The Rev. Adibhananthar John Rector Nicole Hercules Rochester Youth Soccer Vestry Paul Schwartz, Sr. Warden schwpaul@gmail.com D ebbie Copenhagen cupidsal@hotmail.com Mary Bickel, Treasurer maryk bic@aol.com Jerry Welcher, Clerk jswelcher@aol.com Father Abi John, Chair ascpriest@aol.com Melissa Frasca mugzy@gmail.com Moo Leah Htoo mooleachhtoo1996@gmail.com Nancy Turchetti nancyturchetti@rochester.rr.com Patricia Frasca kkohler1026@gmail.com Steve Fries sfries1@icloud.com J udy Soscia jesoscia02@yahoo.com Kate Stella-Begy marykate7687@gmail.com

Church Calendar Be the first to learn about Ascension news and events by subscribing to our Newsletter

Church Calendar Be the first to learn about Ascension news and events by subscribing to our Newsletter

Home Visitation For those who are temporarily or long-term unable to attend in-church services and receive the Holy Eucharist, home visitations can be arranged through the church office (585) 458-5423

History of Op. 711 Church of the Ascension is the proud owner of notable organ builder E.M. Skinner's Op. 711, built in 1928 in Skinner's Boston workshop. Op. 711 is a large 4 manual instrument in an orchestral style, originally installed in the Masonic Temple of the Auditorium Theater in Rochester. The previous Warren organ at Ascension was rapidly failing, and it was decided in the early 1960's to replace this instrument. Op. 711 conveniently became available, and was purchased by Church of the Ascension in 1966 for $3,000. It was removed from the Auditorium Theater by Roberts Organ Company during that summer. There was insufficient room in the existing chambers, and a second level was built within them to house the greater number of pipes as the organ waited disassembled in semi-trailers. New swell boxes were prepared and installed, and can still be seen protruding from the top of the organ case. The organ was thoroughly cleaned before installation, and was first played in a dedicatory service on June 18th, 1967. A major dedicatory recital was held at 3:00 pm on Sunday November 12, 1967 performed by Charles Brown, then organist and choirmaster. All of this work, encompassing more than $20,000, was generously underwritten by Mrs. Wilhelmina Beach who had been an active member since 1923, in memory of her husband Harry A. Beach. A full list of stops and assists is given below, and a more comprehensive history is available in the church office upon request. Since its installation, Op. 711 has needed very little work besides regular maintenance. Its 3,500 pipes have sounded out joyfully each Sunday, bringing beauty to worship and joy to many. After nearly 100 years of service to the Auditorium Theater and to Ascension, it is in need of restoration in order to safeguard its future with the church. This restoration will entail removing and cleaning each pipe, cleaning the chambers where the pipes are housed, re-leathering all the wind chests to make them airtight, rebuilding mechanisms related to the key and stop action, and finally putting all of the pieces back together. One estimate for this project is $1,550,000. After this work the organ will have a much cleaner, more transparent sound, and it will be more reliable. This restoration would make Ascension a more desirable location for concerts, and indeed a destination instrument for organ recitals. Already the organ is appreciated by the local community including Eastman students, and was recently featured in the national convention of the Organ Historical Society in 2018. For more information on supporting the organ fund please visit our page or contact the church office. Giving Stoplist Skinner Organ Company Opus 711 1928 4 manuals, 50 stops, 56 ranks Moved in 1967 from Masonic Temple, Rochester, New York GREAT ORGAN 16' Double Diapason 61 8' First Diapason 61 8' Second Diapason 61 8' Flute Harmonique 61 * 8' Gemshorn 61 * 4' Octave 61 4' Flute 61 * 2 2/3' Twelfth 61 2' Fifteenth 61 1' Harmonics III 183 8' Tromba 61 * 4' Octave Tromba 61 * Chimes 25 tubes * enclosed in Choir 8' PEDAL ORGAN 32' Resultant -- 16' Diapason 56 16' Diapason (Gt) -- 16' Bourdon 44 16' Salicional (Sw) -- 16' Gedeckt (Ch) -- 8' Octave (Diap) -- 8' Flute (Bdn) -- 8' Cello (So) -- 8' Still Gedeckt (Ch) -- 5 1/3' Octave Quint -- 4' Super Octave (Diap) -- 16' Ophicleide 56 16' Waldhorn (Sw) -- 8' Tromba (Ophic) -- 4' Clarion (Ophic) -- Chimes (Gt) SOLO ORGAN 8' Flauto Mirabilis 73 8' Gamba 73 8' Gamba Celeste 73 4' Concert Flute 73 8' French Horn 73 8' Orchestral Oboe 73 Tremolo 8' Tuba Mirabilis 73 4' Tuba Clarion 73 COUPLERS Great to Pedal Swell to Pedal Choir to Pedal Solo to Pedal Swell to Pedal 4 Choir to Pedal 4 Solo to Pedal 4 Swell to Great Choir to Great Solo to Great Swell to Great 16 Swell to Great 4 Choir to Great 16 Choir to Great 4 Solo to Great 16 Solo to Great 4 Solo to Swell Swell to Choir Solo to Choir Swell to Choir 16 Swell to Choir 4 Solo to Choir 16 Solo to Choir 4 Great to Solo Swell 16 Swell 4 Choir 16 Choir 4 Solo 16 Solo 4 SWELL ORGAN 16' Contra Salicional 73 8' Diapason 73 8' Rohrflöte 73 8' Salicional 73 8' Voix Celeste 73 8' Aeoline 73 4' Principal 73 4' Flute Triangulaire 73 2' Flautino 61 2' Mixture V 305 (17-19-22) (15-19-22-26-29) 16' Waldhorn 73 8' Trumpet 73 8' Oboe 73 Vox Humana 73 4' Clarion 73 Tremolo CHOIR ORGAN 16' Bourdon 73 8' Geigen Principal 73 8' Cor de Nuit 73 8' Viole d'Orchestre 73 8' Dulciana 73 8' Unda Maris (TC) 61 4' Flute d'Amour 73 2 2/3' Nazard 61 2' Piccolo 61 1 3/5' Tierce 61 8' English Horn 73 8' Clarinet 73 Tremolo 8' Harp (TC) pf 4' Celesta pf A DJUSTABLE COMBINATIONS Solo 6 (thumb) Swell 8 (thumb) Great 8 (thumb) Choir 6 (thumb) Pedal 8 (toe) General 6 (thumb & toe) Coupler Cancel (thumb) General Cancel (thumb) Set (thumb) Pedal Combs on Solo pistons On/Off Pedal Combs on Swell pistons On/Off Pedal Combs on Great pistons On/Off Pedal Combs on Choir pistons On/Off REVERSIBLES Solo to Pedal (thumb & toe) Swell to Pedal (thumb & toe) Great to Pedal (thumb & toe) Choir to Pedal (thumb & toe) Great to Solo (thumb) Solo to Swell (thumb) Swell to Great (thumb) Choir to Great (thumb) Solo to Great (thumb) Swell to Choir (thumb) Solo to Choir (thumb) Sforzando (thumb & toe) INDICATOR LIGHTS Choir Swell Shoe - 6 Swell Swell Shoe - 6 Solo Swell Shoe - 6 Crescendo Pedal - 6 Sforzando EXPRESSION Balanced Pedal - Choir Balanced Pedal - Swell Balanced Pedal - Solo Crescendo Pedal

