Church hopes to raise its profile

Pictured is Danny Leo, a founding member of a secular cultural alliance hoping to restore the Bloomfield Presbyterian Church on the Green sanctuary.

The Bloomfield Presbyterian Church on the Green is trying to raise a little money to continue the restoration of its sanctuary and it hopes to do this by raising its community profile.

Under the guidance of a secular entity created for this purpose, the Sanctuary on the Green Art, Cultural and Community Alliance, with a board membership of five volunteers, a concert series has been initiated.

This is a little ironic to one founding board member, Carolee Boger, whose late husband, Paul Boger Sr., was the church pastor for 23 years preceding the current pastor, Ruth Boling. When her husband was hired in 1971, he was asked by a publication what he believed the future of the church to be. He said that it would become a place for cultural events, information sharing and community functions.

“The church needed to merge in the mind and spirit on the local level,” Carolee Boger said her husband believed. “He said the church was becoming difficult to maintain if it was only being used a few hours a week.”

Boger said a second alliance board member, Danny Leo, had initiated a music series called “Sanctuary Sounds.” Leo is an events planner and has played on numerous rock ‘n’ roll bands here and abroad. He recalled getting involved with the alliance as a founding member.

“I was at a barbeque quite a few years ago and I got into a conversation with the woman next to me,” he said. “It was Ruth Boling, the church pastor. I let her into a secret plan I had. It was for a sacred music festival. It was just a glimmer of an idea.”

To Leo, the dream of a sacred music festival was only natural. He grew up in the center of Bloomfield, on Park Place.

“The bells rang every 15 minutes when I was a child;” he said, “all the time.”

But there was another reason.

“I’m a musician myself,” he said. “Making music is a spiritual practice to me.”

He said for his wedding reception, a jazz band was hired. But the band, when it arrived, was a little flummoxed. They had never played a wedding reception. Leo told them just to play what was sacred to them. The result, he said, was extraordinary jazz. It got everybody up and dancing.

“It was great and that led me to thinking about a sacred music festival,” he said. “It would be a beautiful thing. We’d go from church to church.”

Boling called him a few years after their conversation and at the right time because he was looking for a project. Monthly meetings ensued just to figure out what was needed and what they could do to save the sanctuary. They decided upon a music series.

“This year we started researching grant possibilities,” he said. “To our surprise, we got some grants. Nothing enormous, but the idea hit. We were putting on contemporary classical concerts. Maybe not the paradigm for here, but there was no home for new classical work. This was our initial offering.”

Leo was able to present these concerts through Vox Novis, a New York City organization of new music performers and composers. He knew about them because of his own transition from rocker to sacred music composer.

“I’ve had very few opportunities to hear my chamber music performed,” he said. “Playing in a rock ‘n’ roll band is incredible, amazing. But to hear classically trained musicians play your music, there’s this enormous, overwhelming gratitude. They’ve dedicated their lives to classical music and they’re the conduit for mine. Once or twice a year, when you hear your music, it’s worth it. But I’m not trying to program my own music into the sanctuary series. What I’m doing is building community.”

The monthly music concert started in October and ran until May and took a summer hiatus. The next concert will feature the jazz of the Joe Rizzolo Jazz Quartet with vocalist Bahati Best, Sunday, Sept. 28, 3-6 p.m. An admission fee will be charged.

“It’s not the Danny Leo Show,” Leo said. “It’s going to be a jazz concert and photography show. That’s exciting to me. It shows some viability. It’s all sacred music to me. It has a sacred vibe.”

The concert will be played in the nave of the church where the rafters, because of damage, are dramatically exposed.