McHenry County Blog

Resurrection Center

The Daily Herald reveals that Resurrection Center is being purchased by Chicago’s Loyola University.

The purchase allows Loyola to establish a beachhead in the sixth largest county in Illinois.

The price for the 98 acres, zoned by the McHenry County Board as a senior retirement community, is reported to be $6.4 million.

The new name will be “Loyola University Chicago Retreat and Ecology Campus.”

Not only the biology department will benefit use the property, so will its Center for Urban Environmental Research and Policy.

And, Loyola plans to make an impact on those of us who live in McHenry County.  That’s what the following press release says:

Loyola University Chicago Purchases

Resurrection Retreat Center in McHenry County, Illinois
Acquisition to Benefit Students Academically and Spiritually

CHICAGO, May 25, 2010 — Loyola University Chicago, the nation’s largest Jesuit, Catholic university, announced today that it has purchased the 98-acre Resurrection Retreat Center located at 2710 South Country Club Road in Woodstock, Illinois, from the Congregation of the Resurrection.

Buildings seen from afar.

The retreat center, which the University plans to name the Loyola University Chicago Retreat and Ecology Campus, will be used for a number of different purposes and features 100 guest rooms, a chapel, a full-service dining area, and meeting space.

The acquisition of the retreat center will allow the University to expand its student retreat programs, which currently only accommodate a small portion of first-year students.

The Chapel at Resurrection Center.

In addition to plans to offer retreat opportunities to all first-year students, the University also plans to introduce retreat-program opportunities for sophomores, juniors, and seniors as well.

“Making the University a sanctuary for self-reflection is an important part of the University’s strategic plan,” said Robert Kelly, vice president for student development.

”Offering retreats allows us to provide a significant experience for our students. Building a strong tradition of retreats geared towards their developmental needs supports the spirit and principles of a transformative education and will enable us to provide a premier undergraduate experience unmatched by any other Jesuit college and university.”

The University also plans to use the center to introduce an Outdoor Adventure Program.  The program will

• provide students, faculty, and staff with opportunities to experience outdoor activities that are designed to promote positive lifetime skills and leadership development;
• encourage personal and interpersonal development; and
• increase environmental awareness by providing high-quality leisure education, outdoor, educational, and experiential programs.

On the academic side, the University’s biology department and Center for Urban Environmental Research and Policy (CUERP) will also benefit from the purchase.

With 20 acres of natural habitat that includes ponds, streams, woods, and prairie land, the property offers a unique learning opportunity for students and faculty interested in the sciences.

Students enrolled in classes like ecology, environmental sciences, wetlands biology, conservation biology, restoration biology, and others will have the opportunity to conduct field research on the land and work with the McHenry County Conservation District to restore the natural habitat.

This fall, CUERP will conduct a field course with students designing, planting, and maintaining an organic garden on the grounds, with intent to expand into a small sustainable farm that students, as well as local community members, will participate in.

Long term, the University would like to offer courses for the community on making compost, permaculture, bee keeping, seed collecting, and organic gardening.

”This acquisition makes a lot of sense for our University, and we are thrilled that we had the opportunity to make this land a part of Loyola University Chicago,” said Wayne Magdziarz, vice president of capital planning. ”Our students, whether through retreat opportunities or field research, will clearly benefit from this new space.”

The University also plans to make the retreat center available to external groups and organizations in the future. More information will be available when the University officially opens the center this fall.

About the Resurrection Retreat Center

Originally built in the 1970s as a novitiate for the Congregation of the Resurrection, the building was later converted to a retreat center in the 1980s by the Congregation. After adding an additional wing and 50 rooms to the center in the early 2000s, the retreat center eventually closed in 2009.

About Loyola University Chicago

Committed to preparing people to lead extraordinary lives, Loyola University Chicago, founded in 1870, is the nation’s largest Jesuit, Catholic university. Enrollment is more than 15,800 students, which includes more than 10,000 undergraduates hailing from all 50 states and 82 countries. The University has four campuses: three in the greater Chicago area and one in Rome, Italy. Loyola also serves as the U.S. host university to The Beijing Center for Chinese Studies in Beijing, China. Loyola’s 10 schools and colleges include arts and sciences, business administration, communication, education, graduate studies, law, medicine, nursing, continuing and professional studies, and social work. Loyola offers 71 undergraduate majors, 71 undergraduate minors, 85 master’s degrees, and 31 doctoral degrees. Loyola is consistently ranked among the top national universities by U.S.News & World Report, and the University was named a best value in its 2010 rankings. In addition, Loyola is among a select group of universities recognized for community service and engagement by prestigious national organizations, such as the Carnegie Foundation and the Corporation for National and Community Service. For more information about Loyola, please visit LUC.edu.

