I love our church building. It is both a handsome structure and a wonderful place to worship. The mica schist walls, with their crystals that glisten in the light, are both strong and lively, and our stunning stained glass windows depict Salvation History so well, from the first moment of creation to the Church of today. Our granite altars – with their two pedestals that remind me of both the two tablets of the Ten Commandments and Christ’s two-fold law of love of God and neighbor – are extraordinarily worthy of the sacrifice that is offered every time we gather to celebrate the Eucharist. The wooden ceiling, supported by massive support beams, speak to me of Noah’s Ark, the Ark of the Covenant and the Temple of Solomon – all wooden structures where God was so evident throughout the ages. And, due to its open design, terrazzo floor and stone and glass walls, our church has wonderful acoustics. We are all indebted to the careful planning and great generosity of our predecessors for providing us with such a beautiful place to worship God.
There is one feature in our church, however, that is not equal to the excellent qualities as I have described above – our pipe organ. It was built in 1965 by Tellers, a now-defunct organ building company, for an organ teachers’ convention in Philadelphia and was never intended for church use. Since the construction cost for our new church, completed in 1966, was already substantial ($750,000 – equivalent to $6.2 million today), Fr. William O’Donnell, the pastor at that time, was very grateful for the generous offer by a parishioner to pay for the installation of this organ; it was a good temporary solution. Although I’m not an organist, I have learned enough about organs that I’ve known, ever since I came here, that it wasn’t a good church organ and that it was in need of serious work. The only reason it sounds as good as it does is because we have very accomplished organists who can work around its serious shortcomings. Shortly after I arrived here, I found records going back to 1995 indicating that previous pastors had researched the possibility of replacing the organ with at least five different companies since this one wasn’t right for the church and was in constant need of maintenance and repair.
Our current organ also raises serious logistical challenges for our musicians. As I’m sure you’ve noticed, they have to run from the choir loft down to the piano behind the altar and then back again throughout Mass because some pieces are best accompanied by an organ, others by a piano. And, there are acoustical shortcomings. The cantor and choir struggle with the delay between the organ and the altar area. And, because of its location, the organ is not suitable for use at small weddings or funerals that are celebrated in the daily Mass chapel.
Allow me to describe to you some of the other limitations of our organ. You need simply look up into the choir loft and see that several of the pipes are sagging and leaning. That’s because they are made of inferior material and are beginning to buckle. If you go up into the choir loft (and everyone will be invited to do so after all of the Masses next weekend), you will see that the organ console is in poor condition. The electrical control panel was clearly intended to be temporary and is outdated. The expression chamber, if it was ever operational, is no longer functioning. Over the past several months, you may have noticed that some of the keys are sticking and several of the stops are malfunctioning, as well.
I have looked into repairing the current organ and contacted three organ repair companies. After examining it, two of them wouldn’t even offer a proposal and the third offered an estimate at the cost of $75,000 just to repair it but without a guarantee since the organ has too many structural issues.
It was all of this that led us to decide to replace it. Two years ago, under the expert leadership of Ted Latham, who was then our Liturgical Music Director, we developed and circulated a request for proposals (RFP). As we prepared our RFP, we determined that we should also take advantage of this moment to address two important shortcomings of the current situation that I mentioned above: its logistical challenges and acoustical shortcomings. These would be overcome with an additional organ console near the piano and additional pipes in the daily Mass chapel area. So, we requested the inclusion of an option for an additional console to be installed where Msgr. Carroll’s confessional is currently and antiphonal pipes above the doors in the daily Mass chapel.
Four organ companies submitted proposals. I was looking for relatively local companies to ensure good service after installation. We received proposals from companies in King of Prussia, Upper Darby, Pottstown and Allentown. One of these companies, that specializes in rebuilding organs and had a particular liking for Tellers organs, proposed rebuilding our current organ at a cost of $714,000. Another company had pipes from a 19th century English organ to offer; his proposal had a price tag of $590,000. A third withdrew his proposal, recognizing that he wasn’t up to the task. Cunningham Piano (with its headquarters in King of Prussia), which represents Fratelli Ruffatti (a world class organ-building company in Padua, Italy), offered the best proposal. They would build a new organ specifically for our worship space for $1,050,000. It would be a state-of-the art instrument, using both age-proven building techniques and the best materials as well as the latest electronic technology to make it a versatile instrument that would serve us well and last a long time.
