City of the Lord Catholic community acquires Living Water Retreat Center

Communities share long history of ecumenism

By J.D. Long-García
The Catholic Sun

CORNVILLE — Nestled among the Black Hills mountain range, the Community of Living Water has served Christians of every tradition for the last 25 years.

City of the Lord, a Catholic Covenant Community based in Tempe, plans to continue the center’s ecumenical mission after officially taking over operations March 30.

“We are a family. This is a marriage,” said Bob Carmody, coordinator of City of the Lord. “We’re entering into something that’s going to change our lives.”

John French, who founded Living Water a quarter century ago and recently retired, has placed a major emphasis on hospitality. Through hospitality, he said, visitors have more time to listen to God.

“Having an atmosphere where the Holy Spirit is welcomed and where people didn’t have to do everything for themselves” gives visitors more time for spiritual reflection, French said.

The center, which has a half a mile of creek-front property, can currently host 130 visitors and has private rooms for married couples. The kitchen is staffed and serves meals so guests can focus on spiritual growth.

“It’s nice to have a place where you don’t have to bring a sleeping bag,” said Jim Hyde from City of the Lord. “Someone in their 70s can come here and not worry about tripping while walking between houses.”

French said his Christian community’s relationship with City of the Lord began well before the Living Water Retreat Center opened.

More than 80,000 people have visited the center since it opened and an estimated 40 percent of guests each year are Catholic.

“All growth in the Christian life comes through change and through conflict,” French said. “Everybody thinks that change is bad, but change and conflict is where growth comes.”

French believes there is a lot of room for growth on the 30 acres of land, including more buildings and improving the grounds.

Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted, who blessed a cross built in tribute of French and his late wife Barry, said the center would be a blessing for the entire diocese.

“It’s one thing to read about it, it’s another thing to be here and see the unity that exists between” the Community of Living Water and City of the Lord, he said.

“To be Catholic is to be ecumenical. It cannot be a good facility under the Catholic auspice unless it is ecumenical,” the bishop added.

Bishop Olmsted also hopes to see a chapel built on the grounds.

“What we want this facility to do is be a part of the new evangelization,” he said. “In order to do that as Catholics, we need the Eucharist.”

City of the Lord was founded in 1974 to “live together in the power of the Holy Spirit under the Lordship of Jesus Christ.”

Ed Wilmowski, who is working with the Office of Stewardship to raise money to build the chapel, said City of the Lord would continue to operate the facility under its original ecumenical mission.

“This mission may not always be seen for the goodness that it is,” he said. “But we’re not called to be popular, we’re called to be faithful.”