From Dr. William Harrison:
This is a question that may have crossed your mind for some time. As many of you are aware, the organ suffered a fatal blow due to a power surge during a lightning storm in the late summer of 2023. This surge killed the switching mechanism of the organ--more about that later.
When I accepted the position at St. Patrick, I was thrilled to reunite with the instrument I practiced on as a child--the mighty Kilgen from St. Benedict's parish in Highland Park. The excitement quickly waned as many of the "stops" on the organ were inoperable, the wind power for the instrument didn't deliver, and most noticeable was that it was badly out of tune. The lightning storm put the organ out of its misery but uncovered even more...
Part of my responsibility as your music director is to be a good steward of the instruments of the parish. I do this by scheduling required maintenance, keeping up with tunings, and asserting that the instruments are not misused or mistreated. I must admit, I am not an organ scholar. I have been trained to play them--not build them. In the months following the storm, I've consulted with many organ technicians, builders, and salesmen. I have uncovered the 70+ page document outlining all of our organ's problems from its installation in 2017. I have prayed for a solution to this problem.
I am not certain that the blame can fall on anyone as there are several outliers in this situation .What was delivered to St. Patrick was an organ that had the potential to be great but never had the oversight to ensure you were getting what you were paying for. A temporary fix to the problem was to rent the organ we are currently using. This was done to avoid being without one altogether while we researched solutions for the Kilgen. Somethings needs to be done to breathe new life into our pipes again...stay tuned for additional information.