The Broadsheet – Lower Manhattan’s Local Newspaper
‘By the Grace of God’
Reverend Phillip Jackson Installed as Trinity Church’s Nineteenth Rector
Reverend Phil Jackson ceremonially accepts the keys to Trinity Church
Lower Manhattan has a new spiritual leader: The Reverend Phillip A. Jackson was installed as the 19th Rector of Trinity Church on February 26, in a ceremony steeped in tradition. The observance began outside the front door of the Church, where Rev. Jackson was ritually handed the bronze keys to Trinity and nearby St. Paul’s Chapel, as he recited, “I accept the keys and with them the temporalities, profits, and appurtenances of the Rectorship.” His voice catching, he continued, “and by the grace of God I will faithfully perform the duties of my office, so long as it may please God to continue me in it.”
Trinity Church received its charter from King William III of England in 1697, which called for Rector of Trinity to be appointed by the Royal Governor of colony of New York. After the American Revolution, the New York Assembly passed a law authorizing the Church’s wardens and vestry (a body that functions like a board of directors) to induct a new Rector. This procedure has continued ever since.
In January, the vestry announced that, “over the past seven years, first as Vicar and then as Priest-in-Charge, Phil has served Trinity with humility, integrity, and, most importantly, a deep and abiding love for God and for this congregation. During the past two years in particular—a uniquely difficult and challenging time for our parish and our city—Phil encouraged us to deepen our commitment to one another and to our missional work. His leadership has been, and now will continue to be, a gift to us all.”
Representatives of the congregation presented Rev. Jackson with symbols of Trinity’s relationship to the community and the City—some time-honored, others whimsical—including a Bible, vessels of water and olive oil, peppercorns and a compass, a New York City subway map, and a basketball. The liturgy also featured the use of the chalice and paten given to the fledgling Anglican congregation in 1710, by Queen Anne of England.
Reverend Jennifer Baskerville-Burrows delivers the sermon, as Trinity’s new Rector look on
The sermon was delivered by Rev. Jackson’s colleague and close friend, Reverend Jennifer Baskerville-Burrows, who was baptized in Trinity Church, and went on to become the first African-American woman elected as an diocesan Episcopal Bishop.
“It feels so right to have been invited home, here by your new Rector, the big brother I never had,” she began. “This community formed me and impacted the direction of my life.”
“Yours is a complex and complicated institution,” Bishop Baskerville-Burrows continued. “Trinity, with the history and resources that can be both a privilege and a burden, carries a particular weight for the Anglican communion and this City. Trinity has had an impact on the Church across the globe.”
This was a reference to the vast endowment presided over by Trinity, arising from the gift of hundreds of acres of Lower Manhattan land granted to the Church by the British crown in the early 1700s. This bequest makes possible prodigious charitable giving, including nearly $80 million during the pandemic, which provided (among other things) meals for more than 230,000 people.
“But if, at the end of the day, Trinity should forget that in its heart it is a parish church, anything else it may do or money it may have will matter little,” the Bishop reflected. “I believe that the role of this incredible parish in these extraordinary days is actually quite simple. God is calling this Church to a new way to claim your role and identity as a parish for this City. And you are about to install a Rector who is beautifully suited for this moment, to lead you on that journey.”
“I’ve been around long enough to know that being Rector of Trinity Church is a call most priests think they want,” she observed. “But after the pomp and circumstance of a service like today’s has faded, what exactly is this job? Sitting here at the top of Wall Street, on land that was once the marketplace for enslaved peoples, in the financial capital of the richest nation on the planet, the global institution that is Trinity Church is called to be embedded, enmeshed, grounded in the life of the City, which is more than just Wall Street and all that that name represents, in a different way.”
“This is a city of beautiful diversity, of people living on the edge and barely making it,” Rev. Baskerville-Burrows said. “When we go outside this building, we see the inequities in housing. We see how deeply we are divided across race and class. We’ve got to change the story.”
“Together with your new Rector, you are called to come home and reimagine what serving looks like,” she noted. “The reason the title is ‘Rector’ and not ‘CEO’ is because this is a parish church, first and always. Being Rector of Trinity is about pastoring a complex institution, having the chops to lead, to mind the real estate and spreadsheets and investments—you’ve got that. But at the core, it’s about seeing and nurturing this congregation.”
Reverend Jackson is installed as Trinity’s 19th Rector
“You are literally built on the history of our colonial and colonizing past,” Rev. Baskerville-Burrows elaborated. “You need to redeem it, you need to repair it. Do it not because you have a Rector of African descent. Don’t do it for that. Don’t do it because everyone says we should be talking about reparations and social justice. Don’t do it for that. Do it because Jesus would have you do it—full stop.”
Rev. Jackson then knelt before the altar and recited, in a voice choked with emotion, “the Lord my God I am not worthy to have you come under my roof. But you have called your servant to stand in your house and to serve at your altar. To you and your service, I devote myself, body, soul and spirit.”
