page_title: St. William Parish (Lawncrest)
section_title: Hand-carved
hierarchical_section_title: St. William Parish (Lawncrest) / Art within / Hand-carved
caption_attribution_description: English: Lower Church Altar adorned with Last Supper Hand Carved by Gregor Betz in 1973. (2008)
context_page_description: St. William is a US Catholic parish founded in January 1920 in the Philadelphia Pennsylvania neighborhood of Lawncrest. The parish originally served 70 households. The Parish elementary school was opened in 1924. The parish eventually expanded to include a rectory, convent, kindergarten, lower school, junior high school, day care center, parish hall and the two churches. The school, which reached a peak enrollment of 1,586 students in 1964, closed on June 15, 2012 with a final enrollment of 280 students. As of 2019, the church served 1,830 households totaling 5,080 people and Mass attendance currently averages 1,300 people, spread among the 8 Sunday Masses.
context_section_description: As stated earlier, two Parishioners, Gregor Betz and James Gallagher created some of the most seen artifacts in the Parish. In addition to the Creche in the Upper Church Narthex, the Nativity painting seen hung outside of the church, the Last Supper adorning the Lower Church Altar (seen at left) which Mr. Betz carved in 1973, the processional crosses and candles used in both churches, there are other custom works of their art. In the Lower Church are displayed 4 hand carved plaques depicting the sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation, Holy Orders and Anointing of the Sick. He also created 2 addition plaques which hang over the side entrance doors - "Creation" and "Exodus." These were all created by Mr. Gallagher over a period from 1990 to 1992 with a personal story behind each one.  While all this work is extremely beautiful, one would certainly not say that they are alone in their "one of a kind" creations.
caption: Lower Church Sanctuary, Main Altar
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