wfn.org | Trinity Parish, New York, concludes

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June 6, 1997
Episcopal News Service
Jim Solheim, Director
212-922-5385
ens@ecunet.org

97-1782
Trinity Parish, New York, concludes 300th anniversary celebration with
gala week of events

   (ENS) In a highly compressed week of premiere events that included
the annual Trinity Institute, visits by Archbishop of Canterbury George
Carey and a dozen African archbishops, and a gala dinner on Ellis
Island, Trinity Parish in New York City in early May culminated a
yearlong celebration of its 300th anniversary.
   Normally an all-consuming occurrence in itself, the national Trinity
Institute drew 400 participants for two days of presentations and
discussion on the theme of "Ordered Freedom." Central to the scholarly
musings was the question of a paradox: How does the Anglican tradition
combine the order represented by St. Augustine with the exuberant
freedom personified in the Celtic spirituality of St. Columba?
   In addition to those who participated in the institute on site,
thousands of others from around the country joined in through 115
downlink sites arranged through the Episcopal Cathedral
Teleconferencing Network.
   Carey delivered the sermon for the institute's opening Eucharist,
May 5, in which the visiting archbishops from Africa's 12 provinces also
participated. The prelates were special guests to reflect Trinity's
emphasis on support for Africa.
   Carey also preached at an Ascension Day service, the anniversary of
the consecration in 1846 of Trinity's current Gothic Revival church
building. Attendance topped the parish's records, with 900 attending the
Eucharist and more than 700 receiving Communion. Carey presented the
parish with the gold cross of St. Augustine in honor of the congregation's
support of mission throughout the world, and silver cross of St.
Augustine to the Rev. Dr. Daniel P. Mathews, Trinity's rector. With the
total amount of the grants made by Trinity each year among the greatest
of any parish in the world, Carey called the parish's international
ministry "breathtaking."
   The Trinity choir and orchestra, directed by Dr. Owen Burdick,
performed the world premiere of Burdick's Missa via Muri (Mass for
Wall Street).
   More than a thousand guests attended the concluding dinner on Ellis
Island, including recipients of Trinity grants from around the world,
press, and members and friends of Trinity. Trinity also sponsored a
symposium at the Ford Foundation on church-based community
development in New York.
   Trinity was established in 1697 by King William III as the first
Anglican parish in New York. Some of the property just north of Wall
Street that was given to Trinity in 1705--now the heart of Wall Street
financial district--still belongs to the parish and provides much of the
church's income.

--based on a report by Maria Dering of Trinity Parish in New York City
and a report by Ecumenical News International.