Mercy Academy has given its 1957 C-3 Hammond electric organ to St. Bernadette Church, 6500 St. Bernadette Avenue.
The organ provided music in the Sisters of Mercy’s St. Catherine Chapel — which was located at St. Catherine Convent on Mercy’s old Broadway campus — for at least five decades. When Mercy Academy moved to its new location on Fegenbush Lane and the convent closed, the organ sat unused in the school’s chapel, according to Ned Berghausen, Mercy’s campus minister.
David Zorn, worship and music director at St. Bernadette, said the parish is “excited” to receive the organ. Zorn said many digital keyboards are programmed to sound like the organ, but the quality is not the same.
The Hammond organ is “a soulful and expressive instrument,” said Zorn. “It creates tones that give a depth” that cannot be reproduced with a keyboard.”
The organ will be blessed during Mass on Jan. 12.
