The pipe organ, which stands nearly 45 feet high, towers over music co-director Joseph Murray as he stands in the choir loft of Our Lady of Victory. (Photos: Paula Katinas)
BEDFORD-STUYVESANT — Every Sunday, when Joseph Murray presses the keys of the pipe organ in the choir loft of Our Lady of Victory Church, he is part of a long line of musicians stretching back 130 years who have played the magnificent instrument.
“It’s a great honor, and it’s always exciting to come up here and play because it’s such a beautiful sound. It’s such an amazing organ,” said Murray, the music co-director of St. Martin De Porres Parish, which includes Our Lady of Victory Church.
The organ and its 2,300 pipes are part of the history of the church and of black Catholics in the Diocese of Brooklyn.
Installed a few months before Our Lady of Victory Church opened in 1895, the organ was built by Reuben Midmer & Son, an organ-production company founded in Brooklyn in 1860 that later made organs for silent movie theaters.
The organ inspired generations of Our Lady of Victory Church parishioners to sing hymns at Masses. It fell into disrepair in the late 20th Century, but was rescued by Father Martin Carter, the church’s first black pastor, who served the predominantly black congregation from 1995 to 2008.
Father Carter, a member of the Franciscan Friars of the Atonement, organized a fundraising effort to get the organ restored in the late 1990s, and parishioners responded.
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“He was one of these priests who just believed in the idea of when there’s a will, there’s a way,” explained Murray, who added that Father Carter “was very serious while he was pastor here at restoring the church, restoring the instrument … using his time here to inspire and encourage black Catholics to be committed to their faith.”
Father Alonzo Cox, pastor of St. Martin De Porres Parish, said Father Carter had a vision for Our Lady of Victory Church.
“His vision was to make sure that this community remained a staple for the growing black community,” Father Cox explained. “He wanted to make sure that this place would remain a place where black Catholics come to worship.”
Thanks to the efforts of Father Carter and parishioners, the organ was restored — one pipe at a time — by David Schmauch and Donald Schwing, the restorers the pastor hired, and the instrument was ready by Christmas of 1997 to fill the church once again with beautiful music.
After a lifetime of playing the piano, Joseph Murray says he took up the organ in 2012. “And I fell in love with it and haven’t looked back,” he adds.
Father Carter died in 2021 at age 91. His legacy lives on in the organ he gave a second life.
“We thank him for the work that he did in his legacy and making sure that this organ remains a part of this parish,” Father Cox said. “We use the organ every Sunday, and we’re very blessed that it’s still in great condition.”
Our Lady of Victory Church is in the Stuyvesant Heights Historic District, a designation granted by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission in 1971 to protect an area comprising 13 blocks and over 400 buildings.
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The organ has also been cited for its historical value. In 2002, the Organ Historical Society, a national organization, recognized it with a Historic Organ Citation, labeling it as a preservation-worthy instrument.
Murray is aware of the organ’s history and his connection to the musicians who played it before him.
“It’s an honor and a privilege to know that there have been amazing musicians who have also had the privilege of sitting at this bench and recognizing that you are part of a tradition,” he said. “I think sometimes we forget that you’re standing on the shoulders of people who have worked very hard at making sure that this instrument … does the work of inspiring people to be even more deeply committed to the liturgy, more deeply committed to their faith life.”