Florida Catholic | Archbishop Blesses Bethany Center

Archbishop blesses Bethany Center

Year–old retreat complex offers place to be closer God and his creation.

JANET SHELTON | FLORIDA CATHOLIC ST. PETERSBURG BUREAU EDITOR

Published: 05.20.08

Miami Archbishop John C. Favalora blesses water that will be used during the blessing and dedication of Bethany Center as Bishop Robert N. Lynch prays in the background.

ED FOSTER JR. | FC
Miami Archbishop John C. Favalora blesses water that will be used during the blessing and dedication of Bethany Center as Bishop Robert N. Lynch prays in the background.

LUTZ | Although those who have used the Bethany Center have enjoyed its blessings for a year now, Archbishop John C. Favalora of Miami officially blessed and dedicated the diocese’s retreat center May 15.

About 150 priests, Pastoral Center staffers and guests who helped build Bethany Center came to the event. Those closest to its development shared memories and amazement of how it came to be.

Diocesan real estate and planning manager Steve Zientek and diocesan attorney Joseph DiVito recalled how hard it was to find the property. Bishop Robert N. Lynch had very specific ideas of what he wanted, and what he wanted wasn’t easy to find.

It had to be centrally located in the diocese. It had to have a water element. It had to be remote and serene, and it had to have a real Florida feel. “This had to be my toughest assignment,” Zientek said.

After months of searching, Zientek heard about the Van Dyke Road property through an unrelated meeting at Our Lady of the Rosary Parish. He called the real estate agent and liked what he learned.

“I was so excited. I went to see it that afternoon,” he said

He and DiVito drove out to the land, but getting onto the site wasn’t easy. The paved neighborhood that now provides easy access wasn’t yet built. From Van Dyke the men followed a mile-long dirt road that was little more than tire tracks across a grassy and sometimes muddy field.

But when they came to a clearing and saw one of the two lakes, they were smitten with the land’s natural beauty.

ED FOSTER JR. | FC
Joseph and JoAnn White, second and third from the left, look over an architect’s rendering of the recently completed St. James Chapel at Bethany Center that was presented to them by Bishop Robert N. Lynch during the dedication ceremony. The chapel and exterior Stations of the Cross were made possible through the generosity of the White’s.

The owners, brothers who loved to camp, hunt and fish on the land, knew how badly the diocese wanted it. They also had other prospective buyers, among them a developer who wanted to build high-end homes for the very wealthy. DiVito and Zientek knew the diocese had to move fast. They immediately called diocesan secretary for administration Elizabeth Deptula. “Betty came out, saw it, (reached the bishop) and said. ‘Bishop Lynch, you’ve got to see this,” DiVito said. Afterward, Bishop Lynch had two words. “Buy it.”

The brothers negotiated hard, but in the end told Zientek and DiVito they were pleased the site would be used as a spiritual center; it made a fitting final resisting place for their old hunting dog that had been buried on a small island on the property.

Once the purchase was made, the diocese began planning in earnest. Building designs were developed with a Florida feel and an emphasis on not destroying, but embracing, the natural beauty. The dining area, for example, has floor-to-ceiling, glass-pane doors that open onto a wraparound deck that overlooks Lake Martha and offers an across-the-lake view of the youth center.

The wildlife blends with human designs and spiritual expression: An owl recently spent the day in the chapel. On the day of the dedication, a cormorant dried its wings in the sun and love bugs flew in pairs outside the doors of the complex’s Archbishop Favalora Conference Center. Visible from almost every building, as well as the walking paths, is a life-size crucifixion scene that stands just outside St. James Chapel.

Archbishop Favalora complimented Bishop Lynch on the retreat center.

“I was enthralled by the buildings and especially by the beauty of the chapel,” he said. “Bishop Lynch, you know how to do things and do them well. … What a beautiful place.”

The retreat center, paid for almost entirely with sales of surplus diocesan land, has been used by those in lay pastoral ministry, in diaconate formation, in marriage preparation and more.

Bishop Lynch said the Bethany in Scripture was a place where Christ went to be with friends and renew himself. It was a place where he could be with friends, communicate with his father, relax and escape the crowds. This, too, could be such a place.

“What graces God has in store for this modern Bethany remain to be seen, but this much one can take to the bank,” he said, quoting Isaiah, “All who come here to seek the Lord will find in this place that he is still here and still near.”

The day came with gifts of thanks. Archbishop Favalora was among those who received framed original drawings of the buildings and site. Joseph and JoAnn White received a sketch of St. James Chapel, which, along with the crucifixion scene and Stations of the Cross, was built through their family’s generous donation. Msgr. George Cummings, who founded and supported Our Lady of Good Counsel Camp in Floral City, and is known for his dedication to youths and love of the outdoors, took home the sketch of the youth center that bears his name.

The last drawing was given to the person whose influence, the bishop said, could be found in every part of the retreat center. She has guided the design, construction and furnishings.

“If there is a mother for this project, it is clearly Betty Deptula,” Bishop Lynch said. “She’s given life to this, she’s given breath to this project.”

Bishop Lynch encouraged all the people of the diocese to take time to visit the center with their parishes or ministries.

“Come to Bethany to find the Lord in a peaceful, reflective setting,” he said. “The modern Bethany Center practically screams to all who enter, ‘Come to me all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.’”

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