St Thomas Fifth Avenue has forsaken its faith
NewsThe Chicago singer Ian Fisher, an alumnus of Saint Thomas Choir School, has published an excoriating article on the abandonment of the music heritage in the Episcopal church. Here’s the beginning:
It is hardly a novel observation that the Episcopal Church is in freefall — its once-immense cultural influence reduced to a mere whisper, its ancient liturgies now little more than quaint relics in a world that has long ceased to value the transcendent.
The leadership, having spent decades more preoccupied with virtue-signaling on fashionable social justice causes, identity politics, and the moral imperative of appeasing the ever-changing winds of political correctness, now finds itself on the brink of irrelevance. It is as though the church decided to exchange its eternal spiritual heritage for the transient concerns of modernity, only to discover, with a bemused shrug, that the transaction has rendered it hollow.
The ecclesiastical train wreck, long in the making, may be regarded as inevitable, but even in this context, St. Thomas Church Fifth Avenue’s decision to dismantle its eponymous choir school — a treasure that has stood as the pinnacle of Anglican choral excellence for over 100 years — is nothing short of an affront to the senses. Were the Episcopal Church a sinking ship, St. Thomas might be imagined as its last remaining lifeboat — staunch, dignified, and afloat in a sea of mediocrity. Yet, in its infinite wisdom, the church is now preparing to hurl that lifeboat overboard in favor of something less majestic. If this is what the “preservation” of an institution looks like, perhaps we should welcome a shipwreck.
St. Thomas Church, founded in 1823, was once the epitome of ecclesiastical grandeur in New York City, a sanctuary where the Anglican tradition flourished in all its solemnity and beauty. Its walls have resonated with some of the finest sacred music in the Western canon, and its pews were once filled with captains of industry, statesmen, artists, and patrons of the arts. To enter St. Thomas was to be drawn into an august world, an intersection of the sacred and the sublime, a place that radiated a sense of purpose and permanence that has all but vanished from modern life….
Read on here.
I know nothing about this church’s activities, and I have no opinion as to whether it should have supported social justice causes. Nevertheless, I find it offensive to describe such support as “virtue-signaling on fashionable social justice causes.” Some people may support social justice causes because they think them important and not to signal their own virtue or because the causes are fashionable (or politically correct, as Ian Fisher also charges). Of course, if Mr. Fisher has evidence of the motivations of the church officials, then it’s a different story.
New York is basically an Irish-American and Catholic city along with evangelicals. Have at look in at St Patrick’s Cathedral! I went to St Thomas’s for Evensong in the days of John Scott. Thee were four of us in the congregation in that big chorch and about 30 combined taking and singing the service! Says it all.
I don’t think New York has been basically an Irish-American city since well before 1900.
Yikes.
Roman Catholics are likely still the plurality, yes, but they are Italian-, Polish-, Hispanic-, Filipino-, and otherwise -American as well as Irish. There are also, of course, huge (and I mean huge) communities of Baptists and Evangelicals of various stripes (immigrant as well as Black), Jews, Muslims, and Hindus.
But yes, mainline Protestantism seems to be in eclipse. With the exception of a few specific and well-known churches (Trinity Wall Street, Marble Collegiate, St. John the Divine, etc.), most of the vitality in mainline Protestant churches in New York City these days seems to come from the Korean and Chinese immigrant communities.
For what it’s worth, I visited St. Thomas Fifth Avenue for Evensong semi-regularly way back in the 1980s. You could figure on seeing between 50 and 100 people in the pews, more on holidays.
Honestly, St. Thomas’s choir these days isn’t nearly as good as back then, for whatever reasons. There’s a reason that the Times never recommends St. Thomas’s Messiah anymore.
“Honestly, St. Thomas’s choir these days isn’t nearly as good as back then, for whatever reasons. There’s a reason that the Times never recommends St. Thomas’s Messiah anymore.”
Not true. The choir from the 1980s was a frequently questionable ‘take’ on the tradition. You just can’t discern the difference, “for whatever reasons”. Ask anyone who actually knows, or listen, really listen, to the available recordings. And the Times rarely reviews a single Messiah anymore, frequently publishing a single article mentioning the multiple performances, if at all.
The number of congregants is not the measure of success or validity.
The Episcopal Church made many of the same mistakes that have doomed the United Methodist Church, the Presbyterians, and the ELCA (Lutherans). First among the errors: allowing women to be pastors. It’s not Biblical. And in an odd way, not unrelated to having women as orchestral conductors; the resistance to that is still stubbornly strong, as is woman priests. So far, the Catholics and Mormons are unbending on their rules in this regard. I got the sense the Episcopal/Anglican movement was in deep trouble a long time ago when a new edition of the hymnal changed Lesbia Scott’s fun and witty words to the hymn “I Sing a Song of the Saints of God” to be more inclusive. A small thing perhaps, but ruining that beloved song was indicative of the leadership’s disrespect of their own traditions.
Republished from the Federalist. No. The Federalist is a scurrilous rag published by the worst of the worst political operatives in America today. The only message that should be reprinted from the Federalist will be the happy news some day in the future that it has closed its doors and ceased it’s operations.
The Federalist is also a strong proponent of white nationalism, which is the truly predominant form of Republican “political correctness” in the Trump era. It is a publication for “sore winners” ever-eager to play the victim card. That said, I’m not an Episcopalian and have neither a stake or an interest in that denomination’s politics and it is always sad to see choral music in retreat.
Its.
I can picture the author sitting at his computer wearing his red hat.