Ted, Valentin Radu (a parishioner who is also an accomplished organist – he provides organ accompaniment at our 5:00pm Sunday Vigil Mass) and I visited several churches in the area to examine and listen to organs that had been installed by two of the companies. And, Ted flew to Florida to examine and play the only organ on the East Coast that Ruffatti had recently installed (founded in 1940, Ruffatti has installed over 500 organs worldwide). It was clear that the Ruffatti organ proposal was the best and would be perfectly suited to our church. So, after extensive consultation with both our Parish Pastoral Council and Parish Finance Council – and with their approval – I submitted the proposals to the Archdiocese in April of 2017 and received approval at the end of October 2017. The contract was signed by all the necessary parties this past April and construction has begun. I had the privilege of seeing some of the pipes already completed when I visited the factory in Padua last June during my vacation in northern Italy.
We have parish reserves that could pay for our new pipe organ but our Parish Finance Council and I think it is wiser to keep them for emergency purposes. So, we have established the Keys to the Kingdom Capital Campaign. As I mentioned last week, we already have $443,000 in cash and pledges toward this Campaign thanks to a few generous parishioners and so now I ask all parishioners for your support. As I noted last week, I’ve been inspired by the generosity of our parishioners in the past and am confident that we can raise the necessary funds over the next two-and-a-half years; this Capital Campaign is scheduled to end in December 2021.
As I mentioned above, as we worked on this project, I discussed it with our Parish Pastoral Council, our Parish Finance Council and our Parish Worship Committee. Although there was, understandably, some initial resistance due to the cost, everyone on these committees has come to recognize that it’s a good idea and is supportive.
As we discussed this plan in the Pastoral Council, one member asked: “Can we get something cheaper?” Yes, we could get a digital organ but, even the best digital organ could not match the quality of a fine pipe organ. I think the people of our parish appreciate fine quality and understand that, as they enjoy God’s abundant blessings, they want to give God their very best.
And, someone on the Finance Council asked: “How long would we expect this organ to last?” When I responded that organs of this quality last more than 100 years, he noted that, when amortized, this project would cost us about $10,000 a year; not a bad deal for such a fine instrument.
Additionally, Cunningham has offered a new piano at a deeply discounted price. Our current piano is adequate but would show its limitations in comparison to our new organ. And, we need to replace the upright piano currently being used in the parish center for our school music program and other parish events. Since there are those who prefer the piano over the organ, we thought this would be an opportune moment to also provide a new, superior piano. Bösendorfer is one of the finest pianos and, through Cunningham, we can purchase a Bösendorfer grand piano Model 225 for $165,000. This will allow us to replace the piano in the parish center and have a new piano of quality similar to our new pipe organ in church.
So, the total goal of this Keys to the Kingdom Campaign, which, as I mentioned above, will continue until December 2021, is $1,275,000; this includes the price of both instruments and redesign costs. Your contribution can be a onetime donation or in installments spread over the next 32 months. And, as I’m sure you have heard, we have recently introduced Parish Giving into the parish, allowing you to make payments either through credit card or your bank account. You will find details about this in the mailing you will receive over the next two weeks. I am committed to this important project myself and have personally signed up to contribute $10,000 – it came to a little more than $250 a month when I did this and it was really easy to sign up.
As you have been generous in support of your parish in the past, I look forward to your generous support of this important project to improve our worship of God. Just as our predecessors left us with the beautiful church that I described earlier as their legacy to us, so we now have the opportunity to leave a pipe organ and piano designed specifically for our church as our legacy for future parishioners. Thank you, in advance, for your continued generosity to this great parish!