Rev. Jackson, who is Trinity’s first African-America Rector, joined the Church in 2015, serving initially as Vicar, then as Priest-in-Charge. Before coming to Trinity, he served as Rector of Episcopal churches Paradise Valley, Arizona and Detroit, Michigan. Prior to his ordination in 1994, he was an attorney in Honolulu specializing in commercial litigation. Rev. Jackson holds a bachelor’s degree in history (cum laude) from Amherst College, where he currently sits on the Board of Trustees. He also holds a law degree from Yale University, and a Master of Divinity from the Church Divinity School of the Pacific, in Berkeley, California. Rev. Jackson is married to Page Underwood, an attorney.
Matthew Fenton
Take the Money and Run
One Chinatown Restaurant Appears to Have Had a Very Profitable Pandemic
A defunct Chinatown restaurant was paid $900,000 by the City to vacate its space, after also receiving more than $25,000 in federal “paycheck protection” loans (which were later forgiven). The same business is now being sued by its former landlord for more than $400,000 in back rent, which (the landlord alleges) the restaurant failed to pay, at the same time it was receiving generous public subsidies from the City and federal governments. To read more…
Esplanade or Espla-Nada?
City Says Planned Improvements to East River Waterfront Are On Hold
The February 22 meeting of Community Board 1 (CB1) included an update about long-planned improvements to the East River Esplanade, some of which are being cancelled.
Paul Goldstein, the chair of CB1’s Waterfront, Parks & Cultural Committee, said, “we got a report from Economic Development Corporation [EDC] regarding some of their waterfront assets and projects that are ongoing—or not.” (The EDC is a not-profit corporation controlled by City government, which oversees development of assets, such as publicly owned property.)
“The Brooklyn Bridge Esplanade is one our committee has been reviewing for a number of years,” he added. “It’s a project that basically runs from Peck Slip to Catherine Slip. The design was originally supposed to have plazas and planting areas, and included a green space that was well received.”
“Unfortunately, a lot this project is not moving ahead for a variety of reasons,” Mr. Goldstein explained, “the biggest one being that the City is focusing much more on resiliency, and they don’t want to go ahead with improvements that may interfere with that.” To read more…
In Memoriam:
Stan Braverman (1948 – 2022)
Devoted to Family, Married at Windows, and Enamored of Automotive Elegance
(Editor’s Note: Longtime Battery Park City resident Stan Braverman died on February 28. This remembrance is provided by his widow, Maryanne Braverman.)
Early Monday morning, Stan passed away. He is free of the body that disappointed him. May his spirit of caring friendship, devoted fatherhood, and supportive partnership remain with each of us who knew him. To read more…
Ernest Glaser was born Ernst Adolf Berthold Glaser on March 2, 1924 in Berlin. In 1939, his family left Germany to escape the Nazis and attempted to immigrate to the United States, but the family ended up in Shanghai, China. The Glasers thought that they would only be in Shanghai for a year at most, but ended up staying for eight years, until 1947, when they left for the United States. There, Ernest and his family settled in San Francisco. Later, he married, raised a family, and became the president of Avoset Food Corporation. Join the Museum for a program exploring Ernest’s experiences during the Holocaust and in Shanghai. Free; suggested $10 donation
Join Roger McCormack, Director of Education at The Bronx County Historical Society, to explore the significance of the Bronx in the American Revolution. This lecture will highlight the Battle of Pell’s Point, the impact of the war on ordinary Bronx farmers and inhabitants, and the general history of the war in the Bronx. This lecture will be held via Zoom. Registration ends at 5:30pm on the day of the lecture. Free
Zoom lecture presented by Catherine Prescott and Mary Tsaltas-Ottomanelli. This installment of Tavern Tastings explores the history of whiskey: its creation, rise in popularity during the 18th century in North America, and how its role in the economy of the burgeoning United States incited a rebellion. Free; suggested donation of $10
Hometown School Makes Good
Community College in Tribeca Honored as Top School for Hispanics
The Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC) has been named one of the nation’s top ten two-year schools (by region) for Hispanic students, in rankings compiled by Hispanic Outlook on Education Magazine. Separately, BMCC (which is located on Chambers Street) has also been designated as the top-ranking City University of New York (CUNY) college in terms of awarding the highest number of degrees—a total of 2,062—to Hispanic students, and the highest-ranked college in the northeastern United States as measured by the same metric.
The Downtown Alliance is raffling off a couple’s getaway in Lower Manhattan, which includes a two-night stay at the Beekman Hotel, dinner for two at the Michelin-starred Crown Shy restaurant, tickets to the One World Trade Center observation deck, and a $500 voucher for qualifying travel-related expenses.
To be entered in the contest automatically, download and use the Alliance’s new augmented reality Instagram filter (while tagging @downtownnyc), which allows users to superimpose three-dimensional renderings of the Statue of Liberty, the Brooklyn Bridge, Fearless Girl, the Oculus and One World Trade Center on any landscape they choose. For more information, please browse: downtownny.com
Safe Space for Teens
Starting Monday, March 14, Trinity Church’s Youth Afterschool program will offer everything from basketball and mindfulness to test prep and use of a teaching kitchen.
