Bishop Cederholm blesses the site
It doesn’t look like much now: just a run-down old cabin that has not been used in years. But this structure on the grounds of the Barbara C. Harris Camp and Conference Center in Greenfield, N.H., will soon be cleared away to make room for a small, simple lakeside house that will be a peaceful retreat for clergy, lay ministers and their spouses. The site was blessed by Bishop Bud Cederholm at the annual diocesan Clergy Day on Sept. 17, and work on the new house should begin this fall.
The retreat house is being built in Cederholm's honor.
"That just blew me away,” the retired bishop suffragan said, recalling the announcement of the new plans for the site. “It’s very humbling.”
During his time as bishop suffragan, Cederholm suggested that it would be nice to have a retreat house in the diocese that clergy and their spouses could use free of charge. The idea did not come to fruition until Cederholm announced his retirement, and the clergy of the diocese and Bishop M. Thomas Shaw, SSJE decided to honor him by building the retreat on the grounds of the Barbara C. Harris Camp and Conference Center. The clergy themselves contributed a lot of the funding for the house, Cederholm said.
Bishop Barbara C. Harris looks at plans for the retreat house
“It will be beautiful, small, dramatic,” said John Koch, Executive Director of the Barbara C. Harris Center. “It’s intentionally designed to be a retreat.” Koch estimated that the existing house was built in the 1930’s or 40’s, and said that he hopes its demolition will begin sometime in October. The new house will be around 1,000 square feet and built to high energy-efficiency standards in honor of Cederholm’s dedication to environmental causes. Koch said that no trees will be cut down, and that they are hoping to salvage usable wood from the old house.
The site is secluded, and the house will be private. “It’s unlikely that you would see another person,” said Koch.
Cederholm spent more than 30 years as a parish priest, and he and his wife Ruth Ann experienced firsthand how difficult it can be for clergy to get away for a few days of peace and self-care. Between responsibilities at the church and financial limitations, a weekend away as a couple was not often feasible.
“The health and welfare of clergy and their families has always been one of my concerns, and the retreat house really symbolizes that,” Cederholm said.
The house will also be open for use by lay ministers, with the recommendation of a clergy member.
“Ruth Ann and I both believe strongly in the ministry of all the baptized—lay people, priests and deacons,” Cederholm said.
The new house's footprint is similar to that of the old cabin currently on the site, and will have just a bedroom, living room, kitchen and bathroom—a peaceful escape perfectly sized for one or two people.
Cameron Roberts, architect
Rendering of interior and view from the lake
“I’ve been taking my grandchildren to Family Camp [at the Barbara C. Harris Center] for seven years now, and any time we passed by in the canoe, they would call it the haunted house…the youngest ones wouldn’t even go near it,” Cederholm said of the current run-down cabin on the site. “So now I tell them that the haunted house is becoming Papa and Nana’s retreat house.”
--Ellen Stuart