Around Town: Ring a (quite large) bell for peace at this Mt. Lebanon church

Posted on June 16, 2009
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Excerpt from: Post-Gazette NOW

Link to full article: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09160/975981-155.stm

 There is something very right about being on Washington Road in Mt. Lebanon early on a Sunday afternoon, when the massive tower bells of Southminster Presbyterian Church are pealing.

The sound is bold yet comforting, taking you back to a place and time you’ve probably never been, as this is the only change-ringing tower in Western Pennsylvania and among fewer than 50 in North America.

I was allowed to climb into the “Peace Tower” a couple of Sundays back to see the bell ringers practice the ancient art. Five were there that noon hour, each pulling hard on a rope and grabbing it again as it bounced up. Don Morrison, the ringing master, called the orders like a coxswain:

“Three to two! … Two to four! … Seven to two! … Two to treble!”

Change ringing is said to be a place where music, mathematics and sport meet. The sound is in no way melodic, but a proper peal, with the sound of each bell lapping over its echoing predecessor, is the sabbath challenge.

“It’s like trying to play the drums by throwing baseballs at ‘em from across the room,” Mr. Morrison said.

Southminster dedicated its eight English bells, which rise steadily in size from 494 to 917 pounds, less than seven years ago, more than 75 years after the tower was constructed.

I had neither heard them nor heard of them until a few weeks ago when I wrote a column about an errant, one-ton, 300-year-old English bell that has spent more than 15 years sitting unceremoniously in a Downtown parking garage. A reader read that and tipped me to its Southminster cousins.

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