In the 1970’s, Meade County rancher Louis Frieberg Sr. donated a tract of land to the Diocese of Rapid City where St Patrick’s Catholic Church had been founded in 1918. Bishop Harold J. Dimmerling discerned that there was a special need to care for the spiritual needs of Lakota Catholics, and asked the Jesuits to build a retreat center on the property to help serve this purpose. Ground-breaking for the Center took place in June of 1977 under the leadership of Father John Hatcher, Father Pat McCorkell, and Father Jim Stehr.
Fr Pat McCorkell SJ, Louis Frieberg Sr, and Father John Hatcher SJ in
St Patrick's Church.
St . Patricks was built in 1918.
Fr Jim Steher, SJ, overlooking the first foundation, where the old hay corral used to sit. St Patricks is int the background. August 1977.
By late August of 1977 the walls were up.
By early September 1977 the roof was going on. The Jesuits lived in a camper while this work was being done. In November they moved into the basement.
The winter of 1977-78 was the most brutal in 90 years. The Jesuits survived with the heat of a wood stove and carried on with the interior.
The Center was opened for retreats in 1978. It was also a central location for the deacon and lay ministry formation programs run by the diocese. It became the home of the Basic Directions program, as well as Canku Wakan (Holy Road) Retreats. Priests who served here, and their terms of service, are listed below.
Ground-breaking for the additions took place in May of 1988, and were largely completed by November of that year.
Bishop Charles Chaput, the first Native American bishop in the United States, dedicated the additions.
Over the years, a number of lay staff joined the Center. A Catholic couple who lived nearby became the Center’s first lay employees. Mary Kay Sandal was hired in June of 1986. She continued to help cook for retreat and serve as secretary until her retirement in September of 2013. Her husband Larry was hired in the spring of 1988 to help build the additions to the Center, a dining area in front of the building and a meeting room and priests’ living quarters at the back. He stayed on to care for the building and the grounds until his death in 2006. Judy Walker was hired as housekeeper and served for thirteen years, from 1989-2002. Tina Hudson was hired in September of 2002 as housekeeper, and remained on staff until 2013. Pam Scott was hired in May of 2006 to assist with cooking and is still on staff. Lori Reinert was hired in 2010 and helped with cooking until October of 2012; in October of 2013 she was hired as secretary of the center. Gretchen Radway, who had previously cooked for retreats, was hired on a regular basis in 1998 and continues as head cook.
In 2017, the Jesuits discerned the need to redirect their energy and resources into other apostolates, and entrusted the center to care and stewardship of the Diocese of Rapid City. Charlie Rook was hired as the first lay director of the center that year.
In 2018, the Board of Directors for the Sioux Spiritual Center made the decision to open the use of the center to non-Native groups. In May, Dr. Carole Brown was appointed as the Center’s director. While the Center will continue to retain a “preferential option” for the spiritual needs of Native American Catholics, it is now also available to Catholics in Western South Dakota and beyond, through spiritual formation opportunities, retreats, and spiritual direction.
Jesuit Fathers who served at the Sioux Spiritual Center
Fr. John Hatcher SJ, (Co-founder) 1977-1998
Fr. Pat McCorkell, SJ (Co-founder)1977-1983
Fr. Damian O’Connell SJ
Fr. Jim Stehr, SJ -- 1977 -1981
Fr. Wally Boehme, SJ-- 1981-1984.
Fr. David Gau, SJ-- 1984-1988
Fr. David Shields, SJ-- 1985-1986
Fr. Jim Kubicki, SJ—1989-1995
Fr. Bob Gilroy, SJ-- 1992-1993
Fr. Fred Maples, SJ--1992-93
Fr. Steve Mitten, SJ--1993-2001.
Fr. Ray Bucko, SJ--1993 - 2013.
Fr. John Schwantes, SJ--1997-2000.
Fr. Will Prospero, SJ--1998-2000.
Fr. Tom Lawler, SJ--2000-2005. (In 2011 the Jesuit Superior General in Rome appointed Fr. Lawler provincial of the Wisconsin Province region.)
Fr George Winzenburg, SJ-- 2002-2010
Fr. Dick McCaslin, SJ--2005-2007
Fr. Peter Etzel, SJ-- 2010-2017
Fr. Ron Seminara, SJ--2011-2017