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I am particularly excited about this turn of events because it raises the possibility that the Walk to Emmaus retreats could return to Resurrection Center.

The efforts of neighbors to stop the conversion of Resurrection Center from a retreat center to a religious senior living complex were dealt a 17-6 blow by the McHenry County Board tonight.

As revealed first by McHenry County Blog, the debt service for the $5 million addition loan could not be met.

This led complex owners, the Congregation of the Resurrection, to search for other uses.

The result was a proposal for faith-based senior living, condominiums and apartments.

Neighbors objected and Bull Valley residents tried to pull another “let’s annex unwilling property owners into our municipality” gambit announced this morning in on the front page of the Northwest Herald.

So far, that has failed.

Those voting against the zoning change were

• Kathy Bergan Schmidt
• Bob Bless
• Jim Heisler
• Virginia Peschke
• Sandra Salgado
• Ersel Schuster

More information about the proposal can be found at the Resurrection Village web site.

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The labeled aerial photograph of the property was taken by Robin Pendergrast of RRF Photography.

Long-time Bull Valley retreat center Resurrection Center is closing up shop as we know it.

Four years ago, the organization borrowed $5 million to build more modern overnight facilities. It was more like a motel and less like a college dormitory. The dining and meeting rooms were also enlarged substantially.

The debt load has proven to be unmanageable for the Country Club Road retreat center.

Most of my experience with the facility has been with the Walk to Emmaus, a three-day interdenominational short course in Christianity sponsored by an evangelical part of the Methodist Church.

My introduction to its chapel was when newly-installed Rockford Bishop Thomas Doran came to Bull Valley to give one of my Desmond nieces first communion.

When I heard that our group would not be able to hold our fall retreat there, I called Director Jim Ivers and asked for details.

“We had expanded our facility (for) about $5 million,” Ivers said, “and we have tried to increase our occupancy over the last four years.

“We have not been able to get it to the place where we can handle the debt.

“The debt service is about $35,000 and our revenue has only been able to cover our operating expenses.

“So, he continued, “the Congregation of the Resurrection, our owners, is doing a feasibility study of what they might be able to do with the property and the building.”

What are they looking at?

“They are looking at faith-based senior living, condominiums, apartments. That planning is happening at levels above myself.

“No more conferences,” Ivers said. “Whether we will be able to do day events once the rennovations are completed, that’s one of the things we are looking to do. We won’t have any overnight accommodations.

“We are also looking at whether we can do retreat programs at other churches, schools, other retreat centers.”

Currently, the organization serves off-site retreats. It hopes to expand in that direction.

The $5 million in “bonds was issued with a banking organization,” Ivers said.

They have not fallen behind in their payments.

“It was a place where young men would spend a year in prayer and study,” Ivers told me.

“September 21st will be our last day,” he said.

The public can get a look at the facility at the Pro-Life Victory PAC pig roast on

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The picture of Resurrection Center’s Chapel was taken just after sunrise.

Long-time Bull Valley retreat center Resurrection Center is closing up shop as we know it.

Four years ago, the organization borrowed $5 million to build more modern overnight facilities. It was more like a motel and less like a college dormitory. The dining and meeting rooms were also enlarged substantially.

The debt load has proven to be unmanageable for the Country Club Road retreat center.

Most of my experience with the facility has been with the Walk to Emmaus, a three-day interdenominational short course in Christianity sponsored by an evangelical part of the Methodist Church.

My introduction to its chapel was when newly-installed Rockford Bishop Thomas Doran came to Bull Valley to give one of my Desmond nieces first communion.

When I heard that our group would not be able to hold our fall retreat there, I called Director Jim Ivers and asked for details.

“We had expanded our facility (for) about $5 million,” Ivers said, “and we have tried to increase our occupancy over the last four years.

