Faith Restored

"Am I late?” “Is it full?” “Has it started?”

These were the questions asked by Valley Baptist Medical Center-Brownsville employees, as they rushed inside the newly-restored interfaith chapel for the first Mass there since 1973.

Whatever the answers to their questions (no, yes and not yet) the employees were welcomed, as were numerous patients and family members to the historical sanctuary that is the Herminio and Francisca de Yturria Chapel, located behind the hospital.

In 1935, the Sisters of Mercy built the chapel, which also housed their convent

When the hospital was sold in the 1970s, the chapel spent the next three decades as a bill processing and purchasing department storage area, until the grandsons of the Yturrias funded the chapel’s restoration.

“Right after Valley Baptist bought the hospital (July 2004), they saw how appropriate it was to have the chapel serve its original purpose,” said Teri Retana, spokeswoman for the hospital.

The beige and light brown marble altar and French stations of the cross from the 1850s that line the creamy colored walls are two examples of how the chapel has redeemed its former glory.

“The rich history of Brownsville and the faithful dedication of the Sisters of Mercy is now being returned to the community,” said Sandra Sweeney Wilson, director of development for the hospital and the one to spearhead the project.

A new addition to the chapel — a gold tabernacle, dedicated by the Serafy family of Brownsville — is what made the first Catholic Mass possible Tuesday morning.

Bishop Raymundo Peña conducted the first Mass and dedicated the tabernacle, a portable holder of the eucharist.

“We pray that the patients who are here now and who may be here in the future will always feel the presence of our savior,” he proclaimed during the service.

Rev. Raymond Nwachukwu, the Catholic hospital chaplain for the Diocese of Brownsville, aided the bishop.

Nwachukwu will hold regular services Thursdays at 5:30 p.m. and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m.