economics, normative economics has a different goal. While it also tracks movements in the world’s economies, at the same time it makes certain judgments about them against a measure that it considers normative. For example, whereas a positive economist might say that unemployment in America is at 9.5%, a normative economist would argue that the rate is too high (or too low, depending on his measure). From this basic distinction between positive and normative economics, Fr. Moran explained how Pope Benedict calls economists to work more within the normative realm, where they should feel obliged to make real judgments about economic activity against the norm of human dignity and the justice human nature requires for its full flourishing.

Finally, Archbishop Dolan described how in the encyclical Pope Benedict applies his famous “hermeneutic of continuity” to the Church’s social tradition. In so doing, the Holy Father stresses that the social teaching of the Church stretching back to the late nineteenth century should be read as a whole, as one long normative commentary on the social implications of the Gospel, and not as divided moments in the tradition where certain teachings can be favored and others jettisoned. For example, there has recently opened up within the Church a contentious relationship between what Archbishop Dolan described as “economic and social justice” Catholics and “life justice” Catholics. Such a rift should not exist, he lamented. Instead, to wave the social justice banner of the Church is to concern oneself necessarily with poverty, education, health care, immigration, the environment, marriage and family, and first and foremost the promotion and protection of human life, from conception to natural death. Archbishop Dolan explained that reading Church’s social doctrine, as Pope Benedict does, with a proper “hermeneutic of continuity” reveals the evangelical concern for human life and human dignity as the common thread that unites all of the Church’s social teachings.

After a brief Q & A session, those attending the forum enjoyed a light reception prepared by the Frassati Fellowship.

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This morning’s Daily News carries the following op-ed piece by Kathryn Jean Lopez, the editor of National Review Online. In it, Lopez mentions the public forum held here last week on Pope Benedict XVI’s new encyclical, Caritas in Veritate, and she explains its importance to contemporary political debates.

Click here to read the article on the Daily News website.

THE ISSUE OF SOCIAL JUSTICE IS FAR BIGGER THAN THE ABORTION DEBATE

By Kathryn Jean Lopez

Wednesday, September 2nd 2009

On Saturday, the late Sen. Edward Kennedy, who supported legal abortion, was hailed as “a beacon for social justice” at a Catholic church in Boston. On Friday, The New York Times reported on Catholic bishops speaking out against anti-life provisions in various versions of the proposed health care reform in Washington: “The bishops’ backlash reflects a struggle within the church over how heavily to weigh opposition to abortion against concerns about social justice.”

An expert confirmed: “It is the great tension in Catholic thought right now,” said Cathleen Kaveny, a professor of law and theology at Notre Dame.

The fights exist. But reports of a “great tension” are exaggerated. Fundamentally, what is social justice if it does not include the very right to life?

The New York Times and every Catholic politician who follows the Ted Kennedy beacon missed a primer on just this issue. Manhattan’s St. Vincent Ferrer Church recently hosted a workshop headlined by Archbishop Timothy Dolan on Pope Benedict’s third encyclical, “Caritas in Veritate,” or “Love in Truth.”

The event stood in contrast to much of the media coverage following the encyclical’s release. Many conservatives immediately groaned about its expressed need for “a true world political authority.” Liberals celebrated the same. Many are missing the soul of it. The Pope described “charity in truth” as the “principal driving force behind the authentic development of every person and all humanity” and the “heart of the church’s social doctrine.”

“Social justice doctrine” doesn’t belong to any one political party or ideology. Rather, it poses challenges to all of us.

Lack of harmony, Dolan argued, is not in the social doctrine of the church, but in “somewhat of a rift that has taken place in the social justice activity of the church throughout the world.” He pointed to a “cleavage” between “the economic social justice people and the pro-life social justice people,” who are at an unnecessary “loggerheads.”

