Some parishes are willing to go to any lengths to fulfill the needs of their parishioners.

Just ask the Rev. Christopher M. Zelonis, SS. Peter and Paul Parish, Lehighton, who flew down to Springfield, Missouri, to bring back a used Allen organ for his church.

If that wasn’t enough, Zelonis then drove 1,100 miles back home over two stints, at which time he brought back the used Allen organ, which “has far more capabilities for a fraction of the price of a brand-new Allen.”

“I came across this guy who has been in organ and piano sales for many years,” said Zelonis, who said he arranged for the flight and U-Haul. “We dialogued over it, and it seemed from the specifications they were quite adequate.”

An avid organist since the age of 11 for church, Zelonis said he follows Allen organs, and noted “the models are very prominent in our diocese. “I heard of the technological advancements they’ve made over the decades.”

Zelonis said the organ that was purchased for the church was built in 1999, and added “it has many capabilities. He threw in for us a tone generator.

“I trust Allen; they are also very good with service,” he said. “It was a judgment call on my part that this would work for us fine.”

Zelonis said he plotted the trip out on Google Maps and noticed that it went through the area of Dayton, Ohio, where a seminary classmate’s family lives.

He then stayed at the Retreat Center for a night and visited with his classmate’s family the next morning before setting out for home.

Zelonis said the organ figures to be a good fit for the church.

“We have a very good liturgical music program organist and guitarist, and the organ retains a certain privacy and historical value in our hymnody,” he said. “It seemed important to us that we have a good organ.”

Zelonis noted that the organ the parish has is from 1975, and since the technology has increased and improved over the decades, it was a no-brainer.

“I thought the 1999 was a pretty good midway point,” he said. “I think for our needs, it will be quite fine.”

Zelonis said the organ is part of a capital campaign that the parish had begun before the pandemic.

“I’m very proud of the people that have contributed toward it, and it has resulted in a number of projects,” he said.

Zelonis said among those projects were the replacement of the roof on the church building; a new front porch was built on the rectory; the replacement of the organ; and some renovations to the sanctuary; and added the next phase is to repaint the interior of the church.

“It’s an updating, but in some ways a traditionalization to have what we will have in there to reflect our past, but also something for our future,” he said. “It reflects both our past, and our future, and also reflects the generosity and the devotion of our parishioners.”

Zelonis said the spiritual and material growth quite often happen at the same time.

“I try to reinforce that the material improvements that we are making are representative of the spiritual growth that we constantly want to tend to as Catholics, as Christians,” he said. “Our material improvements are meant to assist us in the primary objective for us, which is our spiritual growth, our worship of God, and our service of our fellow human beings, and I think that’s something our parish has definitely been trying to tend to as well.”

Zelonis said the church recently began its own conference of the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul “and we continue to have different initiatives for our faith.”