Ship of Fools: St Agnes, Phoenix, Arizona, USA

The Mystery Worshipper

Ship of Fools: St Agnes, Phoenix, Arizona, USA

Christmas Eve mass with a beautifully played but mysteriously hidden organ

Read the full Mystery Worshipper report here

Portola

Thank you, Miss Amanda, for describing your Christmas Eve with such interesting detail. It is strange that a church would hide the organ pipes, because they are usually a feature of interest and worth looking at. Also, if the organist is not visible for the congregation, how is it if he/she accompanies a choir? Is the choir also hidden behind the altar? How does the presiding priest communicate non-verbally with the organist during the liturgy? One gets the impression that whoever designed this church did not like organs and organists. It is poignant that you had your Christmas Eve dinner at KFC; aside from the cole slaw, I think their biscuits are good.

Bishops Finger

Good questions @Portola - apart from the Mysterious Mystery of the Missing Organ, it seems to have been a well-ordered service. Pity about the lack of congregational singing, but that appears to be common in RC churches on both sides of the Pond.

The hour of the Mass (430pm) is preferable IMHO to the later times we have in the C of E.

BTW, I think I could manage Christmas Eve dinner at KFC, to whose offerings I'm quite partial...

Amanda B Reckondwyth

It's real chicken coated with real ingredients and healthily cooked. Although I had the chicken tenders.

I may make a return visit to the church to inspect the organ more carefully. One may wonder how the pipes speak if they are concealed behind a baffle, but apparently there are microphones picking up the sound and projecting it through good speakers.

The church's website says they have a choir. If it is still active, I will take careful note of where the choristers sit and how the organist communicates with them.

Nick Tamen

Portola wrote: »

Also, if the organist is not visible for the congregation, how is it if he/she accompanies a choir? Is the choir also hidden behind the altar? How does the presiding priest communicate non-verbally with the organist during the liturgy?

Having been in the choir in churches where the organist is “hidden” and not visible to clergy or facing away from the clergy, I can confirm that there are Ways. Mirrors, for example, or relying on a third person to relay signals. Or these days, screens showing a video feed.

ChastMastr

Christmas dinner from KFC is quite Japanese!

https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/travel/article/kfc-christmas-tradition-japan

Amanda B Reckondwyth

I attended the 9:00 mass this morning. The choir sits in stalls behind the altar, with the organ console facing them. They are not visible to the congregation. They did not sit in any particular formation, and they dressed casually. I did not think they sang with any degree of musicality.

Portola

If the choir is invisible to the congregation then they are cut off from the worshipping congregation. For the choir and the organist the service is reduced to an audio experience. Why would anyone design a church in a way which hides and isolates people who contribute to worship? It is incomprehensible to me. Speaking ironically: one could get the idea that the architect knew ahead of time that the choir would not look impressive or sing effectively.
A note to ChastMastr: thank you for the link to the Christmas role of KFC in Japan.

Amanda B Reckondwyth

It would be so easy to rectify this. There are choir stalls on either side of the altar. Have the choir sit in them. Also, move the organ console out in front. There is plenty of room. But it didn't look to me like one of Aeolian-Skinner's more artistic consoles -- I wonder if it had been replaced over the years. And get rid of that baffle! Some sort of organ case would probably have to be designed to replace it.

And oh yes. Hire a choir director who knows how to position his singers so that they can hear each other and make an effort to blend. I wasn't going to say this, but I'll say it now. If they had gotten any more mileage out of their "r" sounds, the neighborhood dogs would have begun to howl. Lor - r - r - r - d have mer - r - r -r - cy. Kyr - r - r - r - ie eleison. And so on.

And knows how to dress them. And can train them to sing as a choir rather than a group of singers each doing their own thing.

Bishops Finger

Thank you, Miss Amanda, for taking one for the team, and returning to this church.

I agree with what you and @Portola say. There are places, of course, where the singers are up in the organ gallery at the west end of the church, so their attire doesn't matter so much. If, however, they are on view, a simple uniformity of dress (it doesn't have to be full choir dress with cassocks, surplices, ruffs, hoods etc. etc.) not only looks more seemly, but may well also give the singers a sense of belonging to a coherent and cohesive group, rather than to a collection of scattered individuals.

Does that make sense?

Amanda B Reckondwyth

Indeed it does.

The gallery at the rear of the church has a baffle similar to that behind the altar, but is otherwise completely empty. The door, however, is marked "Choir." I wonder if the organ was located there at one time and if the choir sang from there.

Amanda B Reckondwyth

According to the website of The Organ Historical Society, the console was meant to be temporary but the permanent console was never installed. And the pipes were behind the altar right from the start.

Nick Tamen

Portola wrote: »

If the choir is invisible to the congregation then they are cut off from the worshipping congregation.

Not, as has been noted is often the case, if they’re in a balcony/gallery at the back.

For the choir and the organist the service is reduced to an audio experience. Why would anyone design a church in a way which hides and isolates people who contribute to worship? It is incomprehensible to me.

I would say two things. First, I grew up in just such a church. I don’t think anyone in the congregation or the choir, which for a time included me, viewed it as a problem. Indeed, it was often seen as an advantage for the choir, providing a bit of freedom that we wouldn't have had had we been visible. This included the ability of the minister’s wife to roll her eyes, shake her head or put her head in her hands when he misspoke, with silent laughter from the rest of us.

In any event, there was no sense of isolation.

Second, in some traditions, worship is primarily an audial experience, with little ritual movement or other things that need to be seen. Of course, Roman Catholicism is not such a tradition.