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www.johnsonpublications.zenfolio.com Samantha Goff | Johnson Publications
The crew from Bovard Studio of Fairfield, Iowa work on the removal of the historic stained glass windows in the Resurrection of Our Lord Catholic Church in Elsie. The windows will be treated and restored in Iowa before they are reinstalled in the church. 

Church’s historic windows undergo restoration

The Resurrection of Our Lord Catholic Church in Elsie is getting some much needed renovations.

Built in 1917, the church is undergoing a complete window renovation which involves the removal, re-leading, and a new protective Lexan covering before re-installation. 

Bovard Studio of Fairfield, Iowa was hired to complete the task. The company completes new and renovated stained glass projects nationwide, and told Father Tom Bush that these windows are possibly in the worst shape they have ever seen. 

Father Bush said he knew the windows were in rough shape. “Before they came, I could stand inside and see to the outside.

“The need to do this project was dire. The church building in Elsie was built in 1917, and except for the protective hail netting parishioners put over the windows roughly 10 years ago, nothing had been done to the windows themselves since construction of the church. In general, stained glass windows need some form of maintenance about every 50 years because of the nature of the soft lead that holds the glass together,” Bush said. 

Bovard informed Father Bush that the window frames were in better shape than originally thought and that would save them in the ultimate cost, which Bush says has been funded by donations of the parishioners. 

“Fortunately for the pastor, several current families of the parishes solicited other family members now living in Colorado, Arizona and across Nebraska for donations. Most donations ranged between $100 to $500, but because of the quantity, we are well on our way to a fully funded restoration.”

The windows themselves almost all have a story of their own to tell, like the two dedicated to the founding pastor, Father Jospeh Blanca. Or the window over the front door of the church which shows the letters IHS which symbolize the first three letters of the name Jesus. “These letters are shown with the crown and the thorns. This window reminds us of Jesus’s death and resurrection, tying in with the name.”

The sentiment of these windows will be back and better than before after they have made the trip to Iowa, are fully restored, and then brought back and reinstalled in their places at the Resurrection of Our Lord Church in Elsie, Nebraska, where today, after over 100 years, nearly 25 families still attend regularly. 

 

The Grant Tribune-Sentinel

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Grant NE 69140