Dolan presented the continuum with a fourfold focus on the innate dignity of the human person (“every man and woman is made in the image and likeness of God”), the common good (“everything we do has a social implication”; “an economic decision is also a moral decision), solidarity (“we’re in this together”; “we are social beings . . . brothers and sisters of a common Father”; “always be aware of the implications”), and subsidiarity (“apprehension of big, huge, massive bureaucracy, especially when it comes to the protection of the basic unit of human life, the family”).

The integrated message of focusing on these fundamentals is: Be not confused. In this way, though, the forum was very different from most of the media coverage immediately following the release of the Holy See’s latest contribution to the church’s social justice canon and some of the misleading messages stemming from Kennedy’s Catholic sendoff.

The encyclical states, unsurprisingly: “When a society moves toward the denial or suppression of life, it ends up no longer finding the necessary motivation and energy to strive for man’s true good.” This underscores a great shame of our current political discussions involving Catholicism: They’re always focused on abortion because of the endless game we’re subjected to by Catholic politicians pretending that they can advocate for legal abortion with right reason and clear conscience.

While we listen to the Gospel According to Nancy Pelosi and ignore the Kennedy contributions to cementing a culture of death, we are deprived of an even deeper conversation about just what social justice is, how exactly to best serve the common good. It doesn’t necessarily mean “government gives.” It’s a lot more complicated. And the political conversation could benefit from some shepherding from a position of love and truth. Unfortunately, at the moment we’re still focused on just trying to stay alive.

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The parish is honored that Archbishop Dolan has agreed to participate in the forum.  This will be his first visit to St. Vincent’s.

The evening will include a Q & A session with the speakers.  Light refreshments will be served.

For more information, call the Parish Office.

For an English translation of Caritas in Veritate, click here.

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SAVE THE DATE!

On Monday evening, October 5, we will celebrate the completion of the new roof and the cleaning and repointing of our church with a concert of opera singers from The Richard Tucker Music Foundation and our own St. Vincent Ferrer Chorale.  The event is free and open to the public.  Plan to arrive early and attend the 5:30 Mass.

As a thanksgiving-offering for the splendid work that will have been completed on our church, we hope to raise funds for the renovation of our Dominican Sisters’ convent.  At least $200,000 is needed to provide the sisters who work in our high school with a larger living space, as well as long-neglected repairs of water damage that the new roof and newly-pointed masonry will prevent in the future.

Invitations will be sent out to all registered members of the parish, including a reply card for a gift or pledge to the Convent Fund.  Those who do not receive invitations may make their contributions at any time.  Please make checks out to “St. Vincent Ferrer Church” and mark them “Convent Fund.”

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A crowd of over 400 gathered here last night for a special pre-screening of “The Human Experience.” Preceeded by a holy hour led by the Frassati Fellowship and the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal, the pre-screening attracted a wide variety of viewers: regular parishioners, youth groups from Long Island, young professionals from around the city, priests and religious, and even a few Hollywood producers.  The film clearly struck a chord with the audience, as was evident by the sustained applaused and interesting Q & A afterwards.

Produced by Grassroots Films, “The Human Experience” follows two brothers around the world as they seek to experience human life through the lives of those less fortunate: the homeless in New York City, crippled orphans in Peru, and lepers in Ghana.  What they learn is that despite the variations of culture, class, and health among peoples, one thing unites the experience of all human beings: the desire for love, even for what some Dominicans have called “the love that never ends.”  Combined with commentary from various scientists and scholars, the brothers’ testimony identifies love as the foundation of human experience—love at its fullest, love in suffering, love in the truth, love that transcends human limitation and reveals man’s higher and other worldly hopes.

Click here for the film’s homepage and trailer.  See it if you can, and pray that this pro-life, pro-family, pro-faith film may soon find a distributor.

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We will extend our program of Wednesday evening Masses through the month of June.  Here are the dates and the schedule for each evening.

June 3 and 17

7:45 PM – The side door at the corner of Lexington Avenue and 66th Street will be opened

8:00 – Holy Mass

8:30 – Eucharistic Adoration and Confession

9:00 – Compline (Night Prayer)

9:15 – Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament

Spread the word and bring a friend!   Come and spend time with the Eucharistic Lord!

