Join us as The Rev. Dr. Craig D. Townsend, St. Ann’s Associate for Faith Formation and Bible scholar, offers another fascinating series. Everyone is welcome to attend.

Scholars refer to “the Exodus tradition” as a way of exploring how the Exodus story – its plot, images, language, and theology – shapes and permeates everything else in the Bible, both Jewish (Old Testament, for us) and Christian (the New Testament additions).

For the 2021-2022 church program year, Fr. Craig Townsend invites you to delve into that tradition in the Bible, and also in the history of Christianity in America with him. The Exodus story has provided the same powerful influence at many stages of that history – the Puritans, for example – and this is especially true in the history of the Black church. So, we will explore “the Exodus tradition” as a history of giving hope and voice to the enslaved, the marginalized, the oppressed. We’ll look at ancient Israel’s use of Exodus in the Psalms, the prophets and other writings, and we’ll look at that use in sermons from the history of the Christian Church, Black and White, in this country.

So, plan to join Fr. Craig on the first Wednesday of the month, October 6, 2021, through May 4, 2022, 7:00-8:00 pm. We’ll gather initially on Zoom and continue there for as long as that seems best. A reading list and other information will be available online soon. Please contact Fr. Craig if you wish to participate.

Image: Relief of Moses on Supreme Court building, Adams Street, Brooklyn

The Forum @ St. Ann’s presents the second annual summer concert series, this year to benefit St. Ann’s Pop-up Pantry. The Forum is the arts and culture program of St. Ann & the Holy Trinity Church and Pro-Cathedral in Brooklyn Heights.

The series of concerts to be held on Thursdays at 6:00 pm, June 10 through September 2, 2021, kicks off next Thursday, June 10, with an event featuring Nora Brown on banjo playing traditional music of eastern Kentucky and Tennessee. Young Nora has appeared at the TED Salon, Joe’s Pub, and the Brooklyn Folk Festival, among other spots in NYC, and in venues across the country. Musicologist and filmmaker John Cohen says of Brown, “She sings of experiences way beyond her years, old songs from Appalachian sources and stories that reflect a more difficult way of life.”

At each of our concerts, we will invite guests to make a donation to our food pantry. St. Ann’s Pop-up Pantry was launched one year ago, in June 2020, in response to the increased food insecurity in Brooklyn resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. In our first weeks in operation, we gave away fewer than 20 bags of groceries per week. The program quickly evolved, and we now consistently give 100 or more bags of non-perishable groceries and fresh produce to our pantry guests weekly. To date, St. Ann’s Pop-up Pantry has provided groceries to feed over 9000 people, and the need shows no sign of stopping.

We could not do this without the generous support of church members and loving neighbors who donate food, funds and many volunteer hours. Concert goers can bring non-perishable food items or make a financial donation to the pantry so that we can maintain our support for our community.

Stay tuned for the whole roster of performers – and come enjoy great music while helping us help others!

 

Register here to join members and friends of St. Ann’s to support our beloved community institution at TOGETHER WHEREVER, St. Ann’s virtual gala and fundraiser, on Sunday, November 22, 5:30 – 7:00 p.m.

The virtual event will be as exciting as ever, featuring six extraordinary musical guests, two exceptional Spirit and Service awardees, and a trove of enticing raffle opportunities. Tickets have been priced so that everyone can join the fun. Guest artists will include:

Michael Winther – Broadway actor, singer and cabaret artist Michael also performs regularly in TV, film and regional theater.

Gabrielle Stravelli – Singer, teacher, cabaret performer, recording artists, Gabrielle is an award-winning performer with a rich and varied career.

Art Hirahara – A jazz keyboardist and composer, Art has performed around the world in Europe, Asia, South America, the Middle East and throughout North America.

Janice Lowe – Composer, poet, pianist, Janice is also a professor at Rutgers, and a performer with an album being released this fall.

Gwen Laster – Violinist, composer, educator, Gwen is an internationally acclaimed musician who was raised on the sounds of jazz, blues, soul and classical.

Damon Banks – Bassist, Composer, Educator, Damon is a “world musician” in the truest sense of the word, performing with legendary artists, and teaching music around the globe.

The Rev. Canon John E. Denaro, rector of St. Ann’s, will present the church’s Spirit and Service awards in recognition of their singular contributions to the community to:

Cecelia Clarke, President and CEO, Brooklyn Community Foundation, and

Pastor Gilford T. Monrose – Director of Faith-Based and Clergy Initiatives, Office of the Brooklyn Borough President.

The Forum @ St. Ann’s will present its first outdoor art exhibition, Footprints on Montague, featuring six Brooklyn-based  artists beginning Sunday, November 1, and on view through January 7, 2021. The exhibition is curated FiveMyles and KODA. The featured artists are Jess Frederick, Madi Dangerously, Ann Rosen, Nina Meledandri, Tatiana Arocha, Hidemi Takagi.

