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Photograph by Paul Myers
Members of the Office of Pastoral Ministry for the Diocese of San Jose (left to right) Linda Batton, Diana Couich and Nelson Gonzales participate in a scheduling activity during a retreat at the Presentation Center.
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Hidden center in mountains offers retreat
By Shari Kaplan
The Presentation Center may well be one of Los Gatos' best-kept secrets. The low profile is not intentional, but a natural result of being secreted among the oaks, firs and redwoods of the Santa Cruz Mountains and accessed only after driving along twisty Bear Creek Road.
That suits the people at the center just fine, as the property serves the triple purpose of retreat, conference center and convent. The nonprofit center is run by the Sisters of the Presentation, a Catholic order, but is used by people of all faiths.
"I think some people draw the wrong conclusion about the Sisters; they're far from retired!" quips the center's development director and volunteer coordinator Mary McCullough, referring to the active women, from middle-aged to senior citizens, who maintain the place along with a small staff.
This 264-acre site that sees some 10,000 visitors each year--from businesspeople having day meetings to soul-searchers lodging for several days--was originally the Montezuma Mountain School for Boys. The school was founded in 1911 by Ernest Andrew Rogers, an educator who realized his dream of a boarding school emphasizing citizenship, morality, ethics, a family spirit, environmental respect and the value of old-fashioned hard work.
Rogers built a campus with pueblo-style architecture and ran his school through the mid-1950s. Because the staff was required to live on-site, the campus included not only dorm-type rooms for the boys, but also separate living quarters and cottages for adults.
Today, the boys' and some of the teachers' facilities are lodging for guests staying at the center, while Rogers' residence is now quarters for eight of the 10 Sisters who live on-site. Part of this building is also the small convent chapel in which the Sisters hold their daily Mass.
One of them is Sister Patricia Marie Mulpeters, who says she not only loves her job as center director, but also loves all the chances to interact with guests and see how they benefit from "getting away from it all."
Although Sister Pat Marie (as she likes to be called) says people who convene on the center for conferences enjoy using the meeting rooms set up for that purpose, it's the people who stay over who get a better taste of Presentation Center--including gourmet meals by longtime head chef Vania Seefeldt. Guests include people in women's or men's retreats, couples in marriage workshops, members of addiction recovery groups and spiritual-seekers (solitary or in groups).
"This is such a healing environment; it fulfills a real need in Silicon Valley. It's not what people come here for, it's what they go away with," says Sister Pat Marie. "Some people come here for a healing experience, some for a spiritual sense, and some just to get away from the hectic pressures of life."
"I think [retreat centers] have a value for society. When we take time out for ourselves, we become better people, and then we make a better society," agrees McCullough, who resides in the valley. She refers to the center as "nearby, with a far-away feeling."
Adding to that feeling are hiking trails; a redwood grove theater and other outdoor group gathering places; a patio with flowers and a fish pond; a swimming pool; and a spring-fed lake, home to resident ducks and geese. Indoors is a bookstore, a library, a fireplace lounge and even a mini-museum of photographs, books and other relics from the Montezuma days.
"Much of the beauty and enjoyment people find from this place is the environment: both the natural and the social," McCullough says, smiling.
The Presentation Center is at 19480 Bear Creek Road. For directions or information, call 408.354.2346, or visit www.prescenter.org on the Internet.
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Los Gatos, California Since 1881
