By Ella Fordyce, Class of 2019
Every semester the students in the St. Joseph Woodworking Guild work toward completing their own carpentry projects. Beginning with a concept, the students use wood and power tools to make their concept a reality, crafting tables, benches, boxes, and more. The students display their completed works during the annual Guild Night (this year on April 27); however, these projects are often put to practical use. The students in the Woodworking Guild need not buy any tables—they can simply make their own!
Like all the other TMC guilds, the Woodworking Guild has its own patron saint: Saint Joseph. This is only fitting, as Joseph made his living as a carpenter. In those days, carpentry was considered a very humble trade; nonetheless, Joseph completed his work diligently and well. Though they are not supporting a family as Joseph was, the students in the Guild know that there is a value to crafting something beautiful with their own hands. “Through woodworking, we give glory to God with our hands,” said Miss Jacinta Mooney, Class of 2019. Though other guilds praise God by lifting their voices to him in song, the Woodworking Guild praises God by crafting something with their hands, much as Saint Joseph and Our Lord once did.
Of course, like all arts, woodworking requires long study to master. Students learn the techniques through the guidance of Guild Master (and Buildings and Grounds Supervisor) Tom Ford. At the start of each semester, Mr. Ford helps the students pick out a project, whether it be a simple box or a more complex desk. Next, he helps them acquire the proper wood and tools needed to complete the project. Then he goes over some techniques and tips, like how to join wood or how to use the various tools. Finally, he sets them to work on their projects. Though he offers guidance where needed, each student is individually responsible for completing his piece. Hence, each completed project is truly the result of the student’s own efforts.
This semester, Miss Jacinta Mooney has been working on a piano bench. This bench will include an interior compartment lined with felt for the storage of music books. Once she has put the finishing touches on the nearly finished project, it will serve as the bench for the piano at Mercy Hall, the College’s Gilded Age mansion at 90 Concord Street, Nashua. Mr. John Thompson, Class of 2019, is working on a wooden desk organizer, so that his studying materials will be stylishly organized. For her first project, Miss Pauline Ullmer, Class of 2021, made a smaller version of a Nantucket bench to serve as a coffee table. Now she is working on a jewelry organizer.
By working on these various carpentry projects, the students imitate not only Joseph, but also Our Lord. In this joyous Easter season, Christ is remembered as the Resurrected Savior, the triumphant conqueror of Death. But before his resurrection, before his passion, Christ was also a humble carpenter, like his father before him. By taking on a simple human trade, Jesus affirmed his humanity. By imitating him in this trade, the students of the Guild share more closely in his humanity. Further, by doing so, they share in that most fundamental of human desires: the desire to make something that lasts.
All are welcome to view this year’s finished Woodworking Guild projects on display at Mercy Hall (90 Concord Street, Nashua, NH, 03055) on Guild Night, Friday, April 27, 7-9 PM. Sacred Art Guild projects–hand-bound books and master drawing copies–will also be on display, and the Folk and Sacred Music Guilds will perform. Delicious refreshments will be provided by Chef Sam, student sommeliers will pour libations, and Gardening Guild Master Mary Beth Hayes will deck the halls with springtime blooms. The event is free; good will donations to support the Guild Program are welcome.
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