Location Church of the Ascension is located at 2 Riverside St., Rochester, NY 14613 in the Maplewood Historic District. It is a short walk from beautiful attractions such as Lower Falls Park, Maplewood Park, and the Maplewood Rose Garden. Please click and follow the "directions" link on the map below for Google Maps directions. Driving Ascension is located near the intersection of Lake Avenue and Ridge Road. From downtown Rochester, head north on State Street, continuing to follow it as it becomes Lake Avenue. Turn right into the upper parking lot just past Riverside Street. From the Greece area, follow Ridge Road headed East, turn right at the intersection with Lake Avenue, drive 2.5 blocks south and then turn left into the church lot. From Irondequoit, follow Route 104 headed West, turn left at the intersection with Lake Avenue, drive 2.5 blocks South and turn left into the church lot. Bus Ascension is conveniently located along the 22 bus route from downtown, with the most convenient stop being Lake & Riverside. The church is also less than half a mile from the Ridge & Lake stop on the 40 bus. Parking Ascension has two parking lots. The Upper Lot is directly off Lake Avenue, by the ramp/accessible entrance to the Sanctuary and is the most convenient for attending Sunday Services. The Lower Lot is off Riverside St. and is particularly convenient for events in the Great Hall and accessing many of the important ministries in the Church's lower level (church dinners, MEEK, Care Closet, NA/AA etc.).

Women's Group (ECW) The women's group (currently suspended) meets the first Thursday of each month in the church library at noon. Women bring brown bag lunches and will often have a guest speaker. They have an annual Christmas luncheon at a local restaurant. The women's group does a lot of work behind the scenes and provides financial support for many different ministries. All women of Ascension are welcome to be a part of the Women's Group!

Acolyte Guild In contemporary Anglicanism, acolyte is a general term which covers not only servers, torchbearers, and lighters of candles but also crucifers, thurifers, and banner-bearers. It usually takes two years for Acolytes to learn all of their duties for the different Church services. Their jobs include the correct use of candles in the service, carrying the cross, assisting the clergy with the Eucharist and Baptism services, receiving the offering and sending people to the altar for Communion. Occasionally, they assist with wedding and funeral services. Upon completion of two years of faithful and dedicated service, a cross on a ribbon is awarded the Acolyte. For each additional year of service, a small cross is attached to the ribbon of the two-year cross.

MEEK MEEK, the Maplewood Edgerton Emergency Kupboard, serves our regional community at least two days per week, and in keeping with current realities is redefining and restating its mission to meet these changing conditions. Church of the Ascension, in partnership with other faith communities, continues to offer to neighborhood residents food to tide them over as there are, in these days, food emergencies for individuals and families. MEEK has been responsible for distributing more than 800,000 meals to 95,000 people over the last few decades. Additional volunteers are always welcome. Please call (585) 944-3093 for inquiries.

