One final celebration
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ABOVE: A “family” photo of those who attended the Mass of Thanksgiving at Christ the King Retreat House.
A Mass of Thanksgiving concludes the service of a diocesan landmark
By Dc. Tom Cuskey, editor
One last gathering took place recently at the stately mansion turned retreat house at the top of the hill on Brookford Road.
Over the past thirty years, thousands of people made their way to Christ the King Retreat House on the east side of Syracuse for retreats, conferences, fellowship and more. In June, the Diocese of Syracuse announced its closing (see The Catholic Sun cover story, July 18 edition). No one ever wanted to see this happen, but like all good things, there is a beginning and an end.
The final Mass begins with Bishop Lucia, concelebrant Fr. Zachary Miller and Director of Liturgy and R.C.I.A Joshua Corcoran.
Its schedule of obligations fulfilled, the Mass of Thanksgiving was celebrated there on August 14, a Vigil Mass for the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Bishop Douglas J. Lucia presided for a final time in the house chapel with a guest list of board of directors’ members, former house staff and diocesan supporters.
In his homily, Bishop Lucia drew parallels to the closing with the passing of his father, Leward Lucia, on August 8, at the age of 96.
“We find that, as the doctor said to me, ‘Well, even the medicine is not working,’” Bishop shared. “In our own lives, too, as beautiful as this place is, and as much work and much talent have gone into the care of this building, we do come to … that moment where we say, ‘This can’t be. This just can’t continue.’”
Being the Solemnity of Mary’s Assumption, Bishop also saw common threads with Mary’s lasting impact on the faithful.
“There’s still fruitfulness involved. Fruitfulness from the lessons, fruitfulness for what this place means to us. So, how does its legacy live on in other ministries of our diocese?” he charged to those assembled.
The Hon. Frederick Scullin Jr. is a U.S. District Judge and member of the house’s board of directors.
“It’s difficult today to keep these places going,” Scullin said. “[There’s] not the interest there used to be. “ He said he was organizing a men’s retreat at the house when Fr. Michael Carmola was director. “So, I’ve been involved here a long time, and it’s been great. It’s been wonderful, really. It was a holy place, but, like a lot of things, had to come to an end.”
On hand, among others, were Fr. John Rose, past director, House team members Judy Carr and Barbara Shepard and past director Joan Spector.
Steve Meier has worked in maintenance at the Retreat House for 9 years, following a 12-year term with Catholic Charities. He thought he was hired to do light maintenance that eventually turned into major projects like painting, updating fixtures, reconfiguring rooms and more.
“We did a lot of work, and we enjoyed it very much.,” Meier said. “And the people that we worked with were very nice.”
Many diocesan offices and ministries utilized the Retreat House for meetings and gatherings, large and small. Elizabeth Garn, the program coordinator for Adult & Ministerial Formation, also supports the seminarian formation team in the Office of Vocation Promotion. She has many happy memories of CTKRH and events they hosted, such as the annual Vocations Picnic. She also accepts that it is the responsibility of the diocesan team to keep the spirit of the Retreat House alive through new venues.
“Jesus is so present here, but he’s present in all of our parishes,” she said. “He’s present in the tabernacle. I’m thinking that there has to be a lot of other places, specifically parishes that have nice gathering spaces for events. Then they can begin and end [events] in prayer, especially with the Blessed Sacrament there with them.”
