Checking in from Redemptorist Renewal Center in Tucson
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December 12, 2023Autumn has finally arrived in Tucson without a change in the color of leaves. The saguaros are still green. Despite the record heat we experienced all summer long, the Renewal Center continued to operate and offer a variety of hosted and CSSR-directed programs.
For the first time this year we began a six-week “mini-sabbatical” for Spanish-speaking priests and religious that ran from the beginning of August into the second week of September. Due to the success of this added shorter program, we will be offering it again this summer in both English and Spanish (two separate programs running simultaneously).
As September arrived, though without the expected cooler temperatures, our ordinary programs revved up again and we have been operating at almost full capacity since Labor Day.Our present community is made up of seven confreres. In addition to maintaining and operating the Renewal Center, our community also administers Santa Catalina Parish, operates Our Lady of the Desert Church as a Conventual Church, and provides priestly supply to several surrounding parishes on a regular basis.
Our youngest member, Fr. Huy Vu, has been the pastoral administrator of Santa Catalina since Fr. Lamar Partin’s move to Baton Rouge. He was officially appointed pastor of Santa Catalina this summer by Bishop Weisenberger in recognition of the excellent pastoral care and administrative ability he displayed during his first year. Since the parish has no rectory, Fr. Huy faithfully leaves early in the morning to make the 45-minute drive to the parish, and often comes home late at night. Fathers Jim Shea, Brian Johnson, Steve Rehrauer and Charlie Wehrley regularly assist him during the week and on weekends to offer sacramental care.Four members of the community are officially assigned to the Renewal Center staff. Fr. Steve serves as Director. In addition to directing/offering regular preached retreats, he also directs the Spring, Summer, and Fall Sabbatical programs, the Hesychia School of Spiritual Direction, and the renewed “pathless path” contemplative retreats.
Fr. Brian serves as rector of both the Redemptorist community and Our Lady of the Desert Conventual Church. He offers regular Bible study, runs the RCIA program, is the community liaison with the Tucson Redemptorist Partners in Mission Circle, and handles everything else related to the church.
Fr. Charlie Wehrley joined our community in late August. He offers several 12 Step spirituality workshops and days of recollection each month and provides ongoing spiritual direction for retreatants and people in the area. He is also acting Director of Communications for the North American Conference of Redemptorists and assisting with vocations.
Fr. Jim Shea, the oldest member of the community, fills out the Renewal Center team. He offers spiritual direction, celebrates Mass and hears confessions. In his limited free time when he’s not playing golf, he guides the local ACTS retreat organization and generously offers himself to local parishes for supply work as needed.
Fr. Tom Fransiscus and Fr. Peter Connolly live in the community as members in senior ministry, but they are far from “retired.” Fr. Tom works one day a week at the local chancery, serving as judge of the Diocesan marriage tribunal, is active with our Knights of Columbus Council, and continues to celebrate Mass during the week at Our Lady of the Desert and in Spanish at another local parish, as his health permits.
Fr. Peter, pastor emeritus of Santa Catalina, maintains contact with former parishioners and friends, and provides pastoral care to those who regularly call on him in times of family difficulty and crisis. He also serves as chaplain to our local chapter of the Knights of Columbus.
Peter takes upon himself the task of ensuring that the rectory is properly cleaned and maintained, that the larder is well-stocked, and that we never run out of the essentials of life, such as coffee and ice cream. In the past two years he has been very active in supporting the Renewal Center through fund-raising for our Capital Campaign. Largely due to his efforts, we received a quarter-of a- million dollars in pledged donations, fifty thousand of which is being used to complete needed repairs on the rectory.
Our community makes the effort to regularly pray, work, eat and recreate together. We pray with the people in Our Lady of the Desert Church in the mornings. A period of silent meditation is followed by the recitation of lauds and a concelebrated daily Mass. We pray vespers each evening together in the rectory before sharing an evening meal. The first Monday of each month is set aside for community meetings, and the second Monday we make a day of retreat together. We make it a point to celebrate each other’s birthdays with a special meal, either by going out or sharing a special meal at home, as we celebrated Fr. Jim’s 85th birthday on October 14 (above).
Moving forward, we have plans to celebrate major Redemptorist feasts together with both the newly formed Desert House Community and the Redemptorist members of the Extra-Patriam community, who also administer a parish here in Tucson.
Our Renewal Center is already booked almost to capacity this year between September and through May, but like everywhere else it continues to be a struggle to pay the bills each month. The desert is hard on cars, roads and buildings. As our “clientele” continues to age, our rooms need to be modified to accommodate the needs and expectations of more and more seniors. Maintenance and inflation have been our major problem this summer.
Long-delayed ordinary maintenance and repair projects are now coming due all at once. During the hottest days of July and August we had to replace three central air conditioning units that failed, and several sewage pipes had to be dug up and replaced as cracks and leakage appeared.
Thanks to the success of our Capital Campaign, we were able to cover the cost of these and other unexpected emergencies without causing a financial crisis. But using the money for emergency repairs means that it is no longer available to complete other planned improvements. We were able, however, to completely remodel four of our retreat rooms, replacing plumbing, electricity, and bathroom fixtures. We have also done extensive landscaping to keep the snakes away, and we have completely replaced and rekeyed every doorknob on the entire campus, bringing us into conformity with the latest safety standards, while at the same time improving the security of the property.
The Renewal Center continues to host many groups and organizations who rent space to run their programs here independently of us. These hosted groups are appreciated and a financial necessity for us. Their continued interest and presence testify to the excellent reputation we have across the country. Our Sabbatical program and Hesychia School enjoy the same reputation worldwide.
Many of these hosted groups have already reserved dates for the next three and even up to five years. But our apostolic plan, encouraged by both the current EPC and our entire staff (both CSSR and non-CSSR), is to gradually reduce our dependence on these hosted events and develop more Redemptorist-directed programs and events directly aligned with the Redemptorist charism, mission and North American Conference priorities.
If you have any ideas or suggestions to help us accomplish this, please pass them on to one of the Renewal Center team members.
