Every Sunday at 6 P.M., the Church of the Ascension, a Catholic parish on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, offers a Mass at which, according to the church website, “a jazz trio plays original compositions, arrangements of traditional hymns and music by composers such as Billy Strayhorn and Duke Ellington.”
The website also notes that “shortly after the . . . Jazz Mass started at Ascension” (about a decade ago) “a bewildered parishioner” approached the pastor “to express disapproval . . . . She didn’t think jazz was appropriate for church and . . . she felt like she ‘should have a martini in her hand.’”
And so was born the tradition of Martini Night. It is described on the Ascension website (click on the tab for “Ministries”) as “the . . . Jazz Mass’ interpretation of the traditional church coffee hour or potluck. On the first Sunday of the month, we gather after Mass for fellowship, food and all kinds of drinks and, yes, martinis.”
There’s a dedicated email address for anyone “with questions, to volunteer, or if you would like to be added to our email reminder list.” The address is (what else?) MartiniMass@aol.com.
Dear Reader,
Can I be direct with you?
War abroad. Socialists on the rise. AI upending human life. Endless uproar online. The modern attention economy doesn’t want readers — it wants users enslaved to the tyranny of the present.
First Things is the antidote: literary excellence, timeless truths, and a fixed point of reference in a culture that has lost its bearings.
But we can’t do it without readers like you.
Our goal: Raise $150,000 by November 1 to sustain First Things in the year ahead.
Your gift anchors readers in the permanent things.
Make your Fall Campaign gift now using the button below.
If you have any questions or would like more information, please contact Giovanni Del Piero, Director of the Editor’s Circle, at gdelpiero@firstthings.com or 212-627-1985.
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE
The Church in the Age of Therapy
In 1966, Philip Rieff wrote in The Triumph of the Therapeutic that “Religious man was born to…
Canada’s Deadliest Blind Spot
On September 20, the Daily Mail ran a story with the provocative headline, “Our 83-year-old Christian grandmother…
The Faithful Joy of Dolly Parton and Fulton Sheen
Dolly Parton and Fulton Sheen seem to have had little in common. She favored rhinestones; he wore…
