When the Hendricks Chapel Choir performed an original choral piece based on Father Gerry Waterman’s favorite verse, Psalm 139, he cried with tears of joy. “Every part of me was tingling, and I was sobbing because it just touched my soul,” Friar Gerry Waterman, OFM Conv., a Syracuse University Catholic chaplain, said. “It was just awe inspiring.”
This was one of the many performances at the SU Catholic Center’s Dedication of the Harrold Organ event on Palm Sunday, March 29, 2026. The sold-out performance, part of Hendricks Chapel’s Malmgren Concert Series, aimed to celebrate the center’s newly donated and installed organ.
“Chancellor Kent Syverud commissioned SU’s Catholic Music Director, Dr. Peppie Calvar, to compose a piece of music in my honor, for my ten years of service, and prior to my departure from the university,” Fr. Waterman said. “Dr. Peppie asked me for a text of my choosing and I proffered Psalm 139. His piece is called ‘Fragments of a Psalm.’ Those sounds show why music is vital to the Catholic community because it helps amplify prayer.”
Watch a brief clip of the composition: https://video.syr.edu/media/t/1_a85y7oun
Watch the full program: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRepjNbAKB4
~ Excerpts of this story are from The Daily Orange
