Last Passionist Father leaves St. Gabe's
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With the passing of Christmas came another passing on Shelter Island. Father Vincent Youngberg, the last Passionist priest in residence at St. Gabriel's Retreat House, left the Island to minister in Florida just a couple of days after delivering a Christmas Eve Mass at Our Lady of the Isle Church.
Father Vincent's departure was expected after the announcement in May that the Passionists would have to sell their Coecles Harbor retreat to support an aging priesthood. But the timing of his departure was nonetheless bittersweet — he had time enough to bless the retreat's living nativity musical, “This Night in Bethlehem,” but left before the new year that marks the 100th anniversary of a Passionist presence on Shelter Island. Although the loss of a resident priest will be felt here, the story of Passionists on Shelter Island is not quite at its end.
“I hate goodbyes,” Father Vincent said during an interview a few days before Christmas. He asked that no fuss be made at his last Mass. But he did agree to tell his story, and the story of the Passionists on Shelter Island, before he left.
The Passionists “brought the life and the example of their community” to Shelter Island, Father Vincent said, beginning in 1909 when the priests looked for an isolated place on the Island to establish a novitiate. Ram Island was considered but it was deemed too isolated (“what if someone had appendicitis?”); the Coecles Harbor property was bought in 1911. “The priests and brothers built most of the buildings, even the chapel,” he recounted. “For years it was used as a place of seclusion” and still is — “It's perfect for that.” In the 1960s, the Passionist congregation decided to establish a youth retreat house on the property. More than 100,000 high school students have participated in retreats at St. Gabe's since 1963.
Religious orders are distinguished by their charisms, Father Vincent explained. “For the Passionists, it's compassion. To the best of our ability, we share in peoples' sufferings and trials and help them as much as possible.”
The life of a Passionist is one of serving others and of sacrifice — “I had to relinquish every possession I owned except my footlocker.” At age 38, Vincent Youngberg was a successful corporate accountant who traveled all over the world. “I was climbing the corporate ladder” and looking to become “Mr. Big,” he recalled. That climb was no small ascent — he dropped out of high school at age 17 and joined the Navy to serve in World War II. He went back to school after the war on the GI Bill and graduated from Pace University in 1950, studying business administration and international accounting.
His was an American success story but there was a problem. A drinking problem.
Father Vincent participated in a Passionist retreat at the monastery in Hartford, Connecticut. “It turned my life around” and inspired him “to get away from the world” and enter the monastery. He spent eight years preparing for the priesthood.
Giving up the material world was the easy part; becoming a priest involved more and Father Vincent, in his own words, was no intellectual. “The seminary was torture,” he remembered. He struggled through the classes and was on the verge of elimination “but I lived their rules so well, they ordained me.”
He was a priest but he wasn't prepared. “After ordination, people started coming to me for spiritual guidance and counseling ... I didn't know anything about it. I walked around for five years wondering what my job description was.”
He faced the problem by going back to school, St. Mary's in Winona, Minnesota, a college with continuing ties to the Island through young graduates who serve volunteer missions at St. Gabe's. Father Vincent got more than an education through his studies in counseling. He discovered that he had Attention Deficit Disorder. “I realized I wasn't dumb. I just learn differently.”
His studies also led to another discovery. He found God, not the fear-inspiring taskmaster he was raised with, but the “God of love, unconditional, radical love” who has “no desire to abandon anyone.”
Father Vincent keeps rediscovering God as he did in the retreat's nativity production, an annual musical event that draws young performers from different faith backgrounds to St. Gabe's. “I found God in those kids. It was a powerful experience.”
Whether St. Gabe's will host the annual nativity again, like the future of the retreat itself, is in limbo. “A decision hasn't been made whether the diocese will take over the operation,” Father Vincent said. The Rockville Center Diocese is negotiating with the Passionists to buy or lease St. Gabe's. “If it doesn't happen, we'll be forced to make the property available to anyone who would buy it.”
A transfer of property, to the Diocese or a private party, will take time, during which Passionist priests from the Jamaica and Riverdale monasteries will serve as needed at St. Gabe's. Father Chris Cleary, who resided at St. Gabe's until this summer and now serves in Jamaica, is expected to return from time to time as he did in December. “It may take many years to sell, and somebody has to be here,” Father Vincent said. But public masses at St. Gabe's are not expected to continue “as we have had them in the past.”
When asked what Islanders can do to keep St. Gabe's operating, he said that the retreat could use both financial donations and volunteers. Retreat programming is scheduled through the spring, after which time, “we will have a better idea of what the future holds.” St. Gabe's is operated by locals, with Collette Roe leading the Board of Directors and Barbara Signorelli heading the administration.
After seven years at St. Gabe's, Father Vincent will now be an itinerant preacher. He will miss his St. Gabe's home, St. Gemma's. “It's a beautiful house” — the bedroom has a bay window overlooking Coecles Harbor — “What else could anyone ask for?” He will also miss his Island friends and co-workers. “I find the people warm, friendly, encouraging” even while facing “a tough time right now” at St. Gabe's.
In his new role in Florida, Father Vincent will be residing in the Passionists' North Palm Beach retreat house but traveling frequently, with six missions lined up in different parishes. “I'm only 83. I have a lot to do yet.”
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6 comments found
Hi : 4/30/2010
Hello Fr. Vincent...good luck to you in your new home in Florida...I attended a 5 day retreqat with you at St Williams in Naples and then another at St Christophe's in East Hartford, CT...It was a wonderful healing experience for me...TY
I was looking for a former high school classmate.(Bro. Andre Mathieu) .and came across your profile...how small is this world...
Regards
MM
Retreats : 2/13/2010
Welcome to Fl..I heard your 5 day retreat in Naples a few years ago..Wonderful..gave me a new insight to God's unconditional love for me..
What is your schedule this winter, 2010?
Passionist Retreat House : 5/27/2009
As a parent, I am grateful to the Passionists for their ministry to as my family went on youth retreats at St. Gabes throughout their teen years. It has been my priviledge to have been the recipient of the ministry of the Passionists since I was 16 until present. Fr. Vincent, Fr. Chris and many others truly are wonderful representatives of Jesus. I am happy to see that Bishop Murphy of the DRVC is trying to keep this holy place within the church and pray for God's will. Happy Pentecost!
Fr. Vincent Youngberg : 3/13/2009
While on vacation in Marco Island, I had the honor and previlege to attend Fr. Youngberg's mission at San Marco's churc. It was an honor and previlege to listen to Father speak. Unlike many missions that I have gone to in my lifetime, it inspired me and gave me a lot of grace and hope....I walked away thinking "God loves me and I'm not so bad after all!" Fr. Y. will always remain in my thoughts and prayers and if he ever wants to give a mission in Westerly, RI at St. Pius X Church just let us know!!!!
Godspeed to Florida : 1/16/2009
One of those things left to do is to perform Emily's marriage in May! While we embrace single digit temps in NJ, we pray you find peace,continued direction and warmth in Florida with God's blessings in the New Year. All the best Love, Andrea & Bob
Fr Vincent : 1/9/2009
01/09/09 Dear Fr. Vincent, I happened to read about you leaving St Gabe's at Shelter Island. Wish you a joyful stay in North Palm Beach - not a dismal place to go to at the age of 83, is it? Fraternal greetings from a CP who is happy to be 83 as you... Fr Harry Gielen cp
