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BART JONESBYbart.jones@newsday.com

Two years ago, the Little Por-tion Friary in Mount Sinai wasin danger of being bulldozedand the land used for condo-miniums. The Episcopal-affili-ated Franciscan Brothers, whohad operated it since 1929, hadrun out ofmoney andmen.

A year passed, and the broth-ers received a letter from theRev. Francis Pizzarelli, founderof Hope House Ministries inPort Jefferson. His idea: Sell thefriary to his nonprofit organiza-tion and use it as a home to helprehabilitate heroin addicts andother substance abusers.

So it is that on this Easter Sun-day, Pizzarelli also is celebratingtwo other resurrections — ofthe retreat house and of themen who inhabit it while tryingto turn their lives around.

“Thewhole thing is about res-urrection, thathope springs eter-nal,” said Pizzarelli, who addsthat his program has helped atleast 10,000 addicts in 36 years.“These guys that have beenbeaten down—somehave beenimprisoned, some have lived inthe streets because of their ad-diction — and here is a realsense of resurrection.”

The retreat house turned re-habilitation center, he said, is“just holy ground.”

Fifty-five men are in HopeHouse’s program, some stayingin the former friary and some inthe ministry’s original buildingin Port Jefferson near Route 112.

The Franciscan brothers,who aremembers of the Society

of St. Francis and affiliated withthe Episcopal Church and theWorldwide Anglican Commu-nion, are equally pleased withthe outcome.

“We are over the moon,” saidBrother JudeHill, the provincialfor the group’s North and SouthAmerica province. If the landhad been sold for development,“we could have made a fortune,butwe didn’twant to do that.”

Today, many of the men fromthe retreat house will attend a5:30 a.m. Easter sunrise servicewith Pizzarelli atWest MeadowBeach in Stony Brook, then at-tend Mass at St. James RomanCatholic Church in Setauket. Atnoon, Pizzarelli will celebrateanother Mass at the house, andthen cap off Easter by takingsome of themen to dinner.

The story of the friary’s trans-

formation dates to 2013, whenthe brothers agreed to sell 44.3acres of their land to SuffolkCounty and the Town ofBrookhaven for $4.4 million.The governments pledged topreserve the environmentallysensitive, wooded land.

‘It worked out perfectly’The brothers held on to 20.5

acres and the retreat house, hop-ing they could make a go of it.But the money wasn’t there tomaintain the aging building, alocal landmark that attractedthousands of people for retreatsand gained fame for the breadthe brothers baked every Fridayand sold to the public.

The brothers also needed toput money from the land saleinto a trust fund to pay for agingmembers’ health care. Plus, thefew new recruits they were at-

tractingwanted todourbanmin-istry with the poor and home-less and not run a retreat house,Hill said.

So they closed the11,775-square-foot friary andcon-solidated their U.S. operationsin California. The group has 10members in this country.

With the fate of the retreathouse hanging in the balance,Pizzarelli stepped in with hisproposal. The brothers agreedto accept $500,000 for 5.5 acresof the land immediately sur-rounding the friary, said Piz-zarelli, a member of the Mont-fort Missionaries, a worldwideorder of Catholic priests andbrothers with 20 members intheUnited States.

That price is well belowmar-ket value, said Legis. SarahAnker (D-Mount Sinai), addingthat the brothers easily could

On ‘holy ground,’a RESURRECTIONofHOPE

Franciscan Brothers’ Mount Sinai retreat house gets new life as rehab center

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Hope House Ministries baker Chris Burke begins baking breadfor residents and the community at 2 a.m.

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The Rev. Francis Pizzarelli, founder of Hope House Ministries inPort Jefferson, gives Communion on March 18 in Mount Sinai.

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have sold it to a developer for atleast twice that. The brothersgave Pizzarelli the two-story,23-bedroom friary for free.

Suffolk County and the TownofBrookhavenarebuying the re-maining 15 acres and will add itto the preserved space from theearlier purchase, Anker said.The county and town hope topay $1.5million.

The retreathouseneeded sub-stantial renovation when Piz-zarelli acquired it, and the menin his program have spentmonthson repairs and remodel-ing. Some moved in a day be-fore Christmas Eve.

“It was a very sad thing thebrothers had to leave,” saidSteven Miller, 29, of Mineola,who helped renovate the friarybut does not live there. But, hesaid, “it worked out perfectly[that] we were able to take itover.”

Today, the center is fully func-tioning. The men spend theirdays in counseling sessions,working on the house, praying,studying, and in some cases at-tending classes at local colleges.

Another of themen, Thomas,

37, is a recovering alcoholicwhogrew up in Nassau County andhas lived in the house about sixmonths. A father of four and aformer high school honors stu-dent, he said he had sevenDWIs and served prison time.“This house for me is a new be-ginning,” said Thomas, whoasked that his last name not beused.

Free help for those in needThe men typically stay in the

Hope House rehabilitation pro-gram for 12 to 18 months. Theypay nothing to stay at the center,which like all of Pizzarelli’s oper-ations is funded by donations.

Hope House Ministries alsohas a homeless shelter, a centerfor women and children in cri-sis, and other services in PortJefferson. The ministries’ an-nual budget is about $4 million,saidCharlesRusso, theorganiza-tion’s board chairman.

The chapel of the retreathouse remains open to the pub-lic, as it was when the brothersowned the building. So is thelabyrinth, an outdoor maze forprayer andmeditation.

The men in the program arecontinuing the brothers’ tradi-tion by baking bread early everyFriday. It is sold to the public onan honor system — they leavethemoney in a can.

Some of them have formed amusic group. At a recentWednesday Mass in the chapel,its members played guitars andbelted out songs, including theJesuit priest Dan Schutte’shymn, “Here I am, Lord.”

“I, the Lord of sea and sky, Ihave heardmy people cry,” theysang, asothers joined in andPiz-zarelli presided at the altar. “Allwho dwell in dark and sin, Myhandwill save.”

For Pizzarelli, the retreathouse’s transformation is a sym-bol of both his relationshipwiththe Franciscan Brothers and hisown journey.

In 1980, when he started hiswork with addicts, he rented acottage on the property for theprogram. He later shifted toPort Jefferson, where HopeHouse Ministries now has sev-eral buildings.

“We’ve come full circle,” Piz-zarelli said.

The Little Portion Friary in Mount Sinai, shown in 2014, was sold to Hope House Ministries in a dealthat saved the Franciscan Brothers’ retreat house and bucolic land. ] Video: newsday.com/suffolk

The iconic Little Portion Friary retreat house seen Nov. 19, 2014.It was saved by the Rev. Francis Pizzarelli’s proposal.

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