Bible Study Each week you have the opportunity to deepen your relationship with God through our Sabbath-day Bible Study. Bible Study is held in person on Sundays at 9:00 am in our library, accompanied by light refreshments. During this time we explore God's word in fellowship with one another. Through prayer and discussion we nurture our relationships with God and open our hearts to his plan for our lives. For more information call the church office at (585) 458-5423.

Change Ringing on Our Tower Bells Welcome to our website entry. As a potential visitor to our tower, whether to ring (welcome!) or to watch us ringing and learn what it’s about, we will greet you warmly, take you upstairs to see the bells, show you how we raise and ring the bells, and answer all your questions. The sound of church bells has become an iconic symbol of worship in the Christian Church, informing hearers that a service is about to start, and inviting worshipers. That is particularly true in England, where the art of change ringing was developed in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries (every second village in England has a bell tower, and towns and cities have several). The custom has spread around the world, mostly to places where the British had colonies. Rochester’s Church of the Ascension is pleased and proud to have such a set of bells, installed in its tower in 2015. There are many things that make these bells a unique feature in the Rochester community. They are beautifully tuned, but because of the manner in which they hang, they do not ring tunes, they ring changes on the order of the bells. When the bells are well rung by experienced ringers, the result for listeners is a beautiful musical experience, although change ringing is not usually considered a performance art. Unlike a carillon or a chime, at which a lone person pulls or pushes or otherwise manipulates a large keyboard to ring a tune, a peal of change-ringing bells requires one person per bell. Each person pulls on a rope that hangs down from the bell chamber, on a floor above the ringing chamber. In Ascension's tower, the ringing chamber is at ground level, so it is easy to watch the ringers. There are ten bells at Ascension hung for change ringing (defined as the ringing of sets of church bells or handbells in a constantly varying order; see Wikipedia for basic and general information: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Change_ringing .) Because of considerations of safety and volume , people cannot see the bells as they actually ring, but here is a brief clip of Ascension's ten bells swinging and sounding forth: "Bristol Royal" rung on Ascension's Tower Bells From here in western New York, the nearest similar change-ringing bell tower is in Toronto, Canada (175 miles away); and if we stay in this country, the nearest are in Pittsburgh (300 miles), Kent School, Kent, CT (also about 300 miles), New York City (340 miles), and Philadelphia (350 miles). For more information about change ringing at other bell towers in North America, see www.nagcr.org . For more information about ringing and bells worldwide, see www.cccbr.org.uk . Chris and Helen Haller, the major donors of the bells, selected the persons to be honored by having a bell named after them. Some are very personal choices, some are notable Rochester names, and some are notable national, international, or bell-ringing people. Our lightest bell, “Trudy”, weighs 375 pounds, and the heaviest, “Martin”, weighs 1267 pounds. That may sound intimidating to non-ringers, but the fact is that they are well counter-balanced and swing on modern bearings, so that it does not take unusual effort to ring them. Anyone weighing over about a hundred pounds can ring most bells. Each of our bells is inscribed with the name of the person honored, and one or two appropriate lines from Stanza 106 of “In Memoriam” by Alfred, Lord Tennyson. Chris Haller reading “In Memoriam” by Alfred, Lord Tennyson The expert workers at Whitechapel Bell Foundry in London, England (a firm with centuries of experience) drew up the plans, cast and tuned the bells, and made the frame and fittings that enable them to swing. Everything was shipped to Church of the Ascension, and installed in the waiting church tower. The Ceremony of Blessing and Dedication took place on November 21, 2015, with The Right Reverend Prince G. Singh, Episcopal Bishop of the Diocese of Rochester, presiding, and our Rector at the time, The Rev. Dahn Gandell, welcoming those attending. Here is a video showing highlights of some of those events: The arrival, installation, and dedication of the ten bells at Church of the Ascension When at least three ringers are available, we ring the bells before and after the 10:15 AM Sunday service. We are fortunate to have a computer-actuated chiming mechanism also in place, that can chime changes before the service if fewer ringers are available. We have practices twice a week, for an hour and a half after the service on Sundays, and on Friday evenings between 6:30 and 8 PM. Yes, it takes plenty of practice to learn to ring and to improve and advance our skills. This is what change ringing looks like: C hris Haller, Helen Haller and the English bell hanger, Neil Thomas, ringing on the first day the bells were rung If you are considering a visit to ring or to watch the ringing, please check with Chris Haller (585-203-7457; ringer2@mac.com ) to confirm that ringing will take place on your proposed date. Also call Chris if you think you are interested in learning to ring; a series of one-on-one lessons can be arranged at mutual convenience, to make you ready to ring with our band in the regular practices.

Sunday School Our Sunday School program will commence on September 4, after being mostly dormant over the past two years due to the Covid pandemic. We are planning to use a new curriculum developed by Father Abi. It will focus on God, Jesus, and the Church in modules geared towards the students' age group. Children ages 2 – 5 will go to the Crib Room to play under the supervision of one of our teenage leaders. We continue to look for people to help out with Sunday School activities, even if it is only for a few weeks. Your musical skills, arts & crafts skills, story-telling are welcome., Contact the office to get connected.