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Here's something the parishioners of St. James Church in Chatham don't know about their new organ: It once held my cat hostage.

When I was growing up a stone's throw from Sacred Heart Church in Cohoes -- one of several now-closed parishes whose organ pipes were transplanted to St. James for its new instrument -- my family had a cat named Fluffy.

In that residential neighborhood, there wasn't such a thing as an "indoor cat." Fluffy roamed the yard and beyond, counting on her serene disposition to keep her out of trouble.

At least once, trouble found her. My grandmother was attending Mass at Sacred Heart one weekend when an awful noise distracted everyone. It built in volume until priest and parishioners went to investigate.

Fluffy had snuck in through the open church doors, ascended to the choir loft and somehow gotten caught among the organ pipes and parts.

"That cat belongs to my family!" my grandmother exclaimed -- and, like a good grandma, she scooped up the filthy, frightened kitty and brought her home.

My grandmother was wearing a white coat that day, but it was never white again. Fluffy's adventure in the organ pipes became family lore.

Fluffy is long gone, and the parish has closed its doors forever. But I'm glad to know that those organ pipes will still be creating beautiful music in another church 40 miles away, rather than amplifying the howls of a trapped cat.

(09/23/10) [[In-content Ad]]

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