by Tim Chik
In my last column, I mentioned that our ministry here at Savior Pastoral Center lies at the service of the church, to be a place of refuge and retreat for fighting the battle of the spiritual life.
I encouraged all our readers to come away with Jesus and be renewed! Well, that may have led some of you to wonder: “What exactly does Savior Pastoral Center do? Who is able to go on retreat there?”
Savior Pastoral Center is a retreat and conference center of the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas. It is wholly owned and operated by the archdiocese as a ministry to support parishes and organizations in fulfilling their mission. We are dedicated to providing hospitality, service and support for spiritual growth and renewal in the archdiocese, and also for various events and programs in the nonprofit and business communities.
Our diverse facility hosts a large number of events throughout the year. We can accommodate up to 200 individuals overnight in a variety of room types, and much larger groups for daytime conferences. Since there are two main dormitories in addition to the Vianney Suites (for retreat directors and visiting clergy), the Savior Pastoral Center is able to host multiple retreats or conferences at the same time.
Savior’s spacious campus also allows for multiple groups to meet in any of our eight meeting rooms. These meeting spaces are diverse, from the Keleher Conference Center, which can hold as many as 475 people, to the smaller meeting rooms of various sizes. We also rent out the use of the pool, gymnasium and athletic fields for the use of conference attendees or for area schools and organizations that wish to utilize them.
Finally, Savior’s dining room can seat as many as 475 people and Ross’ Catering is available for all our guests. Our delicious catering services are also available as part of a rental package for formal receptions in the Savior Art Gallery.
In addition, this facility hosts the Catholic chancery, thereby serving the archbishop and chancery staff as an office building for various administrative and ministry tasks.
Thus, at any one given time, there may be 70 people working/meeting here at the chancery, while 250 people are here on a daytime conference in Keleher Conference Center, and another 50 adults are here on an overnight Cursillo retreat! It is busy but wonderful.
It is a blessing to be able to serve so many different people throughout the archdiocese and within the community.
If you would like more information or to book a retreat for your parish, please check us out online at: www.saviorpastoralcenter.org or call us anytime at (913) 721-1097.
