Can you hear me now?

If you answered “yes” to that question, you were probably sitting under the music balcony or on the south side of the church. Yes, we have been having significant difficulty with the tower speaker on the north side of the church. In Fr. Chris’ desire to communicate well and be transparent, we would like to give you a brief update on this situation.

On June 8th we began to have static and a significant loss of sound from that tower speaker. The sound company came out on June 10th and couldn’t get the speaker to repeat the failure. They did make an “adjustment” and felt all was in good working order.

On June 14th the same problem occurred. The sound company came back on the 16th and found a failure in one section (out of four) of that same tower. However, the failure in that section impacts the sound of the whole tower. Again, they made an adjustment and sent us a proposal to fix the one section or replace the entire tower. The recommendation to replace is based on the fact that the speakers are about 16 years old and have a life expectancy of about 10 years.

This brings up the question “should we replace both speakers at the same time?”

We have been going through the process of determining the best course of action while being good stewards of the resources available. If we choose to simply fix this section, we could end up doing that up to seven more times. If we replace only one side, we are likely going to need to replace the other side very soon? To be frank, the cost of replacement is significant, and deserves thoughtful consideration.

Our current sound company has set up a temporary solution for the north side of the church. It is not perfect, but it will improve the sound significantly for the sections on the north side while a more permanent solution can be determined and installed.

We are seeking input from additional sound professionals and vendors. We want to maximize the sound quality throughout the church at a reasonable cost. As more information becomes available, we will communicate that to you. We apologize for this inconvenience and the difficulty it causes in prayerful participation. Thank you for your patience and understanding.