| An Organ for Our New Church |
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| Friday, 23 December 2005 | |
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We are still in need of a donor...or donors for an organ for the new church. There is no organ on order for the church.
Pope Calls Organ an Evangelization Tool Says Music Can Bring Experience of God Who Is Joy (CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy, JULY 7, 2008 (Zenit.org))- Benedict XVI says that organs can proclaim the Gospel in a way, recalling a concert during which the Pope said he and the other listeners were able to experience that God is joy. A choral group from Regensburg, Germany, visited the Holy Father on Saturday at Castel Gandolfo. On Sept. 13, 2006, in his visit to that city, the Pontiff blessed the organ of the "Alte Kapelle" [Old Chapel] there, where his brother, Monsignor Georg Ratzinger, was once director. Benedict XVI told his visitors he was pleased with their visit. "It revives in me the memory of that wonderful day, in which I was able to bless the new organ, the ‘Benedikt-Orgel,' in the ‘Old Chapel,'" reported the Vatican press office. He said: "I have an indelible memory of how -- in the harmony of that wonderful organ, of the choir conducted by Kohlhaufel, and the luminous beauty of the church -- we experienced the joy that comes from God. Not just the ‘spark of the gods' of which Schiller speaks, but truly the flame of the Holy Spirit that brought us to feel in our innermost being what we also know from the Gospel of St. John: That he himself is joy. And this joy was communicated to us." The Pope added how pleased he was that this organ "continues to play and to help people perceive something of the splendor of our faith -- a splendor kindled by the Holy Spirit himself. With it, the organ carries out an evangelizing function, proclaims the Gospel in its own way." "We, here, cannot offer an organ or a choir, but we have the beauty of the ‘Castle' and the beauty of the South spread around us," he continued. "Although the sun at this moment radiates its heat in, perhaps, a too abundant manner, the light of the South, however, remains as a small celebration that will be for all of you a memory to take home. "I see that we will also receive gifts, therefore I can already express beforehand my gratitude because you did not come empty-handed. I can assure you of most beautiful and rich days here in Rome. And take my cordial greetings to Regensburg and to the ‘Old Chapel.'"
During the past two years we have been offered for a fee or even for free a number of organs. More than 20 of them. And many of them were quite lovely. But trying to take an existing organ and install it in a different building than it was built for can be expensive. In one case an organ that would have been a great asset to our church was found to be 1' too wide (29' rather than the 28' width of the choir loft. And it would have totally hidden the rear rose window. Someday it would be nice to have a pipe organ suitable for the size of this building like we see in pictures of churches in Europe. What people do not know is that these organs are purchased by the government in most countries as Catholic and Lutheran church buildings in Germany are government owned and supported. The organs in French churches were declared to be owned by the government after WWII which means many of them do not get the maintenance they need. Here in the United States most large pipe organs are the gift of a single donor. The affordable digital organ, which plays digital samples of pipes like a CD player, has become very popular in churches both large and small across the United States. Two of the largest digital organ builders in the world are here in the US. But at this point there is no money for an organ. Choir members are banding together to raise some funds among themselves. If we do not bring the old organ over and instead sell it to the Presbyterians, we will realize a significant amount from not having to purchase a new sound system to make it play in the new church along with a reasonable offer for it by the Presbyterian Church. Could we use the old organ in the new church? Sure. Aside from the need for a new audio system, enlarged far beyond the one it plays through now, we would be making an organ designed for a smaller church play much louder, rather than richer in sound, to match the new building. The limitations of the old organ are simple. It has a small number of tonal sources....about 30. A church this size needs at least 70 to 120 tonal sources. To put this in another way, imagine if the artisans who designed our beautiful stained glass windows determined that they needed glass of 120 different colors to create the windows but were told that they would have to pick from only 30 colors. It's the same with organ stops...each has a tonal color and we need more than the old organ has to offer for this new church building, so that organ may truly be an "evangelization tool." Please see Noel Jones or Fr. Dowling if you would like to donate to make a new organ possible for our parish. _________ RELATED NEWS ARTICLE ON ORGANS IN CHURCH________
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