Canton Presbyyterian Church to rededicate its steeple bell Sunday

May 2—CANTON — On Sunday, the First Presbyterian Church on the Park in Canton will be rededicating its steeple bell.

The bell, which weighs more than 1,000 pounds, has been in the steeple since 1901 when it was given to the church by Martha Manley in memory of her late husband, Gilbert.

For more than 50 years, due to a structural fault, the bell has not been able to peal, according to the Rev. Michael P. Catanzaro, and has been limited to a somber tolling sound.

Repairing the bell was not high on the churches to-do list, the Rev. Catanzaro said.

It was a cold call from a church bell repair firm, White's Clock and Carillon Northeast of Pulaski, that got the congregation thinking about the posssibilities,

"Theologically, the ability to make a joyful noise unto the Lord rather than a somber one was fairly significant," the Rev. Catanzaro said.

In a matter of a few weeks the congregation was able to raise the $8,000 needed to repair the bell's support stands and replace a 100-year-old wooden wheel with a custom metal wheel and install a new rope. The repairs were made in a single day, the Rev. Catanzaro said adding that White's Clock and Carillon were "terrific to work with."

"By reclaiming this part of the church's past, a future will be forged each Sunday as the worship service is begun with a bell call as individuals from the congregation are invited share in the fun of 'Swinging The Bell,'" the Rev. Catanzaro wrote in a news release about the bell repair.

"This was the Twitter of the turn of the century," Rev. Catanzaro said.

The bell would ring out 20 minutes before service, he said, so that people would have time to get to the church. At other times it was used to alert people to some important news.

Fixing the bell, Rev. Catanzaro said was a "want" rather than a need.

In the church's newsletter he explained why it was still important.

"Why should we do this," he asked. "Frankly, it has been many decades, generations even, since the sound of our bell has been heard joyously ringing in the park, through the village and across the fields. It is the heart of our congregation that is the wellspring of our work and mission as a church, not bells and whistles (pun intended).

"That said, the lessons gleaned from the recent restoration of the fountain in the Park have shown us what we already knew to be true: symbols matter a great deal, as does pride of place, and honoring our history as a means of forging our future. Though difficult to measure, the intangible value of undertaking such an effort to 'Swing the Bell!' would surely be known and felt in our own generation, and echo mightily in those generations to follow."

Mrs. Manley, who paid $375 for the bell to be forged in 1901, wrote a letter to the pastor expressing her feelings about the donation on behalf of her late husband.

"May its notes ring pure and true, and I trust that sometime when they ring out on the calm still air, the people will recognize in them the voice calling them to worship in their beautiful sanctuary. I trust also that pastor and people may hear in them a call of love, tenderness and encouragement, that shall unite them in thought and spirit, and bind them with cords of consideration, mutual helpfulness, and earnest effort, so essential to the fullest realization of the true work of any House of Worship, the Lord's work, a work that was so near and dear, and withal lovely to the man in whose memory the bell is given."

The rededication of the bell will be part of the regular Sunday service which begins at 10 a.m.