“Lots of groups are asking us to reopen in April,” Morrow added. “We’ve heard from groups that they’d like to get on our [2010 and 2011] calendar now.”

After months of preparation by volunteers—
scraping and painting, fixing windows and roofs, pulling up old carpet and putting down new floors, installing new wiring and plumbing, as well as landscaping and planting the G3 Garden (see the G3 Garden, The Record, August 2009)—Emrich was made “more user-friendly, more family- and kid-friendly, and it supports larger groups,” said Joseph Cospito. A member of St. John’s, Plymouth, and the Emrich interim board, Cospito serves as project manager and volunteer coordinator.

“It’s a diamond for the diocese. Our goal is to have the diocese use it more,” he said.

In addition to improvements to the physical plant, there have been changes to staffing and to financial oversight of the center. Administrative Coordinator Shari Spencer is the lone paid staff member. Spencer oversees the facility, takes reservations and manages guest matters, and sends payments to the finance office at the Diocesan Center, where bills are paid and financial accounting is maintained for Emrich. There is no longer a separate board; Diocesan Council makes decisions about Emrich with advice from the interim board for the time being.

“It’s a different type of model, more integrated with the diocese, because it is owned by and is part of the diocese, and it should be accountable to the diocese,” said Morrow. “[Previously] the board had a separate bank account and did very little reporting to the diocese, so the diocese didn’t have any idea of the financial situation.”

Thanks to all the volunteer labor this year, preparing and running the center has been accomplished with the staff of one. “It’s a little too lean of a model,” Morrow admitted. “Our paid staffing might need to go a little higher next year.”

And there should be a next year, Morrow is convinced. A recent meeting with Sara Winter, daughter of Gibson Winter, who co-founded the Parishfield community in 1948 on the site of what is now Emrich, confirmed that the interim board’s vision is on the right track.

“What excites people is the sense of community—the sense of place, of sustainability, of commitment to the environment and to the larger community around there. These are big topics in spirituality right now,” said Morrow. “Emrich is coming back as a place with deep spiritual roots and the importance of nature, of finding community, to be refreshed to go forth to do what they are doing—like Parishfield was.”

Kris Davis, a long-time Emrich user and supporter from Advent Episcopal Church, West Bloomfield, couldn’t wait to come back. “I cried when I heard it closed,” she said.

Davis, who came to Emrich with De Colores and Cursillo for 16 years—sometimes four times a year—calls the center “God space.”

“It’s a comfortable place, not a five-star hotel, but that doesn’t matter when you look at the fact that you are in the middle of nature. There is so much about Emrich that made me who I am today,” Davis said.

“The people who come appreciate that Emrich is imbued with a sense of history with people coming there for years,” agreed Morrow. “The kind of love and commitment to the place that people have shown at volunteer days has been amazing and heartwarming. It was a great experience to work with people who have fond memories of the place.
“We’ve been calling it the ‘Emrich Retreat Center at Parishfield’ since we reopened,” Morrow said.

At its September 12 meeting, Diocesan Council gave the interim board permission to take reservations for the 2010 season.

“What I am seeing is an ownership that was lacking in both Emrich and Gordonwood,” Bishop Gibbs told Diocesan Council. By that comment, he explained that the maintenance and support of retreat and conference centers are not sustained solely by the people who frequent them but everyone in the diocese.

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