There’s a beautiful 113 year old Catholic Church two hours away from my city with phenomenal acoustics (tall parabolic ceilings, zero carpeting, acoustic panels, or felt banners to absorb the sound), beautiful stained glass from France as well as other pieces of genuine sacred art. The church itself is a piece of sacred architectural art. It also contains the original 1927 Casavant pipe organ from the Diocese’s Cathedral. It was moved in the 50s when the Cathedral’s organ was significantly upgraded.

I was shocked and depressed when the Diocese closed the church in 2011 claiming it “had no historical significance” (It was the first Catholic Parish in the city and built mostly by hand by the Irish Catholic immigrants and sits in the heart of downtown along with the city’s historical buildings.) It sat closed until very recently. A group of parishioners appealed to the Vatican and the Vatican determined due process wasn’t followed when deciding to close the church and ordered the Diocese to re-open it.

It currently is in need of at least $3.3 million in repairs and upgrades to bring it back up to standards. This amount was announced back in January on this year and as of April, they’ve already raised half of the amount. I’ve also found $225,000 in municipal and provincial matching grants to apply for to fund the repair and revitalization of historical buildings (and I know there are more. This was just a quick search). Unfortunately, the bishop won’t allow any of the repairs to begin unit all the funds are raised. Unfortunately, that includes the leaking roof, which means more damage is accumulating. That being said, considering this is a small city with a relatively small and older Catholic population (though, there’s both a college and a university in the city and the young Catholic population has grown significantly since I moved away), as well as also fundraising to build a new large Catholic Church “complex” that amount is impressive.

Anyways, as far as I know, the organ has been sitting in the closed church for at least 12 to 13 years, possibly more. I haven’t seen any mention of the pipe organ in any of the repairs or upgrades. I don’t even think it’s on their radar or if they even know, at least IMHO, it’s somewhat of a historically significant organ. Furthermore, I don’t even think there’s a Catholic organist in the city to oversee its care and maintenance. According to online information it’s listed as “playable”, but that was posted in 2019 while the church was closed and the organ not even accessible. I don’t trust it.

It’s fairly small (6 stops and between 300 and 400 pipes). I’ve attached its stop list and other relevant information. Based on my experience of hearing it once (while sitting in the balcony amongst the pipes) it’s rather underwhelming, at least compared to my parish’s organ, which is almost 4x the size despite the church being smaller (mine is approximately 500 people whereas the other church is closer to 600-700 people). That being said, given the church’s amazing acoustics, sheer beauty, and long aisle, the city’s growing young adult Catholic population, it is a prime location for beautiful Catholic marriages to take place with beautiful pipe organ music. I believe a functional and well-maintained pipe organ, even if it is a bit on the small size, is a necessity and has the potential to generate revenue to put towards the building’s upkeep.

Ideally, it would be eventually cleaned, rejuvenated and expanded into something that is more appropriate for the size of the church building. The good news is there’s an organ builder and technician only two hour away, so mileage costs would be minimal.

I’m definitely not an organist, nor do I have any current connection to the church, as I don’t live in the city any more. I also don’t really have any of my own funds at this time to invest in this organ. That being said I feel like I can’t just turn a blind eye and let it waste away.

The current pastor isn’t really interested in sacred art, beauty, the Church’s traditions or monuments. His background is commerce and he’s about functionality, return on investment, and other business aspects. Don’t get me wrong, I know that’s important, but just from my own experience of the beauty and the distinct Catholic architecture of this church played in my return to the faith* when words and arguments wouldn’t be effective, leave me to believe that it can have the same impact on bringing other people to the Catholic faith.

Anyways, all that being said, is there anything I can do to help prevent any further damage to this organ and ideally get it restored and taken care of? I don’t even know how to find out the current condition of this organ. Any advice would be helpful and appreciated.

*I moved away from home to the city for school, but quickly became homesick. Despite not being a practicing Catholic and having lost all faith in the Real Presence of the Eucharist when I was around 9 from watching people’s irreverence towards it, the homesickness made me want something familiar. I recognized the church’s Catholic steeple from the other end of the city, went driving around downtown until I found the church and started attending Mass there in 2007 until Ash Wednesday of 2011 during “Ashes” I could no longer tolerate crappy church music (we’re talking drums, accordion, tambourine, and 12 string guitar and the worst music you could find in Breaking Bread at the time, with the exception of one Palm Sunday when there was a random young man was playing the church’s pipe organ) after discovering the Traditional Latin Mass two hours away where, after three cities, two provinces, two dioceses and 5 churches, I finally found a priest willing to hear my confession. Then I just started making the two hour one way drive to the other city for the TLM.