Concert proceeds will help to fund studies needed to plan the next phase in the preservation of the historic landmark building—the restoration of the church’s 112-foot tower and the organ, which is housed inside the tower. Restoration work on the tower will therefore require removal of the 4,718 organ pipes, which in turn will facilitate continued restoration of the 1925 instrument.

In an article in the Brooklyn Eagle entitled “‘Heroic Flourishes’ Concert Launches Fundraising for Courageous Restoration,” First Estate Editor Francesca Norsen Tate reported:

“Fanfare and meditative works showcased the grandeur of the landmark E.M. Skinner Organ at St. Ann & the Holy Trinity Church last Sunday. Titled ‘Heroic Flourishes,’ the concert launched a new fundraising project for the next and then final stages of the instrument’s restoration, one that it is believed will benefit the entire neighborhood. . . .

“The proceeds from the May 13 concert launch a double-maintenance project that will enable the restoration team to access parts of the organ that have received no upkeep, because other components must first be removed from the organ chamber. This will in turn give access to the church’s tower, which must undergo waterproofing, pigeon-proofing and refurbishing.”

Read the entire article in The Brooklyn Eagle.

As noted in the concert program, St. Ann’s looks forward to the day when the protective scaffolding in front of the church can be removed allowing it to be viewed without obstruction for the first time in over two decades.

Photo above: Gregory Eaton (organ), Chanell Crichlow (tuba), Audrey Flores (horn), Jim Lake (trumpet), Angela Gosse (trumpet), Mark Broschinsky (trombone), and Michael Gorham (trumpet). Not pictured, Robert Fournier (bass trombone), Ed Gonzalez (timpani).

See Photo Gallery here.

The June 14 meeting of St. Ann’s Book of the Month Club will discuss The Tenth Parallel: Dispatches from the Fault Line Between Christianity and Islam by Eliza Griswold.  This is a riveting investigation of the jagged fault line between the Christian and Muslim worlds.

The tenth parallel—the line of latitude seven hundred miles north of the equator—is a geographical and ideological front line where Christianity and Islam collide. More than half of the world’s 1.3 billion Muslims live along the tenth parallel; so do sixty percent of the world’s 2 billion Christians. Here, in the buzzing megacities and swarming jungles of Africa and Asia, is where the two religions meet; their encounter is shaping the future of each faith, and of whole societies as well.

An award-winning investigative journalist and poet, Eliza Griswold has spent the past seven years traveling between the equator and the tenth parallel: in Nigeria, the Sudan, and Somalia, and in Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines. The stories she tells in The Tenth Parallel show us that religious conflicts are also conflicts about land, water, oil, and other natural resources, and that local and tribal issues are often shaped by religious ideas. Above all, she makes clear that, for the people she writes about, one’s sense of God is shaped by one’s place on earth; along the tenth parallel, faith is geographic and demographic.

An urgent examination of the relationship between faith and worldly power, The Tenth Parallel is an essential work about the conflicts over religion, nationhood and natural resources that will remake the world in the years to come. Please join us!

Please join us for conversation and community knitting in support of our outreach to mariners on the seas and waterways of the world through the Seaman’s Church Institute. If you have extra yarn or needles you would like to share, please bring them. If you don’t have yarn or needles, we’ll have plenty on hand. Refreshments provided. Call the church office at 718-875-6960 for more information, or email mother.archer@gmail.com

Please join us for conversation and community knitting in support of our outreach to mariners on the seas and waterways of the world through the Seaman’s Church Institute. If you have extra yarn or needles you would like to share, please bring them. If you don’t have yarn or needles, we’ll have plenty on hand. Refreshments provided. Call the church office at 718-875-6960 for more information, or email mother.archer@gmail.com

The next Community Knitting Bees will be held on June 9, 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm.

The May 3 meeting of St. Ann’s Book of the Month Club will discuss A Public Faith: How Followers of Christ Should Serve the Common Good, by Miroslav Volf.  We will discuss such timely issues as witness in a multifaith society and political engagement in a pluralistic world. Please join us!

“. . . Miroslav Volf has produced an indispensible guide for voices of faith within the arena of public disourse. A Public Faith is arguably the most important book on the topic since H. Richard Niebuhr’s Christ and Culture.” Richard Balmer, Columbia University

Heroic Flourishes 2: Music for Organ & Brass

Gregory Eaton on the Landmark E.M. Skinner organ, with
Seven Brass Players & Percussion
Suggested donation: $25.00. Students/Seniors $20.00.
All proceeds will benefit the restoration of the church tower and organ.
A reception will follow the concert.

St. Ann’s Organist Gregory Eaton, seven brass players and a percussionist will join forces to present a benefit concert featuring a varied and heroically resounding program of music by Bonelli, Dupré, Gigout, Hurd, Phillips, Strauss, and others.

