The local chapter of the National Association of Pastoral Musicians’ annual St. Cecilia Sing Nov. 21 accompanied the dedication of an organ newly installed at St. Thomas More Church on South Third Street.
The annual St. Cecilia Sing draws together pastoral musicians from around the archdiocese for a concert of sacred music.
During this year’s event, Father Troy Overton, pastor, dedicated and blessed a Rodgers Digital Organ that was recently given to the parish by St. Xavier High School.
The organ was originally installed in the auditorium of St. Xavier in 1990, according to Rick Knoop, who recently retired from the school as a choral and German teacher.
The instrument “was overseen by the late Dr. Perry E. Sangalli, a long-revered member of the local chapter of NPM, the National Association of Pastoral Musicians,” said Knoop in a statement about the organ. Sangalli, who served as a teacher and leader at St. X, died in 2019 while serving as president of the school.
When the school decided to remove the organ, Knoop said, he was asked to find a suitable home.
Knoop, who grew up at St. Thomas More, noted that the organ is blessed and dedicated “to honor the Xaverian Brothers, students, faculty and alumni of St. Xavier High School.”
He also added that the National Association of Pastoral Musicians will host the group’s national conference in Louisville in June.
