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our history
Our Past: Mayslake has always played an important role in the spiritual life of the Chicago metropolitan region, with over 250,000 people participating in retreats at the St. Francis Retreat House at Mayslake between 1925 and 1991. In those days, retreats were held each weekend of the year. Activities included lectures, spiritual readings, a visit to the Portiuncula Chapel and prayer.
Retreatants came from all walks of life and found the St. Francis Retreat House and its expansive grounds conducive to mental rest and relaxation. The Franciscans began selling off the acreage of their Mayslake property in the 1930s. The sale of property continued over the years, until 1990, when they announced the pending sale of its remaining 88 acres to a developer. A massive campaign to save the site resulted in passage of a referendum that enabled the DuPage County Forest Preserve District to acquire the site for $17.5 million in 1992. When the St. Francis Retreat house closed its doors in 1991, and Mayslake Ministries, the "retreat house without walls" was born.
How did the current Mayslake Ministries emerge from the St. Francis Retreat House? Our founder, Fr. Jonathan Foster, OFM offers this reflection:
On the last two days of July, 1991, a celebration was held at the St. Francis Retreat House at Mayslake (Oak Brook, IL) to note, sadly, the closing of this grand old dame of American retreat houses. The closing did not come about because the ministry was failing. Indeed, it had entered a promising new age after years of decline. It was financially solvent, burdened with no debt and operating without a subsidy from the parent organization, the Sacred Heart Province of Franciscans (OFM). And, its clientele was once again on the rise.
The Franciscans, facing other intimidating expenses, felt the need to put this piece of prime real estate on the market for what amounted to a large fortune. Fortunately, the property was never developed. The DuPage County Forest Preserve stepped in, bought it, and converted it into a Forest Preserve, honoring not the 70 year history of the Franciscans, but the great coal magnate, Stuyvesant Peabody, who having built it as his dream house lived there just a few months before his untimely death.
Mayslake Ministries was born the day after this celebration, on August 1, 1991. We managed to lease, very cheaply, unused office space at St. Joseph's Parish in Downers Grove, and the defining event was the simple installation of our first telephone number. Fr. Jonathan was the only paid staff member, but he was joined, part-time, a few months later by co-founder, Mary Jo Valenziano.
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