When Fr. Marc decided to renovate the church, a friend and Knight of Columbus from Exeter, Phil Dowd, volunteered to build an altar for the tabernacle, which included the reredos, the ornamental wall behind the altar. Phil has been pursuing his long-time hobby of woodworking since retiring from his full-time profession as an engineer and manager at Parker-Hannifin. Phil spent many hours designing the piece after studying
pictures of the original altar. He wanted to maintain the look of the existing altar so it would look like it was always there and was able to match the stain. He included exact copies of the spindles in the main altar, which were sub-contracted to a shop in Portsmouth. As the work progressed, his wife, Chris who works with stained glass, suggested some stained glass behind the tabernacle. Fr. Marc recommended using the symbol of St. Joseph, as seen on the stained-glass window in the sanctuary, of the white lily. As the work progressed, Father Marc thought we should also include the carpenters square that Saint Joseph used in his profession, also seen in the stained glass as solid brown. Phil pondered what to use for material and finally settled on olive wood, which might have been the wood Saint Joseph used to make his tool as an apprentice. He actually was able to order it from Bethlehem, Israel, since it is not a common wood used in the US. So, if you were wondering why it is such a light color, it is natural olive wood!  If you look closely at the old altar background (above), you can see that the two frames newly painted on the walls as the background for the Mary & Joseph statues resemble that shape.
How fortunate for us that through the talents and generosity of Phil and Chris Dowd, we were able to combine the old design with the renovated space to create a beautiful worship environment! May God bless them for sharing their time and talents with our parish community!