May 17, 2026, 12:00 PM
We often want to hear a progress report. Think of how we watch the thermometer on a fundraising chart. Remember how often you asked Fr Dias and me about our standings in Rectory Set Cook. We keep a keen eye on all sorts of ratings—politicians, sports teams, the stock market.
Over the past year, many of you (especially at St Boniface Church) have asked about our progress with the once damaged pipe organ. Truth is, it’s a slow process. The electronics take time to build. Likewise, the wood cabinetry of the console. Pipes demand careful cleaning, restoring and tuning. And then there’s the bulky business of putting it all together in the worship space. But, we’re moving forward. And today I have the pictures to show you.
Let’s take a look. First, the thing that looks like a bunch of bells. Those are the zimbelstern. You most likely hear them during the Gloria on those occasions when we’re either saying farewell to that song of praise (Holy Thursday as we enter into the Lord’s Passion) or welcoming it back after a pause (at Midnight Mass and the Easter Vigil). They look like bells and they sound like bells.
Then the console with its many keys. Remember, the console isn’t the instrument (unlike a piano or synthesizer that creates and projects its sound). The organ’s console directs the true instrument—the pipes in the gallery, even the electronic sounds sent to speakers above and around us.
And then the stops. The identify the sound a particular pipe will make. Many imitate other instruments—the trompette and the viol, for example. Many others are distinctly organ sounds—the diapasons. If you look closely, you’ll see some stops have a small dot—they mark the pipes from the original historic organ. That gives the musician the option to perform a piece using solely the pipes.
That’s where we are now. Work’s being done in shops at some distance from. Wait—like Our Lady and the disciples in that supper room—in patience until it all comes together in beautiful song to the glory of God.
Fr. McCreary