Footprints on Montague, an outdoor art exhibition of works by six artists, will be seen on the fence beside St. Ann & the Holy Trinity Church in Brooklyn Heights starting Sunday, November 1. The collaboration with FiveMyles and KODA represents a shift from indoor to outdoor programs for the Forum @ St. Ann’s and is the first new project in its arts and culture series since the Covid-19 pandemic. Footprints on Montague will enhance the neighborhood landscape and engage community members and passersby on a busy commercial street in Downtown Brooklyn.

There will be an opening reception on Sunday, November 8, 3:00-5:00 pm in front of 157 Montague Street and an online artist talk on Wednesday, December 2, 6:30-7:30 pm. Footprints on Montague will be on view through January 7, 2021.

The paintings, drawings and photographs printed on vinyl banners will be on display on the metal fence. The exhibition will provide the public moments of pleasure and emotional retreat amidst the busyness and noise of city life, inspiring the viewers to reflect upon their individual experience, their place in the community, and on this planet. The artists’ works include drawings of subway scenes, words for thought, prints made from the marriage of painting and photography, photographic portraits, and the cut-outs of migratory birds mounted directly on the fence.

The Rev. Canon John Denaro, rector of St. Ann & the Holy Trinity Church, said, “St. Ann’s is delighted and so grateful for this partnership with FiveMyles and KODA that expands the Forum @ St. Ann’s and showcases the work of six extraordinary Brooklyn-based artists. Footprints on Montague will lift the spirits of our neighbors and amplify the commitment of our historic church to foster artistic expression when it is so deeply needed. It is an investment in the hope of art to carry us through this dark and challenging time.”

Footprints on Montague is curated by Hanne Tierney, the director and founder of FiveMyles, an exhibition and performance space in Crown Heights, and Klaudia Ofwona Draber, the director and founder of KODA, a social practice residency for mid-career artists.

Jess Frederick
The artist’s drawings of subway scenes show the familiar in a surprisingly unfamiliar manner. Her deftly nervous lines pass on the quiet moments of a subway rider going from point A to B. In the drawing of a deconstructed subway car its colors give the car the playfulness of a toy.

Madi Dangerously
With an enigmatic self-portrait and written words, the poet and spoken word artist invites the viewers to an introspective experience, encouraging an inquiry: …ask yourself how am I living.

Ann Rosen
The photographer shows the strong black and white portraits of friends and neighbors taken during the pandemic. She used a 1969 Rolleiflex camera that allowed her to take these portraits with a close-up lens. These faces highlight a sitter’s pensive uncertainty as well as an open smile for being in the present.

Nina Melenandri
The artist’s prints are a fusion of painting and photography. As the artist phrases it “the power of their impact rests in the haunting, tiny, almost subliminal space somewhere in between its two components that have become one.”

Tatiana Arocha
A site-specific installation has birds perched on the metal bars of one fence section. The artist refers to the recent phenomena of birds, who, during their migration to warmer climates, are blown off course. Increasingly erratic weather patterns due to climate change have brought flocks of foreign birds to New York City.

Hidemi Takagi
In her community-based photography project, the artist created a pop-up photo studio in her front yard, and offered free portraits to long time Brooklyn-residents, with selected props and add-ons, to create unique portraits of her neighbors in Bedford-Stuyvesant, bringing out everyone’s superstar qualities.

About FiveMyles
Located in Crown Heights, FiveMyles is an exhibition and performance space where art and community connect. The organization was founded and incorporated as a non-profit in 1999. Its mission is to advance public interest in innovative experimental work; to identify and exhibit the work of under-represented artists; and to engage the local community through participation in the arts.

About KODA
KODA is a nonprofit arts organization based in New York dedicated to mid-career artists of diverse backgrounds. It grants residencies to allow for experimentation and facilitates creative projects through strategic partnerships with socially engaged businesses. KODA is the go-to thinking spot and serves the community through exhibitions of contemporary art, events and outreach to strengthen art education.

About the Forum @ St. Ann’s
St. Ann & the Holy Trinity Church is a house of worship and a community commons in Brooklyn Heights. The Forum @ St. Ann’s seeks to engage audiences from New York City and beyond through civic discourse and compelling and timely music and arts programming.

Images:  Art by Hidemi Takagi, left, and Jess Frederick, right.

St. Ann’s Associate for Faith Formation, Fr. Craig Townsend, and the parish clergy are excited to announce a four-part adult education series, Race and Faith, that will meet on Sunday afternoons, September 27, and October 4, 11, and 18, from 4:30-5:30 on Zoom.

It is deeply regrettable that it has taken a series of tragic and wrongful deaths of unarmed African-Americans at the hands of police in the last couple of years to loosen the hold that racist structures still have over this nation. And it is a frustrating thing that while it feels as if our society may be entering a period full of the possibility of repentance and change, the constraints posed by the COVID-19 pandemic continue to present obstacles to those possibilities. We Christians, driven by a belief in the presence of the risen Christ in every human being, are called to further that repentance and change – and we at St. Ann’s will do so in whatever way we can despite the challenges the pandemic forces upon us. An important starting point is to explore for ourselves, as followers of Jesus, how centuries-old racist structures hinder us even now and how our faith might help us to address and change them – and thereby us.