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Founded by a group of St. Vincent Ferrer parishioners, Pregnancy Help, Inc., is celebrating its fiftheenth anniversary this Tuesday, June 2, at the 5:30 PM Mass. All are invited to attend.  A reception in the priory will follow the Mass.

Click here to learn more about Pregnancy Help and its important work.

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Please join The Frassati Fellowship and Grassroots Films for a screening of “THE HUMAN EXPERIENCE”

This award winning documentary is about a band of brothers who travel the world in search of the answers to the burning questions: Who am I? Who is Man? Why do we search for meaning? Their journey brings them into the middle of the lives of the homeless on the streets of New York City, the orphans and disabled children of Peru, and the abandoned lepers in the forests of Ghana, Africa. What the young men discover changes them forever. Through one on one interviews and real life encounters, the brothers are awakened to the beauty of the human person and the resilience of the human spirit.

There will be a Q&A with the main characters at the end of the film, along with some light refreshments.

A music-inspired Holy Hour led by the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal will be held in the church beforehand from 6:15 – 7:15 PM.

When: June 23, 2009 at 7:30 PM

Where: St. Vincent Ferrer Church Hall — Corner of Lexington Avenue and E. 66th St.

Tickets: $10 in advance at seethx.com, or $15 at the door.

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From the Sisters of the Spiritual Family of the Work:

Dear Friends,

After our special programs with the retreat day at the shrine of Mother
Drexel and the book presentation on Mother Julia and the beginnings of the
Spiritual Family The Work on April 25, we are back to our “normal
schedule”.

We will meet on
SUNDAY MAY 31
3:30 pm
at St Vincent Ferrer Church

Our guest speaker is Father Bonner, Director of the Irish Studies
Institute at Molloy College (Long Island).
He will speak on:

Filled with the Holy Spirit!

The apostles were changed by the encounter with the Risen Christ and
filled with the Holy Spirit for their tasks. Are we changed after Easter?
Are we encouraged by Pentecost? Come and receive inspiration and guidance
by Father Bonner.

After the talk, we will have adoration, prayer and occasion for
confession, followed by refreshments and fellowship.
Do come and bring a friend with you!

Looking forward seeing you!

Sr Monika and Sr Mirjam
email
www.thework-fso.org

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From Dr. Mark Bani, the parish’s organist and music director:

Dear Friends,

I invite you to our next music event here at The Church of St. Vincent Ferrer (Lexington Ave. at 66th St.) in Manhattan:

Tuesday, April 21 at 7:00 P.M.

James Wetzel, a talented young artist who has been hailed by audiences throughout the US, will perform a program of organ music by English composer Herbert Howells on our 86-rank Schantz pipe organ. Mr. Wetzel is currently a senior at the Juilliard School, studying with Paul Jacobs. Mr. Wetzel is the organ scholar at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine.

You are cordially invited to this recital. Admission is free (a free will offering will be gratefully accepted.)

Hope to see you here!

Mark Bani
Director of Music and Organist

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Due to its great success during Lent, we will extend our program of Wednesday evening Masses to the end of the Easter season.  Here are the dates and the schedule for each evening.

April 15, May 6, and May 20

7:45 PM – The side door at the corner of Lexington Avenue and 66th Street will be opened

8:00 – Holy Mass

8:30 – Eucharistic Adoration and Confession

9:00 – Compline (Night Prayer)

9:15 – Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament

Spread the word and bring a friend!   Come and spend time with the Risen Lord!

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Fr. Carleton Jones, O.P.,
Pastor of the Church of St. Vincent Ferrer

invites you to a

SPRING BRUNCH

Sunday, April 26 at 1:00 PM
in the Parish Hall

Mimosas – Champagne
Full Buffet
Music by David Belt
Door Prizes

Tickets: $25 per person (children under 12 free)
Tickets may be purchased in the Parish Office.

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