5/23/2008
Diocese preparing a desert place ‘for the good of souls’
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| Diocese preparing a desert place ‘for the good of souls’ |
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Ed Langlois
POWELL BUTTE — On a former ranch in the placid high desert, Catholics from across central and eastern Oregon are hoping to create holy ground.
Construction begins this summer on a retreat center, chapel, youth camp and guest house — all meant as a spiritual oasis for the widespread Diocese of Baker. Here, visitors will be able to take in sagebrush-laden air, gaze at the snowy Three Sisters peaks and then step into a chapel to adore Jesus in the Eucharist.
“It’s a quieting place,” says Bishop Robert Vasa, having just strolled through a stand of fragrant junipers. “It quiets the spirit in a lot of ways.”
Bishop Vasa often prays the rosary during walks through the rolling 38 acres, located 20 minutes from Bend and closer to Redmond and Prineville. The bishop is aware that many Oregonians have left religion behind and chosen nature for their devotion.
“It’s not an either-or,” he contends. “It’s a both-and.”
The $5 million project, says the bishop, is a way to “push back” against secularity and relativism. He hopes retreats will help people, especially youths, see the untruths and follies foisted on them by culture. “Even though we live in the desert here, we live in it in a busy kind of way,” Bishop Vasa says. He wants Catholics to leave their houses and ranches to come for a spell of quiet with the Lord, even if it’s just for a day or two.
“People fail to realize there is tremendous spiritual benefit that can be accomplished in that twelve or sixteen hours that can’t be accomplished any other way,” he explains.
Once called the Two Bar Ranch, the parcel is not far from the post office and grocery store known as the town of Powell Butte. About 60 percent of the diocese’s Catholic families are within a three hours’ drive. Baker City and Pendleton are about four hours away. In these parts, that’s a moderate trip.
In a large storage shed, Bishop Vasa envisions a ping-pong table, couches and a stage for skits. He imagines himself out on the patio tending a barbecue while the youths have a good time.
In a field of cow pies, he sees a graceful set of bunkhouses for families and youths. Near a stand of dead, gnarled wood, he can picture a shrine.
As central Oregon’s population grows, the bishop knows adults and youths alike will need more quiet. He sees more Hispanic families who will want to delve into faith and togetherness.
“As I travel throughout the diocese, I see numerous rural communities which seem to be living in a kind of spiritual isolation,” the bishop has written in a letter to parishioners. “In each of these communities I meet many people who seem to want so much more for their own spiritual lives and for the spiritual lives of their children and grandchildren.”
He adds that everyone on occasion needs “more intense spiritual encounters” than can be found in parishes.
The center will host day retreats, especially during Advent and Lent. And individuals who come on independent retreats here could attend daily Mass in the chapel, meet with a spiritual director and wander the grounds. It will not always be a bustling place, but a haven of peace, quiet and prayer.
Bishop Vasa says that many people who were dragged to a retreat end up having profound experiences.
The main building on the property is a 7,400-square-foot barn built in 2003. But this barn came with a kitchen, carpeted living quarters, a balcony with views of the Cascades and two lit cupolas. Its high-ceilinged animal lodging is being renovated for larger meetings and the residence will make handy seminar rooms.
First on the agenda are renovation of the barn and construction of the chapel, a mix of central Oregon intimate wood and ancient cathedral.
Bishop Vasa, who grew up on a Nebraska farm, does much of the labor around the old ranch. He has pried up planks from the barn floor, intending that the wood be used to build bunks for youth cabins and benches for an outdoor fire circle. The bishop, who wears black suspenders and keeps a toolbox in his car, has also demolished unsafe parts of an old ranch house.
Bishop Vasa stars in a brief DVD about the planned complex. It’s been sent around to parishes. Some of the region’s 11,000 Catholic households have been pledging support for this first capital campaign in the diocese’s 104-year history.
“It’s a contribution not to a project, but a contribution to the building up of faith,” the bishop concludes on screen. “A contribution not to a plan, but for hope, for the greater good of souls.”
So far, $3.2 million has been pledged. That comes from just more than 800 households, or seven percent of the total Catholic population.
The retreat center and camp, diocesan officials say, will benefit Catholics even if they never visit. If youths embrace faith more deeply, that could enhance parish life. Some might even become priests or religious.
John Schiemer, director of development for the diocese, points out that parents and grandparents set aside large amounts of money for children’s secular education. A father himself, Schiemer sees the new center as a place of deep faith formation.
“The spiritual education of your children — what is that worth?” he says. “What if these experiences out here kept your children or grandchildren in the church?”
The center is a good idea, especially for young people, says Jorge Barragan, a 39-year-old father and restaurant owner from St. Peter Parish in The Dalles.
Youths, Barragan explains, “need all the help they can get.”
Barragan, who says his teens and pre-teens constantly complain about having nothing to do, thinks the Powell Butte center could help young people move from video games to fresh air, and from boredom to Christ. The same holds for adults.
“You can disconnect yourself from all the business of life,” Barragan says. “You can go there and praise God.” The retreat center and camp, he concludes, would be this generation’s gift to the future.
“We need somehow to make the youth realize what a gift they have been given in being Catholic,” says Dan Dufault, a fruit grower and member of Our Lady of Angels Parish in Hermiston.
Dufault also sees the center as a good place for parish councils and other church groups to make their ministry more effective. “Everything starts with a good spiritual base,” he says.
Bishop Vasa hopes to re-locate the diocesan pastoral center here. But the Crook County planning commission in November 2007 ruled that the offices constitute a business, which is prohibited in the zone — though churches are allowed. Making the point that the pastoral center is one aspect of the church — like the offices of a parish — the diocese re-applied to the county last week.
The commissioners have already approved the retreat center, chapel, five cabins, staff quarters and a house for the bishop. The hoped-for pastoral center would make up about a quarter of the project’s total square footage.
At a time when retreat centers are closing, the diocese is stepping out in faith. But officials are also savvy. Pastoral center staff would operate the camp and retreat center in addition to regular duties. That would save the need for a costly new layer of administration.
The pastoral center on Southeast Armour Street in Bend would be sold. The diocesan offices would then be located in new, energy-efficient buildings.
The diocese has a large collection of religious art that will come in handy here. There will be paintings with sacred themes, especially pieces focused on Mary. One corner of the center could well be a museum, with artifacts going back more than a century. Rooms will be named after saints.
The center will include a playing field and space for recreational vehicles and tents. The five bunkhouses, each with two sides, could accommodate 10 families.
The typical youth retreat draws 30 to 50 teens. But there is hope to boost attendance into the hundreds.
The grove of junipers and a hill stand between the bunkhouse site and the retreat center, so that adults on retreat will have privacy, even when youth or family camp is in session. At other times, the entire grounds will be ripe for long periods of silence in the desert, the landscape Jesus visited for prayer and solitude.
A sign hung outside the barn proclaims simply: “A desert place.”
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