{"content":[{"text":"GAS Letter for July 2021 Intercession Paper","bbox":{"left":0.117647,"top":0.091758,"width":0.318624,"height":0.018348000000000003}},{"text":"Dear Fellow Members of the Guild:","bbox":{"left":0.117647,"top":0.128424,"width":0.25766700000000003,"height":0.018348000000000003}},{"text":"We did actually manage to have something of our usual observances in November, with a Solemn \n Requiem and Absolution at the Catafalque here at my church, Resurrection, which is the Guild’s National \n Shrine. I was not absolutely sure that would be possible, as we had juﬆ been permitted to resume public \n worship in September, but we have in fact been open ever since. Our Choir were present and oﬀered the \n Anerio Requiem, which I know well, as it was the default “short and simple” Requiem used at the church \n where I served my title for funerals which followed very quickly upon death. Of course, we were not \n permitted to have a reception or luncheon afterwards (and indeed ﬆill would not be), but it was very nice \n to have quite a few of our own, and even a small group of new members who made the journey from the \n Church of the Advent in Boﬆon, whom we were very glad to see. The silver lining in all this is that our \n church’s new video syﬆem and the broadcaﬆ, both live and available subsequently (including now!), was \n actually seen by several hundred people, probably the largeﬆ attendance – in a sense – at an annual \n Requiem for a very long time. At the Centenary of the American Branch in 1989, at S. Clement’s, \n Philadelphia, where I was then senior curate, we had probably ﬁve hundred people I should think in a \n church that seats 750. The miracle of broadcaﬆing, however, meant that many members could join us \n spiritually in this way, not only in this country, but several members of the Guild in England, I know, \n did the same, including, I believe, the President of the English Guild, the Lord Bishop of Richborough.","bbox":{"left":0.117647,"top":0.165091,"width":0.7647299999999999,"height":0.29350000000000004}},{"text":"This autumn, things look better than laﬆ year, though it is dismaying how slowly the vaccinating is going \n and that some are ﬆill refusing even to seek it. I simply do not underﬆand this. Vaccination has been \n going on since the late 18th century for smallpox, and it has eradicated it from the earth. All my life I have \n been vaccinated for all kinds of things, including smallpox, polio, and all the childhood diseases. We have \n all seen the dramatic eﬀects raising the health of all mankind from them. When did you hear of a child \n in an iron lung from catching polio? When did you laﬆ hear of a child dying from whooping cough? \n Scarlet fever? Diptheria? Which of your friends has died of smallpox? The answer is none. All because of \n vaccination. It is the key to the return to normal life in the world, and since viruses are unaware of and \n do not respect either ﬆate or national boundaries, everyone, everywhere, muﬆ receive this beneﬁt, and as \n soon as may be.","bbox":{"left":0.117647,"top":0.476909,"width":0.764732,"height":0.1835}},{"text":"So there are good signs for the autumn, but a few worrying ones, too. Still, we can only make plans, \n whether or not they muﬆ be altered, we have certainly all learnt that, if nothing else! The Solemn Requiem \n of the Guild will be Saturday, 13th November, at 11.00 a.m., at the Church of the Resurrection in New \n York. I cannot ask another church to undertake this and plan for it, only to have it be cancelled or severely \n curtailed, and at leaﬆ scheduling it for my own church means that we know we can go forward in some \n way, no matter how bad things might become. I should think it unlikely that even then a sit-down \n luncheon or even a ﬆand-up aﬀair will be possible, but this year, unlike laﬆ, there is indoor dining in the \n city, so no visitors should go hungry or faint along the way if, as Our Lord says in the feeding of the four \n thousand, “divers of them have come from far”. We shall announce the music of the day closer to the time, \n but our Choir will certainly oﬀer a Requiem setting along with the hymns and the minor propers in which \n we all share.","bbox":{"left":0.117647,"top":0.678727,"width":0.7647409999999999,"height":0.20198500000000008}}],"images_bbox":[],"images_bbox_not_text_overlap":[]}