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AN INVITATION TO ALUMNI DONORS
St. Pascal Baylon Elementary School and the St. Pascal Baylon High School both have active rosters of members who remember their days at the schools, the friends that they made, and the invaluable education they received from the dedicated faculty; religious and laypeople as well as the clergy who were a part of St. Pascal’s parish.
We, the current parishioners of St. Pascal’s, have been honored to have you come “home to Pascal’s” for special liturgies or whenever you’d like to come to worship with us.
We are now inviting all alumni to join us in this effort to complete the organ renovation and “purchase a pipe” for the organ. Each pipe can be purchased for a $1,000 contribution. Your pipe will be identified with your name and/or the name and year of your class should you decide to do a class purchase. [i.e. St. Pascal’s Elementary; class of 1955] or to commemorate a loved one,[living or deceased] a former graduate or perhaps a former teacher. We will place a permanent commemorative display of the names of those who have purchased a pipe.
In these times, this is a real challenge but the desire to preserve a bit of the history of St. Pascal’s is the driving force as well as to honor our former pastor who wanted this work completed. For those of you who graduated from the church or who celebrated your first Holy Communion, Confirmation or Marriage, this organ was an integral part of those celebrations. Too often, we lose the very things that contribute to making our memories and so I hope you can join us in this effort.
Please make your contributions payable to: OurLady of Light Organ Renovation Fund
And mail your contribution to the St. Pascal Baylon Rectory; 112-43 198 Street; St. Albans, NY11412 Attn: Dawn Hewitt.
[St. Pascal Baylon and St. Catherine of Sienna were merged in 2008 and became the Parish of Our Lady of Light].
Please include your complete addresses so that we can acknowledge your gifts and put you on the roster to inform you of the special celebration at the dedication of the organ when the work is completed.
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Vision
The pipe organ at St. Pascal Baylon is a unique and beautiful instrument and is one of two pipe organs in the Southeast Queensdiocesan cluster. It has a majestic sound and when the former pastor, Msgr. Robert McCourt embarked on its renovation a few years ago, his desire was to make this instrument the finest in our cluster and perhaps one of the finest in the Brooklyn diocese. Unfortunately, Msgr. was only able to complete a little over half of all that he planned, Sadly, Msgr. passed away in June of 2011 after a long illness. The church had hoped to finish the instrument as a gift for Msgr. McCourt’s 50th anniversary of his priesthood; his more than 24 years at St. Pascal’s as associate pastor and then pastor and have it done for his anniversary celebration. However, his death occurred just a few days after his actual 50th anniversary as a priest and he didn’t have his celebration with the church. The Organ Committee that formed has continued this project in tribute and we hope to fulfill Msgr’s vision.
Aside from the aesthetics and the rich musical benefits it adds to liturgy, the organ is a very special instrument.
The Organ and its History
The organ at St. Pascal’s was built by the Midmer-Losh Company. The Midmer-Losh Organ Company was a pipe organ building business located in Merrick, New York. Reuben Midmer founded his own organ building company in Brooklyn, New York in 1860. His son Reed started working at the shop at age 14 and eventually took charge of the shop. Around 1875, the name of the company was changed to "Reuben Midmer & Son." When Reuben died, Reed purchased the business from his father's estate; and in 1906, he moved the shop to Merrick. Seibert and George Losh acquired the Midmer & Son firm in 1920. They changed the name of the firm to "Midmer-Losh Organ Company" in 1924. They completed a number of projects and they built the largest organ in the world now in the Atlantic City Boardwalk Hall.
Scope of the Work
The completion of the renovation encompasses connection of the added pipes; updating of the “guts” of the instrument with the addition of an electronic motherboard; the replacement and upgrade of the blower and motor and the first phase of electrical work [which has been completed] At this time, we have completed enough of the electrical work to move the organ blower back up to the choir loft. We have already raised enough funds for purchase of a new blower which is large enough to drive the organ with the newly added pipes. We are now embarking on raising the funds to complete the largest phase of our work; connecting the pipes and completing the connection to the motherboard.
Upon completion, we hope to have a dedication event to Msgr. McCourt in thanks for his vision for St. Pascal Baylon and in keeping with the vision of the parish ….to bring the Light of Christ through Our Lady of Light to our community!
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