All activities, which are free and open to students in grades six through 12, will be hosted in the teens-only space on the fifth floor of Trinity Commons (the new community building behind Trinity Church), located at 76 Trinity Place.
Trinity Youth strives to practice “radical welcome” by including not only parishioners and students from Trinity’s school partnerships, but youth from across New York City, and the inclusion all people regardless of background, beliefs, or experience. (Proof of vaccination against COVID-19 is required.) For more information, or to enroll, please browse: trinitywallstreet.org/youth
CLASSIFIEDS & PERSONALS
Swaps & Trades, Respectable Employment, Lost and Found
Providing Companion and Home Health Aide Care to clients with dementia.Help with grooming, dressing and wheelchair assistance. Able to escort client to parks and engage in conversations of desired topics and interests of client. Reliable & Honest
Ethical and respectable gentleman, an IT Wizard, seeks a living/work space in BPC. Can be a Computer help to you and your business, or will guarantee $1,500 for rental. Reciprocal would be great!
Please contact:
914-588-5284
HAVE SPACE?
Folk dance group seeks empty space of 400+ sq feet for 2 hours of weekly evening dance practice.
Average attendance is 10 women. This is our hobby; can pay for use of the space.
Call 646 872-0863 or find us on Facebook. Ring O’Bells Morris.
NURSES AIDE
Kind loving and honest Nurse’s aide seeking FT/PT job. Experience with Alzheimer’s patients
Excellent references available please call Dian at 718-496-6232
HOUSEKEEPING/ NANNY/ BABYSITTER
Available for PT/FT. Wonderful person, who is a great worker.
Refs avail.
Worked in BPC.
Call Tenzin 347-803-9523
PERSONAL TRAINING,
REFLEXOLOGY,
PRIVATE STUDIO
917-848-3594
‘He Drove Me Away Like A Dog’
Black History Month: Lower Manhattan Taken for a Ride on Monument It Actually Needs
While the saga of Rosa Parks and the 1956 Montgomery bus boycott has become a canonical American parable, New York played out its own version of the same drama, more than a century earlier. In July, 1854, Lower Manhattan resident Elizabeth Jennings Graham was on her way to church, and boarded a horse-drawn street car at Chatham and Pearl Streets.
Like much else in mid-19th century New York, street car service was segregated, with most coaches reserved for white riders, but some bearing signs that read, “Negro Persons Allowed in This Car.”
The Bowling Green Greenmarket brings fresh offerings from local farms to Lower Manhattan’s historic Bowling Green plaza. Twice a week year-round stop by to load up on the season’s freshest fruit, crisp vegetables, beautiful plants, and freshly baked loaves of bread, quiches, and pot pies.
Fulton Street cobblestones between South and Front Sts. across from McNally Jackson Bookstore.
Locally grown produce from Rogowski Farm, Breezy Hill Orchard, and other farmers and small-batch specialty food products, sold directly by their producers. Producers vary from week to week.
SNAP/EBT/P-EBT, Debit/Credit, and Farmers Market Nutrition Program checks accepted at all farmers markets.
Today in History
March 10
Harriet Tubman, abolitionist, conductor on underground railroad
241 BC – First Punic War: Battle of the Aegates Islands – The Romans sink the Carthaginian fleet bringing the First Punic War to an end.
1681 – In 1681, King Charles II handed over a large piece of his American land holdings to William Penn to satisfy a debt the king owed to Penn’s father. This land included present-day Pennsylvania and Delaware. Penn immediately sailed to America and his first step on American soil took place in New Castle in 1682.
1801 – First census in Great Britain
1849 – After working on a boat as a young man, Abraham Lincoln devised and eventually applied for a patent that would be able to lift boats over shoals and obstructions in a river. It is the only United States patent ever registered to a President of the United States. Documentation of this patent was discovered in 1997.
1862 – US issues first paper money ($5, $10, $20, $50, $100, $500 & $1000)
1876 – First telephone call made (Alexander Graham Bell to Thomas Watson)
Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone, when he made the first call on March 10, 1876, to his assistant, Thomas Watson: “Mr. Watson—come here—I want to see you.”
1906 – Coal dust explosion kills 1,060 at Courrieres France
1945 – The Army Air Force firebombs Tokyo, and the resulting firestorm kills more than 100,000 people, mostly civilians.
1951 – FBI director J. Edgar Hoover declines post of baseball commissioner
1952 – Military coup led by General Fulgencio Batista in Cuba
1969 – James Earl Ray pleads guilty to murder of Martin Luther King Jr
1975 – Dog spectacles patented in England
2013 – Aung San Suu Kyi is re-elected leader of the Burmese National League for Democracy
Births
1928 – James Earl Ray, assassin (Martin Luther King Jr)
1957 – Osama bin Laden, Riyadh Saudi Arabia, Islamic militant and founder of al-Qaeda
