The current church was built in 1981 and expanded in 1995. Capacity of the church is a little less than 1,100 people. As can be seen above, the church is laid out in a semi-circle with the organ sitting on the left side of the room. The terrazzo floor and lack of any carpeting anywhere in the room make it very bright thus sound travels well. Hence the small stature of the organ is not as much of an issue than it would be if the room had carpeting or other sound dampening accessories.

The organ was built by Joe Humpe of Humpe Organ Company in Richmond, OH under the consultation of then Diocesan Music Director Msgr. F. Thomas Gallen (an old photo of Msgr. Gallen can be found here). The organ's console was built with expansion in mind and includes several blank knobs for additional ranks, however the organ was not expanded during the church's expansion.

While fully functioning, the church's organ shares Mass accompaniment duties with a couple Contemporary Music ensembles. It is an instrument of small stature, and should the parish need to build a new church due to parish growth, the instrument likely would be replaced (there is nothing of historical significance in the instrument to suggest it should be preserved). However for now, the humble Humpe organ ambles along.

Sound Clip

Title
Crescendo with Sforzando - Starting with a C chord, the crescendo pedal is slowly depressed adding ranks along the way. The small size of this instrument is quite evident by the relatively few ranks added along the way, especially in the lower registers.

Credits and Links

I'd like to thank the staff at St. Brendan for assistance and access to the instrument. Thanks also to former St. Brendan Music Director Pete McClernon for providing historical information for the instrument.

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