Franciscan putting aside retirement in favor of retreat house for poor

By all rights, says Rev. William DeBiase, OFM, he's earned retirement. He could be "sitting out on the front porch, reading The New York Times" and smoking his pipe.

Instead, the 70-year-old Franciscan believes that "God has other plans" for him.

Father DeBiase, a former member of the Franciscan community at the St. Francis Chapel on Wolf Road in Colonie and one-time chaplain of the Filipino community at St. Francis de Sales parish in Loudonville, moved to Philadelphia in September to become join a team of priests who are opening a retreat center in the inner city.

Services

The San Damiano Spiritual Center is meant to work in conjunction with the St. Francis Inn, a soup kitchen. (Rev. Hugh Hines, a past president of Siena College in Loudonville, once worked there.) San Damiano will host college students on service trips to the Inn, hold retreats on social justice issues, welcome Baptist and Pentecostal prayer services for Protestant neighbors, and provide spiritual services for the poor and homeless who come to eat at the Inn.

Unlike "regular" retreat houses, Father DeBiase told The Evangelist, the Spiritual Center will not charge in order to better serve the poor of the community.

"We wanted to add a spiritual aspect for people in the neighborhood who can't normally afford to go to a retreat house," he said, voicing the hope that the Spiritual Center will be able to operate solely from free-will offerings.

'Exciting thing'

This kind of ministry is so new in the area, said Father DeBiase, that he can't even begin to predict what might happen.

"It's a tremendously exciting thing," he enthused, "and the excitement is that we don't know how it's going to work out. We're starting from point zero. And that's what makes it fun."

The Spiritual Center is located in a renovated tenement. With 13 beds, it can host up to 25 residents if they want to "rough it."

Father DeBiase, who hopes that the Center will attract college students and other young people, said that working with the needy at St. Francis Inn is an "eye-opener" for youth, giving them an "appreciation that they are capable of making a difference. They realize that they can make people's lives a little different -- and maybe even make them smile."

Aid from Diocese

Father DeBiase has had assistance from a number of Catholics in the Albany Diocese, including parishioners at St. Francis de Sales and members of the Capital District Filipino community.

Joey Nuqui, a parishioner at St. Francis de Sales, recently traveled to Philadelphia to deliver chairs to the retreat facility. He has fond memories of the time Father DeBiase spent with the Filipinos.

"For a priest his age, it's really amazing what he does. He is really so involved with the spirituality of our community," Mr. Nuqui said, recalling weddings, christenings, Masses and retreats that Father DeBiase held. The priest also championed a number of Filipino customs, including a traditional Easter morning procession, which the community holds on the grounds of St. Francis.

Parishioners at St. Francis raised $2,000 in a special weekend collection for the Philadelphia ministry.

Remembering Albany

"Besides making me want to cry," Father DeBiase said of the charitable efforts, "it makes me feel terrific that people can look beyond their own concerns. They can take a collection and do something heroic like this."

The Franciscan remembers his time in the Albany Diocese with great fondness. He found life at the St. Francis Chapel "exciting and exhilarating, because there was always some sort of challenge taking place. There was a whole series of peak moments. Two and a half-million favorite memories. I would be so hard-pressed to pick out just one."

As for his new ministry, he said, "I would like to say that things are terrific, but [working things out] is going to take time. Just pray for us -- that it flies."

(To reach Father DeBiase, write San Damiano Spiritual Center, 1802 E. Hagert St., Philadelphia, PA 19125.)

(01-16-03)