Participants will be assigned significant reading in preparation for each session, all of which will be available online and also in print, and we will utilize “breakout rooms” on Zoom to facilitate small-group conversations. We hope that many of you will commit to join us for all four sessions and strive to complete all of the reading. Please email Fr. Craig at for registration and program materials.

Image: “Our Lady of Regla,” Harmonia Rosales

St. Ann & the Holy Trinity Church and Pro-Cathedral in Downtown Brooklyn is privileged to host the 67th Attorney General for the State of New York, the Honorable Letitia James, as our guest for an online forum, Suffrage at 100: Women’s Political Power Today, on Sunday, September 13, at 5:30 pm. “Tish” James is the first woman of color to hold statewide office, and the first woman to be elected Attorney General in New York. An experienced lawyer and public servant with a long record of accomplishments, our AG will help us to commemorate the 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage, and explore how it has shaped women’s power in the political arena. AG James is also a woman of faith and one of Brooklyn’s own. She will speak on a wide range of issues that affect all New Yorkers, and share with us how she uses her political platform and power to better our communities. St. Ann’s members, Alison Melick and Darren J. Glenn, will moderate the discussion and field questions from the audience during this Zoom webinar. Registration is required here. All are welcome and encouraged join us!

Would you like to read the Book of Psalms, really read it? And not just read all 150 poems/songs/hymns that have been the backbone of Jewish and Christian worship for as long as both religions have had worshipers, but take them on and make them your own? That’s the goal of the Psalms Project, an adult education opportunity for the coming program year.

Psalms Project participants will meet with the Rev. Dr. Craig D. Townsend, Associate for Faith Formation, October through May on the first Wednesday of each month, 7:00-8:00 pm, for conversation about and exploration of these remarkable works. We will gather virtually on Zoom to start the year, and in person as soon as that is a safe practice. For access to the Zoom meetings, you will need to contact Fr. Craig at

We will read the psalms in order, a few each week, and we won’t just study them. We’ll pray them and sing them to find their depths as poems and as spiritual expressions. The weekly reading schedule, an introduction to each week’s reading and other information about The Psalms Project and leader Fr. Craig are available here.

St. Ann & the Holy Trinity Church is launching a weekly Pop-Up Pantry and Summer Music Concert Series to address hunger and provide musical respite during the summer while New Yorkers continue to cope with the prolonged economic and social fallout of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Pop-Up Pantry will begin on Tuesday, June 16, from 10:30 am to 12 noon, resuming the church’s direct service to address food insecurity in Brooklyn, which has been on pause since mid-March. Each Tuesday, the pantry will provide non-perishable food items to those who need them at the entrance of the church at Clinton and Montague Streets in Brooklyn Heights. Pantry guests are asked to wear masks and maintain social distance.

The Summer Music Concert Series begins on Thursday, June 18, at 5:30 pm, in the Peace Garden on Clinton Street, beside the church entrance. Musicians performing in different genres will play a 30-minute set in the newly landscaped garden for an audience of passersby invited to listen from the sidewalk while keeping safe social distance. The weekly music-making will provide a balm for a city of people on edge in the midst of continued uncertainty. The concerts will be recorded and posted on the parish website for all who cannot attend to enjoy.

Online Spiritual Resources

Morning Prayer
Monday-Friday, 8:30 am
Join us via Zoom* for this 20-minute service at the start of the day. If you don’t have your own Book of Common Prayer, you’ll find a copy here.
The service begins in the BCP on Page 75.
Click this link to participate by video or phone.

Evening Prayer
Wednesday, 6:00-6:30 pm
Join us via Zoom* for this 30-minute service at the end of the day. If you dont have your own Book of Common Prayer, you’ll find a copy here.
The service begins in the BCP on Page 115.
Click this link to participate by video or phone.

Bible Study
Wednesday, 12:15 pm
Join us via Zoom* for a prayerful discussion of the John 11:1-45, the gospel passage appointed for Sunday, March 29 (Lent V).
Click this link to participate by video or phone.

* You do not need to register for Zoom to participate in the meeting.

Stay tuned for more ways to connect to St. Ann’s!

We are a long way from knowing the full impact and calculating the costs of the COVID-19 pandemic, but certain present realities are coming into greater focus. In light of the clear and alarming evidence of the high rate of infection locally – meaning in New York State and particularly in Brooklyn among all five boroughs – Bishop Provenzano has announced he is extending the suspension of public worship and gatherings in all churches in the Episcopal Diocese of Long Island at least through May 17. This necessarily means prolonging the hardship of our physical isolation from one another and the prohibition to pray and serve alongside each other. And the certainty that we will not mark the days of Holy Week and celebrate Easter in our church is a heartbreaking development.

A heartening development is the magnolia tree in the church garden at Clinton and Montague Streets beginning to flower and nearing full bloom. It’s a burst of life and sign of hope we need now. Soon leaves will replace flowers and spring will assert itself, reminding us of God’s rhythm of restoring and renewing what seems lost to us.

As many and great challenges persist, I believe our faith and our enduring connection will sustain us.

Canon John