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Fifth Sunday of the Year
6 February 2011
Dear Friends in Christ,
Our bell tower was constructed in 1904 along with the first portion of our present church, which stretches from the altar to the bell tower. But the tower had no bell until 1908, when one was donated by our parishioner James F. Gallivan. This is the same James Gallivan who twenty-two years later would be instrumental in the construction of our primary school building and Gallivan Hall, and three generations of his descendants are still members of this parish family: his grandson Harold Gallivan, his great grandson Mills Gallivan, and his great, great grandson Henry Gallivan. The bronze bell was cast at the McShane Bell Foundry in Baltimore, Maryland and weighs 2,500 pounds, and at the widest part of the bell’s mouth, it is 45 inches in diameter. The bell is inscribed with the words of this dedication:
This bell is given by James F. Gallivan
To the Glory of God and in loving memory of his parents
Timothy Gallivan and Mary Curkny Gallivan
Christmas 1908
For many years that bell was rung by a rope which descended down to the church’s east vestibule, but in the 1980’s it was discovered that the swinging of the great bell was gradually causing structural difficulties in the tower. To prevent further difficulties, a striking mechanism was attached to the bell so that it could ring without swinging, and that is what we still hear today when the bell rings. In recent years, though, the control system of that striker has grown unreliable, and I was already investigating the best new system to install when Mrs. Hazel Biediger died last October. Hazel and her husband Charles were faithful parishioners of St. Mary’s for many years, and all ten of their children went to school here at St. Mary’s. Hazel and Charles were dear friends of our longtime pastor, Msgr Charles Baum, and three of their children (Kathy Spitzmiller, John Biediger, and Bill Biediger) are still members of the parish. After Hazel’s death last fall, some major gifts were given to the parish in her memory, and with those funds, we are installing not simply a new control system for our original bell but two new bells given in memory of Hazel and Charles Biediger.
The larger of the two new bells will weigh 990 pounds and have a diameter of 37 inches, and the smaller bell will weigh 490 pounds and have a diameter of 29 inches. These new bells, like the original bell, will not swing; instead, all three will have a fixed striker controlled by a digital system that perfectly simulates the sound of swinging bells by a delayed and softer second strike. The new bells and the new control system are scheduled to be installed before Easter, so that, thanks to the Gallivan and Biediger families, by the time we celebrate the Passover of the Lord this year, we will be able to listen — for the first time in our 159 year history — to the bells of St. Mary’s.
Father Newman