Saint John’s Abbey Announces Approval to Construct Woodworking and Organ Building Center
The monastic community of Saint John’s Abbey has formally approved the construction of a new facility to serve as the future home of Saint John’s Abbey Woodworking and Abbey Organ Builders. This expanded center for fine woodworking and pipe organ construction makes a generational commitment to the trade and art of both traditions, while also developing technology and educational programming that ensures these methods carry into the future.
For over 160 years, Saint John’s Abbey has maintained a fine woodworking shop, where it has made furniture and architectural elements for the Saint John’s community and commissioned work. Saint John’s Abbey Woodworking primarily uses lumber harvested from its own sustainably managed forests.
Over the past 35 years, Martin Pasi has developed Pasi Organ Builders into one of the most respected pipe organ studios in the United States. Currently based in Washington state, Pasi has sought an opportunity to find a multi-generational home for his workshop and to develop a model of apprenticeship and mentorship that will last beyond his own years. The support and programming for liturgical music and woodworking at Saint John’s Abbey, University, and School of Theology will create a cultural hub to anchor this tradition while allowing it to innovate.
Combining woodworking and organ building within one space will allow these separate but complementary disciplines to elevate each other. “Our woodworking tradition at Saint John’s has always been utilitarian, to serve the needs of our students, guests and monks. The Rule of Saint Benedict asks us to practice our craft with humility, but also to show reverence for the beauty of the material and to make things well. The opportunity to incorporate the carving, pipe-making, and casework aspects of organ building into our tradition is remarkable,” says Fr. Lewis Grobe, O.S.B., Director of Saint John’s Abbey Woodworking.
Following the Abbey’s decision, Martin Pasi will move his shop to central Minnesota in late 2023 to continue its work under the banner of Saint John’s Abbey Organ Builders. “After years of dreaming and planning, the good news from the monastic community brings us a brand-new chapter, both for the monastery and the greater organ world,” said Pasi. “I am grateful to this group of monks for putting their trust into this endeavor. The feeling of hope has cleared a path to a reality that will bring joy to so many.”
The demand for new high-quality pipe organs remains strong, as is the need to train technicians to maintain and tune organs. “As a school for artisan organ builders, Saint John’s Abbey will not only employ master and journeyman organ builders, but will also actively cultivate apprentices to ensure the continuation of the art and the care of cultural treasures at home and across North America,” writes Kevin Vogt, a supporter of the project and lecturer in organ and church music at the University of Kansas.
The monastery’s vote to move forward with construction and to realize this unique opportunity follows years of planning and fundraising efforts, drawing on nearly 1,300 donations and the Abbey’s own investment. Supporters of the Work of Our Hands capital campaign have established challenge grants to encourage additional donations to fully fund this historic project.
Once completed, the proposed facility will establish a premier workshop for quality handwork where artisans, grounded in and inspired by Benedictine values, will create pieces of beauty and utility for generations to come.
