Church Sound System Update

Last weekend marked the 16th anniversary of our present church building. As you know, technology in today’s world goes out of date quickly. Such is the case with our church sound system, which will be upgraded this week. Elite Technology Solutions in St. Peters, Missouri was chosen to complete the work. Elite has completed excellent systems at the Cathedral of St. Peter, St. Teresa, Belleville; St. Kateri, Ridgeway; St. John the Baptist, Smithton; and the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis—to name a few. This project is the result of several needs…

User Friendly - The new control system will be preset-based, allowing the operator to select “Daily Mass” or “Mass with Children’s Choir” and so on.

Listening Assistance - This technology has come a long way in 16 years. Our new ADA-compliant listening assistance system will connect up to 1,0000 users who have hearing aids with bluetooth capabilities. A limited number of individual listening devices will also be available for use.

Choir Area - The new choir microphones will be properly placed and balanced for the upgraded system. Currently, it’s very hard to hear in the music area. Monitors (speakers) will be added, allowing musicians to clearly hear the spoken word during Mass. Thanks to these upgrades, our musicians’ gifts will be better shared, and their prayer during Mass will be more fulfilling since they will be able to clearly hear.

Hidden Things - In addition to the three aforementioned areas, much of the “guts” of the current system will be upgraded from analog to modern digital equipment, increasing the functionality and longevity of the sound system. Elite specializes in church systems for large spaces; their acoustic specialist will fine tune the system to get the absolute best clarity in all areas of the church. Our sound clarity is already very good; it will be excellent after the completion of this project.

Next weekend, October 14 & 15 will be the “debut” of the upgraded system. Elite’s staff will be on site making adjustments; you might notice small “glitches” during the process. A parish is a family. Just like your home requires renovations big and small to better serve your family, so too our “family home” needs ongoing TLC to best serve our parishioners.

These kinds of projects would be impossible without your generous financial support—past, present, and future. Thank you for your generosity, which allows us to keep our family home in the best possible shape, giving glory and honor to God!

Stephen Eros
Director of Liturgy & Music