Volunteers work to turn former day college into future youth center

08/01/2005 Jan Bear

When the Father Bernard Sander Youth Center opens for retreats in early 2006, it will be a unique facility, run entirely for and mostly by young people.

Making use of a former women’s day college on the campus of the Benedictine Sisters of Mount Angel, the center will feature a chapel with two meditation centers and several reconciliation chapels, another room for dances and entertainment, rooms for breakout meetings and chapels, a leaders’ office area with high-speed Internet and computer and copy facilities, dorm rooms in the house and, here’s the clincher, several ministry opportunities within walking distance.

Tony Morris, executive director, is firm about its being for, by and about the young people: on staff so far are Kyle Fessler, who will be a junior next fall at Willamette University, Bernadette Wagner, 23, the mother of a 1-year-old, and Meagan Vandecoevering, 21, a junior next fall at Oregon State University, who is the volunteer director.

And on a sunny Saturday, a group of 55 young people came out on their own time to spruce up the grounds of what will soon be their center. More than half of them, instead of leaving after the barbecue as planned, spent the rest of their precious summer Saturday doing yard work.

The center was originally planned for a piece of land in Happy Valley, east of Portland, which Portland contractor John BrocBrockamp was donating. It was a good site, Morris said, but nothing seemed to fall into place for it.

When the Benedictine Sisters’ Casey Commons was brought to their attention — John Brockamp told Father Bernard about the property — “all the doors opened,” Morris said. Brockamp’s land donation will be used for something else, and Brockamp is an advisor to the youth center’s board of directors.

In the meantime, Morris says, “funding has blossomed”: more than half of the $800,000 remodel has been paid for.

Morris was moved to the work by his experience with youth ministry among teen-agers. He was touched by the young people’s deep experience of reconciliation that happened at confirmation retreats. Now he sees those retreats as one of the main uses of the center.

The college was built in 1960 and remodeled in 1987, but it still has its 1960s feel and design — which gives it the potential for a hip-retro space-age feel that will appeal to youth. The chapel is a glass-walled oval, surrounded by Douglas firs and the wide lawns that the young people spent their Saturday grooming. When its remodeling is finished, the room will have an altar in the center, a chapel for the reserved Sacrament in a separate area behind the altar, and at the near end, what is now a fireplace will be converted into a place to venerate Our Lady of Guadalupe, replete with candles. Organizers plan to commission Benedictine Brother Claude Lane of Mount Angel Abbey to create etched-glass icons between the sanctuary and the adoration chapel beyond.

Bernadette Wagner, the assistant executive director, is enthusiastic about the worship space. Unlike a lot youth centers, this one has an actual chapel, actual reconciliation rooms, an adoration chapel — “It’s so meant to be,” she says. “Everything is meant for a youth retreat.”

Artworks throughout the building will be a mix of classic pieces and pieces done by young people.

A large multipurpose room at the far end of the building will provide space for large meetings and entertainment. The smaller meeting rooms are being remodeled in attractive wood tones and cutting-edge color schemes chosen by the family funding each room.

Nearby Mount Angel Abbey will be a source of priests for retreats, as well as a destination for pilgrimages. For service opportunities, the Benedictine Sisters’ St. Joseph Shelter, Providence Benedictine Nursing Center, the Missionaries of the Holy Spirit and the Carmelites are all nearby.

Fessler, the development director, creates the publications and brochures for the center. He grew up in Mount Angel and attended Catholic schools through his elementary and secondary years.

He’s very excited about the center, he says, because a lot of kids don’t have the same opportunities to receive religious education he did.

Wagner, 23, the assistant executive director, is Tony Morris’s daughter. She says she’s been working for the center since mid-March but supporting it much longer. She got the job because she was working as the serving manager at the Mount Angel Brewing Company, where the center’s board would meet. There she got experience with scheduling and managing. “This is the first job I’ve ever had where I’m really passionate about what I’m doing,” she says. “We’re actually going to be changing lives.”

Working with her dad is nothing new for her. As a business owner, Morris had his daughter “on staff” from when she was 7 and would pick up wood for $1 per hour. As she grew up, he was active in her youth activities, and everybody in the youth group called him “dad,” she said.

Sister Dorothy Jean Beyer, prioress of the Benedictine Sisters of Mount Angel, who are leasing the facility to the center, said the Sisters are excited about the center’s mission and about having it as their neighbors. It will be good to help the youth become excited about their faith, she said, and about being the people of God.

The next big fund-raiser is a Sept. 11 golf tournament at the Evergreen Golf Course in Mount Angel.

The Father Bernard Youth Center website is at frbernardyouthcenter.org.