“We have not been able to get it to the place where we can handle the debt.

“The debt service is about $35,000 and our revenue has only been able to cover our operating expenses.

“So, he continued, “the Congregation of the Resurrection, our owners, is doing a feasibility study of what they might be able to do with the property and the building.”

What are they looking at?

“They are looking at faith-based senior living, condominiums, apartments. That planning is happening at levels above myself.

“No more conferences,” Ivers said. “Whether we will be able to do day events once the rennovations are completed, that’s one of the things we are looking to do. We won’t have any overnight accommodations.

“We are also looking at whether we can do retreat programs at other churches, schools, other retreat centers.”

Currently, the organization serves off-site retreats. It hopes to expand in that direction.

The $5 million in “bonds was issued with a banking organization,” Ivers said.

They have not fallen behind in their payments.

“It was a place where young men would spend a year in prayer and study,” Ivers told me.

“September 21st will be our last day,” he said.

The public can get a look at the facility at the Pro-Life Victory PAC pig roast on

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The picture of Resurrection Center’s Chapel was taken just after sunrise.

is the message of the weekend for the Women’s Walk to Emmaus at Resurrection Center in Woodstock.

This embroidery on a vest bears testimony to that.

What’s the verse?

is the message of the weekend for the Women’s Walk to Emmaus at Resurrection Center in Woodstock.

This embroidery on a vest bears testimony to that.

What’s the verse?

This past weekend was a men’s Walk to Emmaus.

It’s a Thursday night through Sunday night experience from which most derive a significant spiritual experience.

It is described as a “short course in Christianity,” but it is more.

For some, it is a transformational experience. For others, it is a chance for renewal away from the world of clocks, cell phones and a constant barrage of news.

You’ve all heard the prodigal son story, surely one of Jesus’ most well know parables.

All the participants were represented at this weekend’s retreat at Resurrection Center.

There was the father and son reunion.

The faithful son, who in this version, realized that patience was what he needed.

And the joyful onlookers.

One man told me he was running on empty when he went, but now was filled with the spirit.

I’ve never served in the armed forces, but the brotherhood that develops there and the one forged in this long weekend may have similarities.

I won’t bore you with the details, but, if you even have an interest, my email address is in the entry on top. The next men’s walk is in September. The next women’s walk is next weekend, but it’s chock-a-block full. There will be summer and fall women’s walks. (Funny how more women than men are interested in such events.)

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I see from the sign at the facility’s entrance that the name has been changed. It seems to be called “Compass Ridge Conference Center.” (The photo on top was taken at dusk, so you will have to click on it to be able to read the words.)

Oh, well. It will remain Resurrection Center for most locals, just as Centegra is still McHenry Hospital. And, glory be, I see there is a second sign with the old name. I was told that the old part is called Resurrection Center, while the new part with more amenities is called Compass Ridge.

This past weekend was a men’s Walk to Emmaus.

It’s a Thursday night through Sunday night experience from which most derive a significant spiritual experience.

It is described as a “short course in Christianity,” but it is more.

For some, it is a transformational experience. For others, it is a chance for renewal away from the world of clocks, cell phones and a constant barrage of news.

You’ve all heard the prodigal son story, surely one of Jesus’ most well know parables.

All the participants were represented at this weekend’s retreat at Resurrection Center.

There was the father and son reunion.

The faithful son, who in this version, realized that patience was what he needed.

And the joyful onlookers.

One man told me he was running on empty when he went, but now was filled with the spirit.

I’ve never served in the armed forces, but the brotherhood that develops there and the one forged in this long weekend may have similarities.

I won’t bore you with the details, but, if you even have an interest, my email address is in the entry on top. The next men’s walk is in September. The next women’s walk is next weekend, but it’s chock-a-block full. There will be summer and fall women’s walks. (Funny how more women than men are interested in such events.)

= = = = =
I see from the sign at the facility’s entrance that the name has been changed. It seems to be called “Compass Ridge Conference Center.” (The photo on top was taken at dusk, so you will have to click on it to be able to read the words.)

Oh, well. It will remain Resurrection Center for most locals, just as Centegra is still McHenry Hospital. And, glory be, I see there is a second sign with the old name. I was told that the old part is called Resurrection Center, while the new part with more amenities is called Compass Ridge.