St. Therese Retreat Center

St. Therese Retreat Center
Map
Address5277 East Broad Street
Columbus, OH, 43213
DenominationCatholic
History
Former name(s)St. Therese’s Shrine, House of Retreats
Shrine Center for Renewal
Architecture
Architect(s)Robert Krause
Architectural typeRomanesque
Completed1931
Administration
DioceseColumbus
Clergy
Bishop(s)Earl K. Fernandes

St. Therese Retreat Center is a retreat house and shrine of the Catholic Diocese of Columbus dedicated to Thérèse of Lisieux located on East Broad Street in Columbus, Ohio.

History

Founding

In 1926, Bishop James Hartley purchased a house and 77 acres of land which had formerly belonged to Martha Green Deshler,[1] daughter of the prominent Columbus businessman John G. Deshler who owned the Deshler Hotel and financed the building of the Wyandotte Building, the first skyscraper in Columbus.[2][3][4] Green Deshler and her husband, Harry W. Brown, settled at the farmhouse following their marriage, and Green died at the house in September of 1925. [5][6]

It served as a home for devotional exercises and Sunday Masses, and the site was entrusted to the care of the Sisters of St. Francis of Penance and Christian Charity, on August 28, 1927, and remained so until 1971.[2][7][8]

Improvements

A Romanesque chapel with a capacity for 120 congregants dedicated to St. Therese, along with a 32-room dormitory for retreat participants and other buildings designed by Robert Krause, was constructed in 1931 and dedicated on the feast of St. Therese by Bishop Hartley.[9][8]

In 1949, Bishop Michael Ready of Columbus oversaw the addition of murals to the chapel including depictions of the Temptation of Christ, the prophet Elijah in the desert, and Ignatius of Loyola and Charles Borromeo, both patrons of the retreat movement, along with the apse painting of Pentecost as recounted in Acts 2.[8]

The shrine was strongly affiliated with both the Lay Men's and Lay Women's Retreat Leagues, who also sponsored the construction of the on-site rosary walk and the air conditioning of the main chapel in 1959.[8]

Alternate Uses

The chapel at St. Therese Retreat Center

In 1970, the name of the facility was changed to the "Shrine Center for Renewal" and more ecumenical uses of the shrine became common, with local Protestant groups using the facility.[10] The chapel was the site of celebrations of the Tridentine Mass in the 1990s.[11] In 1998, 18 of the original 75 acres were split off to be developed into a senior assisted living facility run by the Carmelite Sisters for the Aged and Infirm.[10][12] It also hosted a three-day gathering of Catholics and Sikhs sponsored by the USCCB in May 2014.[13] The same year, the grotto dedicated to Our Lady of Lourdes on the grounds of the facility was rebuilt and restored.[14]

In 2020, citing declining use, the Diocese of Columbus closed the retreat center, but in October of 2022, it began to serve as temporary housing for a new order of religious sisters serving in the Diocese.[15][16]

References

  1. ^ "Martha Green Deshler portrait". digital-collections.columbuslibrary.org. Retrieved 2023-07-25.
  2. ^ a b The History of the Diocese of Columbus, Volume II: 1918-1943. Columbus, OH: Catholic Diocese of Columbus. 1943. pp. 176–179.
  3. ^ "St. Therese's Retreat Center | Columbus Landmarks". Archived from the original on 25 July 2023. Retrieved 2023-07-25.
  4. ^ "As It Were: John Green Deshler took a chance and Columbus reached for the sky". The Columbus Dispatch. Retrieved 2023-07-25.
  5. ^ "Brown-Deshler". The Chillicothe Gazette. 13 November 1912.
  6. ^ "Martha G. Deshler Dies at Farm House". Circleville Herald. 22 September 1925.
  7. ^ The Catholic Times (29 September 2023). "Departing Stella Niagara sisters leave legacy of faith, service in diocese". The Catholic Times of Columbus.
  8. ^ a b c d Catholic Diocese of Columbus (1960-10-02). St. Therese Shrine And House Of Retreats Dedication Of New Wing October 2 1960. pp. 11, 14.
  9. ^ Mason, Debra (15 May 1988). "From Gothic to Modern -- Religious Architecture in Columbus". The Columbus Dispatch. p. 8.
  10. ^ a b Puet, Tim (28 August 2016). "Diocesan Retreat Centers offer Serenity in a Busy World" (PDF). Catholic Times of Columbus. pp. 10–12. Archived (PDF) from the original on 25 July 2023. Retrieved 25 July 2023.
  11. ^ Blackford, Darris (12 August 1991). "Catholic Diocese to offer Monthly Latin Mass". The Columbus Dispatch. pp. 10c.
  12. ^ Wright, Steve (17 June 1996). "EAST SIDE REQUESTS TOP ZONING AGENDA". The Columbus Dispatch.
  13. ^ "2014 Sikh-Catholic Meeting Report | USCCB". www.usccb.org. Retrieved 2023-07-25.
  14. ^ Viviano, JoAnne (16 May 2014). "Religious retreat / East Side - Rebuilt grotto a prayerful haven". The Columbus Dispatch. pp. 7B.
  15. ^ Puet, Tim (9 February 2020). "Two diocesan retreat centers to close". The Catholic Times of Columbus. p. 3. Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 August 2022. Retrieved 22 August 2022.
  16. ^ Dailey, Stash (4 December 2022). "Congregation of sisters adds to richness of life in diocese" (PDF). The Catholic Times of Columbus. p. 2. Archived (PDF) from the original on 25 July 2023. Retrieved 25 July 2023.

39°58′36″N 82°51′36″W / 39.97667°N 82.86000°W / 39.97667; -82.86000