Concert proceeds will help the parish move to the next phase in the preservation of the historic landmark building — the restoration of the church’s tower and organ, which is housed in the tower. Since 1848, the National Historic Landmark church building has stood as an important example of American Gothic Revival architecture and is world famous for its set of figural stained glass windows, the first ever made in America. In recent years, St. Ann’s has restored many of the windows and the side roofs after decades of neglect in the last century and has brought non-functioning parts of the organ back to life. The present challenge is to assess the consequences of deferred maintenance of the 112-foot tower. Any restoration work on the structure will require removal of the 4,718 organ pipes, which in turn will facilitate continued restoration of the 1925 instrument.

The goal of the parish’s restoration efforts is to preserve this Brooklyn treasure and community resource for years to come. St. Ann’s is the performance space for a number of musical organizations and other artists and welcomes visitors from around the world who have heard about the church or simply wish to enjoy its beauty and peace.

In addition to Mr. Eaton at the landmark E.M. Skinner organ, there will be musicians playing three trumpets, a French horn, two trombones, a tuba and timpani. The program will include:

Toccata ‘Atalantha’ – Aurelio Bonelli
Poème Héroique – Marcel Dupré
Grand Choeur Dialogué – Eugène Gigout
Three Fanfares – David Hurd
‘I Will Love Thee’ – Dan Locklair
Suite for Organ, Brass Quintet & Percussion – Craig Phillips
Feierlicher Einzug – Richard Strauss

Mr. Eaton has been a major supporter of the church’s restoration efforts through his benefit concerts and music programs since 1993, when he came to St. Ann & the Holy Trinity Church as Director of Music and Organist. He is well known to the general public who attend his concerts and the free Wednesday recitals held weekly from September to June at 1:10 p.m.

Please join us for conversation and community knitting in support of our outreach to mariners on the seas and waterways of the world through the Seaman’s Church Institute. If you have extra yarn or needles you would like to share, please bring them. If you don’t have yarn or needles, we’ll have plenty on hand. Refreshments provided. Call the church office at 718-875-6960 for more information, or email mother.archer@gmail.com

Upcoming dates for the Community Knitting Bees are May 12, and June 9, 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm.

Maundy Thursday
April 5, 2012, 7:00 pm
The Proper Liturgy for Maundy Thursday, with Foot-washing and the Stripping of the Altar

Good Friday
April 6, 2012,
12:00 noon to 3:00 pm - Church Open for Prayer and Meditation
12:00 noon – Stations of the Cross
7:00 pm – The Proper Liturgy for Good Friday

Holy Saturday
April 7, 2012, 7:30 pm
The Great Vigil of Easter
At St. Paul’s Church, Clinton St. at Carroll St.

Easter Day
April 8, 2012, 11:00 am
The Holy Eucharist in Celebration of the Festival of the Resurrection
Music will feature Brass, Choir and Organ

Holy Eucharist with Imposition of Ashes
Deanery Service at St. John’s Church, Park Slope – 7:00 pm
139 St. John’s Place (at 7th Ave. – 2, 3, or 4 train to Grand Army Plaza)

Study Series: Exploring our Faith/Knowing our Church
This 3-week program is intended to acquaint or reacquaint members of the St. Ann & the Holy Trinity community with the history, traditions and spiritual practices of Anglicanism and the Episcopal Church. At a forum on each of three consecutive Sundays after the 11:00 am service, we will explore together The Roots of Anglicanism (February 26), Anglican Worship (March 4), and The Sacraments (March 11). All are welcome to attend any and all of the sessions and join us for further discussion of these topics after the 6:00 pm Eucharist on subsequent Thursdays. Presentations will be led by Fr. John Denaro, Mo. Nell Archer, Music Director Gregory Eaton and Seminarian Melinda Hall.

Stations of the Cross and Quiet Day
Brother Robert Hugh of the Society of St. Francis comes to St. Ann & the Holy Trinity to accompany and support our Lenten journeys. On Friday, March 16, at 6:00 pm, he will introduce the Stations of the Cross with insights into the Franciscan origins of the devotion and then lead us through this prayerful practice in our church. On Saturday, March 17, from 10:00 am to 2:30 pm, Br. Robert invites us to observe a Lenten Day of Reflection or Quiet Day with the theme of “Making Room.” And then on Sunday, March 18, the Fifth Sunday of Lent, Br. Robert will join us as our guest preacher at the 11:00 am Holy Eucharist.

Compline
Sunday, March 25, 2012, 8:00 pm

Compline is the final service of the day in the monastic tradition. On this last Sunday of Lent, St. Ann & the Holy Trinity is offering a service of Compline that will provide a contemplative bridge between Lent and Holy Week.  A choir will sing the service with both plainsong and choral music, preceded by a half-hour organ meditation. Please join us in this peaceful, meditative worship.

St. Ann’s Parish Hall, 157 Montague Street

Stop by the Parish Hall any time between 5:00 pm and 8:00 pm for made-to-order pancakes and some fun at St. Ann’s own “Mardi Gras” event — and bring a friend! All are welcome.