See New Pipe Organ At St Katharine Of Siena Church In Wayne

WAYNE, PA — St. Katharine of Siena in Wayne has officially put its new, custom pipe organ into use after a 4-year-long process.

The 2,242-pipe organ made its debut to parishioners on Easter.

The church began working to get a new pipe organ back in the mid 1990s, and the agreement to install it was reached in 2018.

The instrument was hand-made by Fratelli Ruffatti, a world-renowned organ builder in Padua, Italy that has been producing instruments since 1940.

St. Katharine’s organ story began in 1965 when a new church was constructed to replace a smaller, outdated building from 1895.

According to the church, a donor gifted an organ that had been used at an organ teachers’ convention but was never intended for church use; it lacked crucial features such as volume control, was in constant need of costly repairs and was placed in the choir loft which led to logistical and acoustic problems.

The organist frequently had to dash into the organ chamber to adjust or remove pipes that continued to play.

The parish had investigated replacing the organ since 1995. With generous support from its members, that long-held dream has just come true.

Monsignor Hans Brouwers, St. Katharine’s pastor, worked closely with church leaders, the music department and finance committee to thoroughly research whether to rebuild or replace the organ.

Estimates to rebuild came in prohibitively high for such an old instrument; the decision to purchase a new one was made.

Fratelli Ruffatti offered the best proposal to make an organ designed for the church space, using age-proven techniques combined with the latest technology.

The agreement was signed in 2018.

Like everything else, the organ’s eagerly anticipated arrival was postponed due to Covid- 19.

It finally arrived in February in two 40-foot containers.

Four Fratelli Ruffatti craftsmen travelled from Italy to install the organ in the sanctuary, a process which took three weeks and required a specialized, state-of-the-art crane to lift the 2500-pound console and 16-foot mahogany pipes into the church’s choir loft.

There was a unique challenge in accomplishing this: The crane had to fit through the church’s standard-sized doors and be light enough that it wouldn’t damage the terrazzo floors.

Once assembled, two professionals arrived from Italy to tune and voice the 2,242 organ pipes, which took more than a month.