Meet the woodworker who’s bringing beauty back to our churches

The ultimate desires of the human person are for truth, beauty and goodness—and for the God who is all three. The pursuit of these transcendentals brings meaning and abiding joy to our lives. But far too often, these are in short supply—even in the Church, which should be at the vanguard of sharing them with our culture.

The good news is that there’s a growing movement of Catholics committed to restoring and reviving beauty in the Church. One of these is a woodworking family, Wesley and Kelly Baker of Contrasts Woodcarving. They specialize in making traditional Gothic and Romanesque ecclesiastical woodwork. 

Their work “is an effort to restore or provide beauty to churches that have lost it, or never had it in the first place,” Wesley Baker said in an interview with Aleteia. They are commissioned to create entirely new pieces as well as historic restorations.  

Contrasts Woodcarving is truly a family business. They have no employees and do all the work themselves, often with the help of their five (soon to be six) children. The work is almost entirely done by hand in each phase: the drafts, the joinery, the carving, and the finishing.  

Wesley and Kelly met in college and converted to Catholicism after two years of marriage in 2009, the same year that their child was born. At first, woodworking was just one of many endeavors they dabbled in: They raised livestock on a small homestead, taught RCIA classes, and gave talks to parishes and retreats. They called their work Sancta Familia Apostolate.

But they really wanted to focus their efforts on ecclesiastical woodwork, and their big break came in 2015. “I was commissioned to design and build a new set of furniture for a chapel—altar, reredos, communion rail, lectern, and credence,” Baker said. 

He jumped at the opportunity, even though he wasn’t totally sure he was up to the task. But it turned out well. His customers loved it and spread the word about his work. Priests began to reach out to the Bakers about commissions, and their business as Contrasts Woodcarving grew quickly.

The Bakers see their work as part of a “broader work of restoration and rejuvenation that is a perennial part of the life of the Church.” It quickly became clear to them that their part in that restoration was ecclesiastical woodwork. 

Among many other reasons, they have a strong devotion to the Holy Family of Nazareth: “We have tried to adopt some of the externals of their way of life in hopes of developing some of the internal peace and virtue of that Home,” Baker said. It’s wonderfully appropriate, then, that he does the same kind of work that St. Joseph and Jesus themselves once did. 

His shop is in the basement of their home, allowing the family to be together for meals and frequent visits. “I get to be there for my family and they get to see me sacrificing for them, earning our bread by the sweat of my brow,” he said. At the same time, “I get a window into the sacrifices my wife is making for me and for our children. And this awareness of the sacrifices we both make fosters deeper love and commitment between us.”  

Baker has worked on a number of incredible projects over the years—a 10-foot-tall votive shrine to the Sorrowful Mother, for example, with much larger projects in the works—but one of the most meaningful was something smaller: restoring a simple communion rail.

His work put it back into use after years of collecting dust in an attic of the rectory. The communion rail was in his shop for a long time, and Baker found great meaning in working on it. 

That communion rail is a fitting emblem of a vocation that centers on the Holy Mass and the sacraments.  “We see our small role in restoring beauty and reverence as a part of a revival of a truly Catholic culture, which, if it is to be authentic, must be centered on the liturgy and draw its strength and vigor from the sacraments,” Baker said.

To explain why this restoration is so important, Baker quoted Catholic writer Hillaire Belloc:

Certainly there is a lot of good work being done in the Church today to teach the Truth and to encourage folks to Goodness, that is, to become saints. “But there is not nearly enough being done to restore and defend authentic Beauty,” Baker said. Because of this inattention to Beauty, “efforts being made in the other two areas are being undermined.  The three are mutually dependent.”

The Bakers’ mission to defend Beauty is threefold. They are committed to restoring reverence not only for the Holy Mass but also for human work and for beautiful art. 

Ultimately, Contrasts Woodcarving is not only a family business but also a true apostolate. “We would very much appreciate prayers for the success and expansion of this work,” Baker said. Our hopes and prayers accompany their work, which is so valuable in the Church and the world.