St.
Mary, Star of the Sea, Church
St. Mary's Church was established in 1857 and since then has grown in both size and diversity. Located at 1920 New Haven Avenue, Far Rockaway, New York, 143 years later it still serves the surrounding Catholic community.
(Interior of St. Mary, Star of the Sea...Mary Mooney, far left.)
In a letter dated December 6, 1999, Father Ogle, pastor of St. Mary's, had this to say. "St. Mary's Church is a parish of over 1200 people who hail from at least 40 different countries and where Mass is celebrated in 3 languages regularly for every conceivable ethnic group. Our music program comprises as many as six different choirs according to age and language. So our musical needs cover a wide and challenging range. Yet our community is by no means a prosperous one. "Our
previous organ was a nearly fifty-year-old Hammond electronic
which had seen better days. After determining that it was no
longer cost-effective to repair it, Sister Consuelo, our music
director, and I formed a search committee of about 8 people
representing the various ethnic groups of the parish. We visited "Our visit to the Allen plant in Macungie, PA, only reinforced our judgment that Allen was the company that could offer us the best product, service and aesthetic quality. We were greatly pleased with the attentive service Claire Arnold and Bob Wyatt provided us, and even more delighted with the first-class dedicatory organ recital they gave the parish a few months after installation. "We organized a special fund-raising campaign which enabled us to have the organ installed debt-free. A new organ has a special appeal that motivates people to go beyond their normal giving levels. "The
reviews by the people for our new organ have ranged from positive
to glowing. Allen Organ has truly proved itself a friend to
St. Mary's parish." Respectfully
yours,
In a note dated 1/5/2001, Father Ogle says: "The organ is doing fine and we had another good Christmas concert with our 8 parish choirs. We hosted the ecumenical service for the area this year and were proud of our fine instrument with our visiting organists. Happy new year and thanks!" |
Design
& Development of this page: HMP |
seven different churches representing four different organ companies
in the price range we had established. After reviewing all the
data gathered, we came to a consensus that the Allen Prot??6
was the model that best suited our pastoral, musical and economic
requirements.