This is a ridiculous article and accusation against the Episcopal Church and the St. Thomas Choir School. First of all there has been a major decline in mainstream church attendance all over the United States. When attendance is down, so will be major financial contributions. St. Thomas 5th Ave. has made Herculean efforts to keep the choir school going. Their plan is to merge with a public school in order to keep the music program afloat. Unfortunately the younger generation is not drawn to organized religion. That’s also true with classical music organizations. The Episcopal Church is a very inclusive church that welcomes everyone seeking a spiritual path. Unfortunately the billionaire class is more interested in space travel than supporting choir schools.
The cost of tripling the number of full time clergy (who are housed as part of their package) in purchased or rented Manhattan housing; paying a required Episcopal church pension of 18 percent, min. stipend, and other benefits, is an unprecedented use of income. A rector lived in a rectory and two assistants has apartments in the choir school. But they, like other monumental expenses are vanity projects of the rector. Declining attendance does not justify increasing staff. But the seeming priority is for him (and his wife) to be head of a mega church as the Episcopal Churches in Texas (and other places). If only he could buy parishioners or at least have the ability to attract some. The choir and excellent preaching have always been the attraction.
The Church of England and Wales isn’t far behind if this year’s destructive behaviour of senior management clergy is anything to go by.
Euphonium Al: “The Federalist is also a strong proponent of white nationalism, which is the truly predominant form of Republican “political correctness” in the Trump era.”
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In turn, there are some so-called woke people or virtue signalers who treat non-white, non-male, non-straight, non-native, etc, humans like sloppy seconds if they’re not also cultural-political liberals.
Progressives who are a bit too self-righteous are known to begin and end their supposed tolerance or supposed compassion based on the boundaries of their preferred ideology.
Alan Fleisig, STCS 1972: Closing the Choir School is indeed a travesty, and the financial mistakes described here are on the mark. A couple of points though. The culture of the high and mighty Anglican establishment being the church’s backbone hasn’t been true since the late 1960s or earlier. The church was nearly empty for Sunday and Tuesday services in 1968 and 1969. Liberalization under the leadership of Rev. John Andrew in the 1970s led to a true revival that led to the true excellence of the music ministry in the last 10-15 years. But that solution has run it’s course. It wasn’t helped by the untimely death of a masterful and irreplaceable choirmaster. The Rector has always lived in unjustifiable luxury. That money/assets should be recouped. $4 million/annually $50 million endowment these days is not that big a lift. That should be the goal. 1 good philanthropist. Monetizing choir school music performances on social streaming etc should be pursued. I think the school should be grade 4-8 only. Every student should be a full chorister after their first semester. Don’t know if PCS has moved but they used to be in the West 50s too so that’s not traveling all the way across Manhattan. Lastly, aside from course equivalent Bible study, attending church for 4-8 hours every week, and instruction in the seriousness and responsibilities of being a major part of the church’s liturgical practice, chorister education in my era was highly disciplined and secular. In my era there was a lot less emphasis on developing individual musicianship, but I’m agnostic on the issue of whether that’s good or bad. Perhaps accepting day students might be a temporary solution.In the end, the choir must be saved. And while fiscal mismanagement is a big part of it unequivocally, I don’t think the social justice politics that have largely characterized the greater Anglican church are at the heart of the problem.
I must respectfully disagree with some of the commentators above. This is an excellent article and worth reading until the end. Sadly, for this once great foundation, the Rector is a complete liability, utterly incompetent, in it for himself, and should be removed before he does any more damage than he has already done. Even more sadly – this is unlikely to happen. I hope he enjoys his immorally expensive apartment. He should be ashamed of himself, this supposed man of God. But then, these clergy are (pretty much) all the same.
Angling for an inauguration invitation no doubt.
I’m afraid the churches doing well in the US today are the ones that give their flock a clear target to aim their inner rage at.
Rage against the gays, rage against the vaccines, rage against the libz, rage against the science. The churches that tried to not run on rage have emptied out… their parishioners don’t feel a purpose.
When I was a young Lutheran the rage was against the rock music, the long hair, and the false faiths (like the Catholics up the street). The church was packed every Sunday with people who wanted validation for their dislikes.
I think the young Lutherans who grew up to be Lutheran leaders today know how absurd those rages were but have nothing to replace it.
Attempts to modernize with new music and new liturgies have alienated older members without attracting new ones.
One commentary I’ve read notes that new baptisms into the church are so few that, as existing members die off, the ELCA will go from 3 million members (already a trivial number in the US) to mere tens of thousands by 2050. No amount of mergers will save it.
And I presume similar has happened in the other “mainline” protestant churches (so-called because they were typically found in the populous cities on the main railroad lines).
Rage against the wealthy, rage against the white race, rage against the family, rage against biology, rage against the religious, rage against the West…
Is this person irretrievably dense?
Only the school education of the boys is changing. Everything else continues on.
All this may be true. Unfortunately it’s published in The Federalist, which is, to put it mildly, unreliable.
A ‘traditional’ church music programme shoots itself in the fiscal and organisational feet over and over again for years and then realises it can no longer stem the bleeding: guess it’s time to blame the woke, the inferior of taste, women priests, and 10 year old girl choristers.
In what world has Saint Thomas’ leadership been “preoccupied with virtue-signaling on fashionable social justice causes, identity politics, and the moral imperative of appeasing the ever-changing winds of political correctness”? This is a church that does practically nothing “missional” apart from its music, and in a city absolutely racked with need. Almost no liturgical choir in the world enjoys more a more privileged position, relatively or absolutely, in the hearts or the budgets of its church.