I’m Jonathan Conrad, the Catholic Woodworker. I grew up Catholic, and when I wasn’t at church I was building things with my dad, my grandfather, or just me. I’m married to my high-school sweetheart, Carey, and we’ve been blessed with three boys. I always thought it was my job to teach them how to be a man, but I think I learn more from them than they do from me. It wasn’t until we had kids that I realized how much I needed daily prayer, the rosary, and especially the sacraments. This zeal for daily prayer and the rosary is the inspiration behind the handmade wooden rosaries I create, our in-home alter sets, and all the devotional items we offer.

Carey is responsible for order fulfillment — so when your handmade wooden rosary arrives quickly, it's all thanks to her. She is the most organized, thoughtful, funny, and beautiful person I know and has supported this crazy mission to create a Catholic online store from day one.

Thank you for the opportunity to be part of your faith journey. We hope and pray these spiritual weapons are a blessing for you and your loved ones in the battles you face each day. To Jesus through Mary!

I am an Illinois native and was raised in the Catholic church in the Quad City Area. After having been married a little over a year, my wife Erin and I decided to move to Indiana where we are currently raising our 4 young children. We are parishioners at St. Maria Goretti in Westfield, IN, and are so thankful for the community and sense of belonging we feel there. Our faith and trust in the Lord has greatly deepened since surrounding ourselves with friends who teach us, challenge us, and love us unwaveringly through life's ups and downs.

It wasn't without the unfailing love and support of Erin that I was able to discern, and ultimately decide, to make this career change. Each day I strive to be the best husband and father to my family. I hope to instill in my children not only the value of hard work, but the eternal importance of being the hands and feet of Jesus here on earth. My hope is that through doing this work, I will continue to cultivate my family's faith, as well as provide you and yours with the spiritual weapons to do the same. 

Madeline Pierce

Brian grew up outside of Chicago and went to church on and off at different denominations, but never really established a faith identity. One day at his apartment, a rosary was left on his steps which planted a seed of what was to come. It took a little while, but it was in his senior year at Arizona State University that everything changed. ASU is blessed to have a Newman Center on campus. Brian started attending RCIA and was initiated into the Catholic Church on the Easter Vigil of 2010. 

Since then Brian and Janis have been growing in their faith together. Sometimes it isn’t easy and can get messy. With God’s grace and guided by Our Blessed Mother and St. Joseph we can become who we were created to be. 

Viva Cristo Rey y Madre Maria

Hi. Katie Kuchar here. Let me tell you about my love affair with Our Lady. It has been one wild and exciting adventure. I live the little town of Payette, Idaho. I was basically born and raised here. I have been a Catholic all my life. My parents instilled in me, at a very young age, a love for the Blessed Mother and we prayed the rosary often. I took up the practice of praying on the beads personally at age 16, when I bought my first rosary from a religious hermit who was selling her handmade wares after mass. I still remember the color; turquoise beads, the face of our crucified lord etched into the centerpiece, and the crucifix with a corpus surrounded by stars. I carried it with me everywhere. In my pocket.

Fast forward to college. I was a scared freshmen diving into a very large ocean of people and philosophies I didn't know or understand. I prayed my rosary, and held the hand of my Blessed Mother each morning. Despite all the anxiety I felt, I had my mother with me. Fast forward again. I found my husband in a quiet adoration chapel (yes this is a true story) on the feast of St. Joseph. We married and now have going on 6 children and 1 in heaven. I struggled to hold onto the hand of my mother through a myriad of intense trials. But she never let go of my hand. She has been with me in all my joys and sorrows.

Let's back up a bit. At age 18 I went to daily mass with an elderly woman from my parish. She gave me my first rosary supplies. You know those little plastic beads and parts? Yeah, those. I was hooked. I soon started making them from wood beads. I eventually learned to make wire-wrapped rosaries. (Making those is so hard on the hands!) I loved giving handmade rosaries away as gifts. Then I found Jonathan's Catholic online store. I read his mission statement. Someone who sells handmade rosaries because they want people to experience the priceless relationship with Jesus through Mary. Wow. I bought a few of these from him. I studied them, and now, here I am, on the team, doing what I love. Building swords for people to win their battles. If you ask me what I do, I'll tell you that I grow people and I forge weapons.

Hello! We are T.J. and Annmarie Schwarz. We are humbled and honored to be a part of the rosary-making team here at The Catholic Woodworker. God sure works in wonderful and mysterious ways and one of those has been leading us to our friendship with the Conrad family and then being added to this beautiful ministry.

We have been married for 8.5 years. We met at a wedding back in 2008. Based on the events of the weekend, neither of us would have guessed we would now be married. Actually, we would never have guessed we would have even talked again. But, God had a plan and we are forever grateful. We have been gifted and entrusted with the care of 3 rambunctious little boys that keep us active, humbled, always learning, and often a little crazy.

T.J. works as a CPA for a tax consulting firm in Indianapolis. He had dreams of being an architect/developer but graduated the same year as the housing market crash, so he was led in a different direction. Annmarie is an occupational therapist with a passion for pediatric patients. But at this time she has been called to currently spend her days at home nurturing and raising those 3 boys.

We have both grown to have a deep love and appreciation for the gift of the rosary. Annmarie's started at the age of 9 when she found the immense power and peace it provided to her when she started battling fear and anxiety. It helped her to be able to fall asleep at night and became a nightly ritual for many years. T.J. is a convert to the faith, who joined the church in 2009 so his love for the rosary has been more recent. His love has grown from random learning of it as well as fascination with stories he had heard of the power behind it and the fruits that come from praying it. We find ourselves praying it together in our times of deepest need, a decade here and there with the whole crew, separately as T.J. drives to work, or Annmarie randomly pieces together the prayers amidst the juggling of the daily grind. No matter when, how often, whether it is spread out or completed in one sitting, we find the graces it provides are immeasurable.

We both vividly recall and often reminisce about our trip to Rome back in 2012. A part of our trip that was so special to us was when we stood in the Sistine Chapel staring and studying the alter wall covered in the fresco of Michelangelo's The Last Judgment. One part of the painting particularly stuck out to us- 2 souls being hauled up to heaven by a soul already there, with the mechanism in between being the rosary. Our number one goal that we strive for every day is working towards getting each other and our children to heaven. Man, do we struggle and fall short every day. But what an incredible gift we have been given in the rosary- a spiritual weapon to help us in this difficult life battle- a force to be reckoned with. And we are beyond grateful to now be able to help create them for all of you. Know that as we use our hands to make them, that we are praying for yours that will hold them. And we pray by God's grace, through Mary, we one day will all be hand-in-hand in heaven.