This Wednesday, Oct. 5, 2016, photo, shows the front of St. Mary’s Church. (AP Photo/Michelle R. Smith)
The church where John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Bouvier got married is being restored to the appearance it had when they wed in 1953.
St. Mary’s Church in Newport was the site of the wedding on Sept. 12, 1953, when Kennedy was a senator from Massachusetts. The couple often spent weekends and summers in Newport, where her family owned property. During those visits, including during his presidency, the couple worshipped at St. Mary’s, always sitting in pew 10.
Five years after the wedding, in 1958, the Roman Catholic church installed a new organ, made by famed organ makersCasavant Frères of Quebec, Canada. The organ was so large its pipes and casework filled much of the choir loft, covering two stained glass windows and other architectural features.
That organ broke in 2014, and the church is now restoring it and replacing the casework and pipes with parts that fit into the space and match the Gothic style of the church. Church officials are using a blueprint they found from 1937 so that the result will match “what we think it may have looked like” when the Kennedys married, von Maluski said.
In this Wednesday, Oct. 5, 2016, photo, the pew where John and Jacqueline Kennedy sat during worship .(AP Photo/Michelle R. Smith)
“They would have walked down the aisle seeing, hopefully, what we put up again,” he said.
St. Mary’s was built between 1848 and 1852, and is a national historic shrine. When the U.S. Naval Academy was temporarily moved to Newport from Annapolis, Maryland, during the Civil War, St. Mary’s served as its chapel.
Among the problems with the existing organ is that it obstructs archways in the choir loft, so the 40 choir members have to duck and crowd together. The new design will solve that, said Cody Mead, the church’s music director.
“We look at this as a musical project as well as an architectural project,” he said.
The church is launching a fundraising campaign to help pay for the work, which includes the $600,000 cost of refurbishing the organ and $200,000 to reconstruct the choir loft, as well as additional money to maintain the instrument and provide musical scholarships and 
programs.
Von Maluski says the church attracts many tourists interested in the Kennedys. In the summers, it holds a special program called “Return to Camelot,” which includes live organ music from the wedding and a video presentation about the Kennedys’ time at St. Mary’s and in Newport.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
Too friggin much has been made of JFK like he was a saint of something. He was a womanizer of the nth degree. Why is nothing said of his bedroom antics?
I was a Kennedy man and still am i heard about his womanizing, I suppose some true some not! I can’t say, I saw him doing any thing but being the great President! Perhaps if I saw all the rumors I would then believe but not seeing any I like you have to believe in just RUMORS
that is true and no one seems to understand that immoral background. and everyone made to do with what many “thought would be great from him”. No proof any where of what he did but the Bay of Pigs.
John Fitzgerald Kennedy was not a saint, and unlike Jesus, he was just a man. God gave JFK the talent to do what he could for America at that time. He may have squandered that talent and paid the price with his life. He was a great man and he loved America. Why drag that part of his life through the mud now since that had nothing to do with how he conducted himself for America.
It was a special time and special place when he was elected and served for the short amount of time. People felt safe with him in office because he did not back down. Many people cried when he was assassinated, including myself because the era of our dreams of Camelot was over. RIP JFK
Anyone from that time period can remember where and what they were doing when they received the news of his assignation. I was in Study Hall in Junior High School on Route 31 in Dundee Illinois when the news came over the PA System. Everyone was deathly quiet as the news settled into each of us. For the next week the nation was almost paralyzed as the events unfolded on Black and White Television.
When we read Sacred Scripture or study church history, we see that our Lord God used mere flesh and blood to accomplish his divine will though none of them were “saints” people without sin, sins of weakness, sins of omission, and sins of commission. Yes, we should praise God that He used President Kennedy to lead our nation during very troubling times and events.
TO GOD BE THE GLORY!
JFK, if he were in politics today would be considered a moderate Republican. That is how far the Democrat party has moved to the extreme left since he was in office. Since the time of Thomas Jefferson who started the party it has totally reversed it’s position on virtually everything.