Among the many hats worn by Father Eugene Ritz, Vicar for Clergy and Judge in the Diocesan Tribunal, is another one that may surprise: He is the diocesan organist for major Masses and events.
If you’ve been to the Cathedral of St. Catharine of Siena in Allentown for the annual Chrism Mass, or for the special Masses for Pope Francis and Pope Leo, it was Father Ritz at the organ.
And here’s another fun fact: His organ playing – which started with lessons at age 9, and which landed him a gig soon afterward as the organist at his parish in the coal region -- played a big role in his decision to become a priest.
“I had always wanted to play piano,” he says, and his parents agreed that he could take lessons in his hometown of Tresckow, Carbon County. “But then I heard that organists in church got paid, and so I told my parents I wanted to try playing the organ.”
It was only two years later, when he was 11, that his parish, Saint Patrick, now All Saints in McAdoo, found itself without an organist. Young Eugene got the job, playing every week in church and also playing for weddings and funerals.
At some point Bishop Edward Cullen, who was Bishop of Allentown from 1998 to 2009, noticed him behind the organ and sent him an application for the seminary. He was attending Marian High School at the time, and right after graduation, he headed to St. Charles Borromeo Seminary.
“My intentions, to get paid to play, may not have been the most virtuous,” he says, looking back on his ‘keyboard to cassock’ story. “But God used my intentions to bring about His plan.”
He first played the organ for a diocesan event at the Chrism Mass the year before his ordination. That Mass is the one where men next in line to be priests are “called” by the Bishop, so he played the organ to near the conclusion of the Mass and then made his way from the choir loft to the front to get his call. Right afterward, it was back to the loft to finish playing for the Mass.
Father Ritz, 42, has been a priest for 16 years. As Vicar for Clergy, he’s the primary contact between the Diocese and its priests, deacons, and seminarians. “I think of them as my parish,” he says.
Father Ritz is quick to say he is an amateur at the organ, although anyone who hears him play would never reach that same conclusion.
“It’s a privilege to play with the Diocesan Choir, Director Bev McDevitt, and the instrumentalists,” says Father Ritz. “It’s humbling to be able to be a part of that.”
Article and Photo by Paul Wirth.
