2005-05-01 As we abound with many causes for thanksgiving...

May 1, 2005

As we abound with many causes for thanksgiving in this Easter season, chief of which is our new Pope Benedict XVI, we dedicate this Ascension Day a new organ to the praise and glory of God who is the source of all harmony. With the many obligations that come with so grand a church building as the one entrusted to us, it was not welcome news a few years ago that it would cost at least a quarter of a million dollars just to repair our old instrument which served us well for nearly half a century. This was at a time when our roof and walls were in far worse shape than originally thought and were in fact becoming a danger. Then there was also the mortgage debt. By tremendous effort, repairs were funded and the mortgage debt finally paid. But what about the organ?

Providentially, a gift was offered by Mr. James Manning not just to repair what we had, but to build a great new organ both worthy of this church and able to last many generations. James Manning is not a parishioner and no longer lives in New York but he worshipped here often and has been a friend of mine for many years. The construction of the organ was begun a year ago in Ohio by the Schantz Company, the oldest organ builders in the nation. It is given as memorial to his beloved wife of fifty-five years of happy marriage, Eileen Grady Manning. I was with her and her family when she died on November 11, 2003, ending a lifetime which singularly graced her family and friends and Holy Church.

Eileen was born in Brooklyn in 1928 and attended Holy Cross Grammar School and Catherine McAuley High School. She worked as a legal secretary and married in 1949. As wife and mother of three daughters, she helped those in need through many organizations with her many talents and philanthropic benefactions. Knighted a Dame of Malta in 1990, she was especially involved in medical works as well as the Catholic Big Sisters, and was instrumental in establishing the Cardinal Cooke Health Care Center and a hospital for the physically and mentally ill in Caherciveen, Ireland. Her husband continues this tradition and is a leading supporter of pro-life youth programs and help for needy and abandoned infants.

This benefaction is a spirited challenge to us in the fiftieth anniversary year of our parish to build up an already distinguished musical program. We should ever more heartily join our voices to the splendid pipes of this instrument. The technicians say that our church has the finest acoustics they have known. In his visit last year, Cardinal Schonborn of Vienna, a close friend of Pope Benedict XVI, said that our parish’s liturgical life pleased him greatly and could be a model for others. So now it is time to try to do even more as we heed the call of our new Pope to proclaim the Gospel with true Catholic joy and fidelity.

Bring your friends and neighbors to the dedication of the Eileen Grady Manning Memorial Organ at 6 P.M. this Thursday, Ascension Day.

Fr. George W. Rutler