Stony Point Center celebrates 75 years of innovative ministry with a who’s who of the people who built it and grew it
People with longstanding ties to the Hudson River Valley facility return to remember and share their love for a special place
LOUISVILLE — Last weekend, Stony Point Center celebrated 75 years of its ministry to mission co-workers, people living on the margins and Presbyterians who’ve enjoyed SPC’s radical hospitality, deep inclusion and delicious food over the decades during their retreats and other getaways.
Stony Point Center is a year-round, 32-acre retreat facility in New York’s lower Hudson Valley about 30 miles north of New York City. On Friday, celebrants gathered in the Penguin Repertory Theatre in Stony Point to share stories, sing and thank the people on whose shoulders they stood.
Friday’s celebration began with a recorded history of five generations at Stony Point Center. In the 1960s and early 1970s, SPC was home to the Missionary Orientation Center, which offered extended training and orientation to missionaries from seven denominations.
After being closed briefly, SPC reopened in the mid-1970s as an International Conference Center for Justice and Peace, and celebrants on Friday recalled its Global Village events from that era.
By the mid-1990s, SPC was considered a “go-to” retreat center for racially and culturally diverse communities of faith from the New York metro area. In 2008, SPC again restructured under the guidance of Co-Directors Rick and Kitty Ufford-Chase, whose vision led to a multifaith Community of Living Traditions.
The Covid pandemic of 2020 brough a sudden end to the momentum building at SPC. The size of the staff was dramatically reduced as well as the size of its hospitality services. As of today, under the leadership of Chelsea deLisser and Brian Frick, Stony Point Center continues to host retreat groups whose sense of calling inspires them to contribute to the work of healing and repairing the world. SPC also focuses on strengthening and supporting community-based organizations and congregations.
Friday’s celebration was long on both stories and music, with longtime friends of Stony Point Center Bill Carter and Warren Cooper performing songs including “Welcome Home” and “Take 5: Stop the Violence!”
Past SPC directors or their family members shared their memories of the place. Two children of former Director Jim Palm, Carolyn and Maggie, said they have “fond memories that go way back.”
“The biggest role of my life was playing Baby Jesus back in the 1961 production of the nativity scene here at SPC,” Margie recalled.
The sisters described a place where “liberation theology flourished, divestment was demanded, leaders of the Apartheid movement came and spoke and leaders of the peace movements came and led workshops. It was a place where feminism was revered and racial justice was celebrated.”
Healthy food from the SPC garden was served up daily. “We feel very fortunate to have grown up in the special community that is Stony Point Center. It’s always been a beacon of light,” the sisters said. “We are excited to see what the future will bring as we go forward.”
Frank Sole with The Folk Project performed a pair of original songs, and then the Rev. Bill Pindar, another previous director, shared what made Stony Point Center special to him. “Students from around the world came here to do their ministry and their work. If you wanted to do peace, you could come and do something in the community,” Pindar said.
His son, Zach — all 6 feet, 9 inches of him — spoke next.
“These sacred grounds were truly fertile for developing my mind, body and spirit,” he said. “As kids here, we were steeped in diversity.”
By age 11, Zach had landed a job as a stagehand at the Penguin Rep Theatre. Dressed in black head to toe made him feel cool, he said.
He and his wife were married in SPC’s Meditation Space a couple of years back. “This place planted seeds of social justice in me that have blossomed,” he said. “I can go anywhere and sit down with anyone and feel like family, and for that I am grateful. I could not have had a better childhood.”
Another former director, Rick Ufford-Chase, brought warm greetings from his wife, Kitty, who could not attend. “We tried to do really big, hard things, and some of them worked,” he recalled. “Some were noble experiments.”
He and Kitty came to Stony Point Center with a vision of building “a remarkable intentional community,” and that became the Community of Living Traditions. At its height, “we were 25 people living here on the campus, modeling nonviolence and peacemaking and radical acts of hospitality, which was Kitty’s language,” he said. “There were as many hard days as good days, and every day was worth it. If we had not been cut short by the pandemic, I suspect that witness would be enduring in ways we can’t imagine.”
After the massive Superstorm Sandy struck in October 2012, Stony Point Center opened its doors to people who needed housing. “We ended up with 135 people, and the last family stayed for six months,” Ufford-Chase said. “Volunteers showed up from everywhere to help feed them, and the kitchen bent over backward” to put enough food on the table. “It was an incredible thing. It changed us,” he said. “It made us put our money where our mouth was.”
“I am grateful to Chelsea and Brian and Ingerlene [Frick] and the new staff you have hired,” Ufford-Chase said. “I know a vision will continue to emerge to reshape the reality of church.”
Broadway singer Tim Shew sang next. He included in his set a gorgeous “Bring Him Home,” which he sang about 2,400 times playing Jean Valjean in “Les Misérables.”
Shew said he started coming to Stony Point Center 50 years ago when his brother was attending nearby Union Theological Seminary. Shew found a gig driving people from the New York and Newark airports to Stony Point Center.
“Thank you for sharing your stories,” Brian Frick said. “I hope you find this a healing weekend for your soul. The Spirit who pulls us together has been here before and will be here again.”
On Saturday, Stony Point Center held a Social Justice Summit. That evening, the Rev. Jihyun Oh, Stated Clerk of the General Assembly and Executive Director of the Interim Unified Agency, delivered the keynote address. Read about both in upcoming Presbyterian News Service reports.
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