Windows will offer hope, healing in patient care

For nearly 70 years, the stained glass windows in the Welder Chapel at CHRISTUS Spohn Hospital- Shoreline have inspired visitors through beautiful depictions of the story of Jesus.
 
Countless South Texas residents have looked to those windows during times of prayer, or hope or grief, as they or a loved one received care in the hospital nearby.
 
Now they are being painstakingly moved to a new chapel at the new 10-story Patient Care Tower being constructed at Shoreline Hospital. The upgrades to the Shoreline campus are part of an unprecedented $335 million investment in the community by CHRISTUS Health, with nearly $50 million made possible through the generosity of local philanthropists.
 
One such donor is longtime community leader, Karen Urban and her husband Larry, who took a special interest in the chapel windows, helping to fund their move to the new building and shepherd the project.
 
“These beautiful windows are a symbol of the CHRISTUS Spohn mission to extend the healing ministry of Jesus Christ, and we knew it was something that was very important to preserve and protect,” Karen Urban said. “We’re honored to help share this history with future generations at the new Shoreline chapel.”
 
Great care is being taken to preserve, restore and re-install the windows in a new and expanded chapel, which will be located on the first floor of the new Shoreline Patient Care Tower, which is set to open in spring of 2019.
 
McInturff Glasshaus, in Corpus Christi, is one of only a handful of workshops in the country that are capable of restoring the German-style stained glass, considered to be among the most difficult and costly to restore.
When the project is completed in October, Cathy McInturff and her team will have spent over 32 weeks restoring the 36 windows, some which measure more than 17 feet tall.
 
“This is a very, very rare style of stained glass,” McInturff shared. “The designs are so intricate and detailed - and there are many different colors used in each image.”
 
Although a meticulous assignment, McInturff says that for her and her team, the restoration of these historic and spiritual windows is definitely a labor of love.
 
“The images are so expressive and beautiful,” she added. “When I saw the first window of Jesus’s face, I cried.” 
 
The stained glass windows have long been part of the peaceful and comforting atmosphere in the Shoreline chapel where patients, visitors and Associates attend Mass, pray or simply meditate.
 
They were first created by Emil Frei Stained Glass in St. Louis, MO in the late 1940’s and early 1950’s. They were moved to Corpus Christi, TX and in 1955, were installed for the opening of the CHRISTUS Spohn Hospital- Shoreline Welder Memorial Chapel.
 
The base glass they used is known as mouth-blown, full antique leaded Crystal, blown for the stained glass company primarily in Germany, with lesser amounts from France, Poland, England and Blenko.  The glass is blown in exactly the same way as stained glass was blown in the 15 ^th Century, and is still considered some of the highest-quality glass made in the world today. 
 
For CHRISTUS Spohn supporters and donors like the Urbans, the windows are a treasured piece of the hospital’s history and legacy set forth more than a century ago by Dr. Arthur E. Spohn and the Sisters of the Charity of the Incarnate Word.
 
“The windows are a wonderful reminder of the compassionate care that is provided to the community each and every day within these walls,” Karen Urban said.