Blessing and dedication of Shalom Place

"I have come that they may have life and have it to the full" (Jn 10:10).

Bishop Michael Mulvey blessed the newest addition to the Spirit Center, Shalom Place, on June 6. He also offered a prayer of dedication and protection against the coronavirus to all future visitors.

Shalom Place – a quiet space for prayer and reflection, is the final structure of the Spirit Center, at least in the foreseeable future. It honors the dream of the Sisters of the Incarnate Word and Blessed Sacrament (IWBS), who established the Fannie Bluntzer Nason Renewal Center (FBNRC), also named the Spirit Center, as a Catholic retreat center open to people of other faith.

A small group of IWBS sisters, board members, and friends attended the celebration, which took place in the Activity Center. The ribbon-cutting ceremony took place outside the doors of the newest structure. Once inside the foyer, attendees saw a piece of nostalgia as the inside doors were repurposed from the former Incarnate Word Convent Chapel on Alameda Street.

Speakers included Spirit Center board Vice President of FBNRC, Tom Becquet, Sister Annette Wagner, Sister Michelle Marie Kuntscher, Ricardo Guzman project representative for the FBNRC board, and Craig Baldree, president and general contractor of Progressive Structures, Inc. Baldree was charged with building all of the structures at the Spirit Center.

“On May 3, 2016, the groundbreaking took place,” Becquet said. “Bishop Mulvey blessed the land, we placed our shovels in the dirt and made it ready for Progressive Structures, Inc. to move in the machinery and work crews to do God’s work. The wilderness was tamed. On August 13, 2017, Bishop Mulvey dedicated this building, the Robert and Nell Klepac Activity Center, and the dormitory building as a retreat center for youth and adults of South Texas.”

Sister Annette explained the naming of Shalom Place. While the term “shalom,” is often translated as “peace” in the west, the true meaning somehow got lost in translation. It means “the state or condition of experiencing what is needed to live a fully human life,” Sister Annette said. “A life that is not wanting in any of those elements we consider essential to complete the development of one’s personal potential and therefore the richness of community life. 

“For the Sisters of the Incarnate Word and Blessed Sacrament, these essentials include a rich and invigorating relationship with the source of all that is good, the source of all life,” she said.

“With the dedication of Shalom Place, the Spirit Center now offers two significant settings for an encounter with God who is love: In the many opportunities to experience the beauty and variety of our fellow creatures throughout the center’s walkways, and in the peaceful setting of this new building. ‘I have come that they may have life and have it to the full’ (Jn 10:10),” Sister Annette said, adding, “with this promise, the Incarnate Word offers the full significance of shalom to all those who desire it. May this setting be a meeting place for shalom, the fullness of life for all who enter here.”

Sister Michelle Marie spoke of the pioneering spirit of the Bluntzer family, who settled in South Texas in 1849 and their continued contributions to the community over the years that was never limited by creed, race or nationality. She thanked neighbors John Lloyd Bluntzer and his son, Eric Bluntzer, who continue to help make improvements and lease part of the property for cattle.

The Spirit Center offers a facility with a fully equipped kitchen, an activity center, a covered pavilion, and dorms that sleep up to 96 people with separate showers and bathroom facilities.

The trees and plants that are native to the property make it an ideal place to become one with nature.

With the help of future donors, the Spirit Center will continue to develop nature trails, meditation areas, prayer groves, Stations of the Cross, a rosary path, star gazing and a campfire arena, and playing fields for outdoor games and sports. These features offer youth opportunities to connect with God and one another in the great outdoors. For more information or to donate, go to  bluntzerspiritcenter.org.