AN INTRODUCTION TO GRACE CHURCH

Anglo-Catholic Tradition. Grace Church in Newark was founded in 1837 to be the standard-bearer for Anglo-Catholicism in northern New Jersey.  

• What is an Anglo-Catholic Parish? 
• What Still Separates Anglican and Roman Catholics? 
   by John Macquarrie
• Orthodox: Does the Term Fit the Episcopal Church? 
   by C. Christopher Epting
• How the Episcopal Church Teaches the Catholic Faith 

Liturgy.   Our liturgy reflects the influence of both the nineteenth-century Catholic revival in Anglicanism and the twentieth-century Liturgical Movement. We use Rite Two.  Incense, lights, and colorful vestments enrich our worship, but it is uncluttered and provides ample opportunity for the active participation of the people.

• Service Leaflet for June 28―Ordinary Time: Proper 8
• Other Service Leaflets
• Grace Church's Liturgical Customary
• Proper Postcommunion Prayers for Sundays and Holy Days
• A Commentary on the Services of  the Paschal Triduum
  (Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and the Easter Vigil)   

Music.   Music is central to our liturgy.  At the ten o'clock Mass on Sundays most of the liturgy is sung—some parts by the congregation and others by a small choir.  The people normally sing the Gloria or Kyrie, the responses, the response to the Gradual psalm, the Alleluia, the Nicene Creed, the Sanctus, and three metrical hymns.  The choir sings one or two motets or anthems and the Agnus Dei and also sings the introit, offertory antiphon, and communion antiphon to their proper Gregorian chant melodies.  Our organ is a 48-stop tracker instrument built by Casavant Frères in 1990. 

• Organ specifications

• Director of Music

• Responsorial Gradual Psalms, Arranged by James McGregor (with verses fully notated)―1979 Lectionary

• Gospels for Sundays and Holy Days, Notated for singing

• The Passion According to Matthew, Notated for singing

• The Passion According to Mark, Notated for singing

• The Passion According to Luke, Notated for singing

• The Passion According to John, Notated for singing

• Prayers Over the People (Replacing the Blessing in Lent), Notated for Singing

Christian Education.  Church school classes convene when the 10 a.m. Mass begins and meet during the Liturgy of the Word.  The children enter the church during the exchange of the Peace and participate in the Liturgy of the Eucharist.  An adult Bible study group meets every week (normally on Wednesday evenings). Programs for teenagers that combine education and recreation are scheduled on Saturdays.

Parish Community.  Our congregation includes people from Africa and the Caribbean as well as Europeans, Caucasian Americans, and African Americans. Its members are young and old, married and single, gay and straight.  They are eager to welcome others into the parish community. Coffee hour follows both Sunday Masses. 

• Clergy, Staff, and Vestry

Church Building.  Our church building, erected in 1848, was designed by Richard Upjohn, and is a Registered National Landmark.

• Sermon Preached at the Consecration of Grace Church (1848) by the Right Reverend George Washington Doane, Bishop of New Jersey