The
Story of How a Catholic Parish
This year the traditional celebrations of Holy Week and Easter season at Holy Rosary Church, Burlington, Ontario have been graced by the installation of a new 15 ranks, 14 stops, 816 pipes, mechanical action pipe organ custom designed and built for the church by the Casavant Frères from St-Hyacinthe, Québec. About 12 years ago, when the second electronic organ over a span of 15 years started acting up, the then pastor Fr. Ron Cote decided to form an organ committee to study and look at acquiring a new organ. The members were appointed by Fr. Cote. It consisted of a couple of organists, the music director and a chair person who had administrative skill but next to no knowledge of an organ. The latter choice was deliberate with the intent that the chair could remain relatively objective. The first task for the group was to contact ten local well-known organists or music directors for their recommendations. The message was quite unanimous and clear. If the parish could afford it the pipe organ would be the choice.
One of the organists took the initiative to phone the National Resource
Centre of the Royal College of Canadian Organists (RCCO) and asked for
some guidance on how to decide on getting an organ. The person at the resource
centre was very helpful. Immediately a list of recommended articles was
faxed over. A fairly large number of articles were ordered and subsequently
circulated amongst committee members. These were well-written, factual
and objective articles published in the RCCO magazine American Organists.
The committee also invited a priest who had a degree in church music to serve as a consultant. This priest was from outside the Toronto diocese. He came for a few meetings and gave a very succinct analysis of the various pipe organ builders. While he was in favour of a pipe organ for its pure sound and lasting nature, he could see the advantage of having an electronic organ for financial reasons. It became apparent that after about three years, though the pipe organ was the choice by logic, it was not the choice by the finance status of the parish which happened to be in the process of building a parish centre. This indecision was further muddled by some myths. There was a general belief that the playing of a pipe organ was different from playing a full pedal electronic organ even though the two types of instrument had comparable keyboard, stops and pedals. The other myth was that the sound from the pipe organ would be overpowering. There were also people who could not tell the difference. Some even concluded that for one third of the price, an electronic organ would provide much more sound than a pipe organ In face of a stalemate, the project was arrested. The parish put all its effort into the funding of a new parish centre. Someone in the parish donated their home electronic organ to tie over the period of need. One year after the debt of the parish centre was paid for, the electronic organ donated became rather mute quite suddenly. Despite hours of work by the technical person, it could not be repaired to sound properly. The pastor recalled the organ project that was supposed to go in parallel with the parish centre and that he had put to rest. Perhaps deep down in his heart he had always known that the pipe organ was the instrument of choice. When he resurrected the project he did not recall the old organ committee. Instead, he asked advice only from the organist who had some training on the pipe organ. By then some of the organ builders had either retired or passed away. Of the few larger pipe organ builders, Casavant Frères was chosen because of its longstanding history of excellence and its service availability. When contacted, the Toronto Casavant representative responded immediately. As anticipated, the estimate price from 10 years ago had almost doubled. After the initial visit, Mr. Didier Grassin, director of the mechanical action department at Casavant, came to the Church to reassess the previous 10-year old design. The new instrument in a slightly different position than the original design would complement the existing carvings and become one of the focal points of the sanctuary. Plans are also in the works for an alcove for one of the statues, counter balancing the organ design, on the other side of the Chancel. A new organ committee was formed specifically to look after funding of this project. A finance committee meeting was called by Fr. Cote. They suggested that he should present the project to the parish and to see if there would be enough support. Over the span of a few weeks Fr. Cote wrote and explained about this project in the church bulletins step-by-step. “What about the poor?” some asked. Jesus’ response in Bethany came to mind, “You have the poor with you always, and you will not always have me.” (Jn 12:8) The Casavant representative helped put a price on each section of the organ. Fr. Cote then presented a brochure with the different available parts for donation and asked for a pledge from the community. He received more than half of the total amount in pledge in a few weeks. As he was about to retire he invited and consulted the incoming pastor Fr. Frank Trzupek. It happened that Fr. Trzupek was a firm believer in acquiring a pipe organ for liturgical celebration. He was instrumental in putting a Casavant pipe organ in St. Stanislaus in Hamilton some 20 years ago. Fr. Cote also discussed the idea with Bishop Tonnos of Hamilton. Finally the Casavant representative was contacted again. This time a contract was drawn and was signed a couple months later in mid 2004. The organ would take about 20 months to build. The cost had to be paid by installments with the final one to be paid after full installation of the organ. In the interim, the home organ from the organist was on loan to the church. For general education of the parish, a couple members of the new organ committee gave a brief presentation at the end of each mass one weekend illustrating the steps involved in building a pipe organ, and the strategic plans in fund-raising. Each year three collection envelopes for organ fund were inserted in the regular donation envelopes for the parishioners. During the third Sunday of Advent in 2004, the choir of Cathedral of Christ the King in Hamilton helped generously by performing a fund-raising concert at Holy Rosary Church in Burlington. Their music director and organist Mr. Rob Corso planned a full program of choral music alternating with communal singing. From soft gentle whispers to glorious thundering roars their gift of music lifted the spirit of the audience and gave a flare to the celebration of Gaudate Sunday, 'Rejoice in the Lord. Rejoice, the Lord is near.' The concert marked the beginning of a series of fund-raising efforts. An Octoberfest in 2005 raised a significant sum but more importantly the process was community-building. Both adults and children of the parish enjoyed the event tremendously, as did the Octoberfest working committee. Meanwhile Didier Grassin, who designed the organ, returned to the church a couple more times to fine tune the measurements and to match the hues of the pews and the wood frame of the church ceiling to the organ casing. The pipes were voiced in a preliminary fashion and the organ was first assembled in the factory. It was then taken apart for transportation to the church. When the organ was due to arrive in Lent, all communal activities using the parish centre had to be cancelled for a few weeks. The pipes and parts were stored in the centre. The installation of parts was done by two to five people daily including Mr.Grassin himself. They worked 10-12 hour days for six days. The following week the pipes were voiced and tuned by two skillful technical staff. The tonal director of Casavant, Jacquelin Rochette, flew down from Quebec mid-week and supervised the staff for two days. It took another six 10-hour days before the organ was ready for playing. The experience of playing on this instrument alone and for the first time on the evening before Passion Sunday was sacred. It was a combination of awe and of profound gratitude. The first piece played and prayed was Oh God Beyond All Praising. All the events that took place in the past 12 years flashed back and crystallized to one single point – Glory be to God, Alleluia! After Passion Sunday and Easter Triduum, the response from the community was enthusiastic and their excitement infectious. A few young children came up to ask for lessons. These properly guided will be the seeds of future organists. The music team of Hamilton diocese had organized a workshop to take place in Holy Rosary Church for the keyboard instrumentalists of the diocese on the morning of April 29th. The next musical event took place in the evening of May 29th 2006. This time the Dofasco Choir was the one offering their time and talent for fund-raising. The community of Holy Rosary ought to be complimented. The acquisition of a pipe organ is counter-cultural in a money-focused society with a mentality of instant gratification. It is well worth its effort. However, it takes time, patience, organization and help from everyone in the parish to work on a project that promises to bring lasting enhancement to our liturgical celebrations for generations to come. In the Vatican II document Constitution on Sacred Liturgy it is stated: ‘In the Latin Church the pipe organ is to be held in high esteem, for it is the traditional musical instrument which adds a wonderful splendor to the Church's ceremonies and powerfully lifts up the human mind to God and to higher things.’ (#120) For the organ specifications click here.
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