New England is home to some of the most historic churches in the country. In Massachusetts, a retired designer and a recent college graduate are working together to design and create altars, confessionals, and other traditional ornaments to restore these churches to their historic beauty.
CatholicVote sat down with Larry Roux, who has been involved in liturgical woodworking since 2000, and his apprentice Lucas Porto, who has worked with Roux for the past three months. The two explained their working process, the challenges of the career, and the role of faith when working for the Church.
Roux studied contemporary architecture in Houston, Texas, and focused for most of his career on creating modular homes. However, his love for historical architecture began in high school, growing up in a historic town in Vermont.
“Because I took drafting in high school,” Roux explained, “our neighbors who worked for the town would ask me to do different projects that they were going to renovate.”
Porto has a different background. An immigrant from Brazil, he came to the U.S. to study philosophy and theology at Thomas Aquinas College in Northfield, Massachusetts. After graduation, he started learning liturgical woodwork with Roux.
While dedicating one’s work to the kingdom of God is very fulfilling, Porto said, he also wants to make sure that the art of traditional woodworking does not die.
“There’s a real need,” Porto said. “If I don’t learn it now, maybe the next generation’s not gonna have anyone to do it.”
Roux has a passion for Gothic architecture and design, incorporating the style into his liturgical designs. Gothic style, he explained, is especially fitting for places of worship, as the characteristic pointed arches allow for taller structures than the Romanesque structures of the Roman Empire.
“The church always wanted to have buildings that elevate the soul,” he said, “[to] look up higher and higher and higher to heaven. It’s that type of lifting up.”
Roux then spoke about how his own prayer life factors into the process of his work, especially in the commissions.
“I’ve never had to ask for a project,” he said, “so it’s like the Lord sends the projects. So I figure if He sends them, He wants me to build them. Now, sometimes He sends the project and then the project disappears or it goes. They never usually disappear. They usually go on the back burner because they don’t have enough financing to make the project happen. But as soon as that happens, another door opens immediately. And that’s the project the Lord wants me to build.”
Porto added that prayer is important in the process of building as well because woodworking requires such precision that it is easy to make mistakes. During his projects, he asks for St. Joseph’s intercession.
Roux encouraged young men who want to be artistic woodworkers to network with people who work in the industry and find a mentor who can help them develop artistic skills.
“Don’t quit your job yet,” added Porto, who also works a full-time job in farming to support his family. “You’’ve got to start doing it on the side and see if it works.”
Finally, Roux said, the most important thing to remember for anyone looking into liturgical woodworking, or any other church-related field, is to trust Providence.
“If you’re going to do this work for the Lord,” he said, “then you’re going to have to put your faith in the Lord, that he’s going to provide you with the projects.”
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