Mission and Purpose of Paul VI Pastoral Center
Paul VI Pastoral Center was dedicated and opened its doors to guests in October 1981. Located in Clearview, just north of the city of Wheeling, Paul VI Pastoral Center is one of four such centers strategically located throughout the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston, which comprises the entire state of West Virginia.
These Centers are the implementation of the vision of Bishop Joseph H. Hodges. Bishop Hodges dreamed of a diocesan church fully alive and engaged as the "Church in the Modern World." He was present for and participated in all four sessions of the Second Vatican Council. He served the Church in West Virginia as the Ordinary of the diocese from 1961 until the time of his death in 1985.
Upon his return from the Second Vatican Council, Bishop Hodges determined to implement its teachings throughout the diocese. Part of his plan for this rural diocese was to provide places where the spiritual and educational growth of the people could be fostered. Bishop Hodges' plan was that a Center would be no more than 200 miles distant from any parish of the diocese -- an ambitious desire in a rural state of 24,231 square miles. The 1975 pastoral letter of the Catholic bishops of Appalachia, "This Land is Home to Me," of which Bishop Hodges was a prime mover, makes specific reference to such centers and gives some insight into the bishop's motivation in establishing them:
"...we would like to commend where they exist and recommend where they do not, Centers of reflection and prayer in the service of action, throughout the region."
"Such centers would integrate the analytical social science skills and the profound spirituality necessary for preserving creativity in the struggle for justice."
"The centers are to be places for gathering and meeting, for coming together and experiencing church."
"They are to be centers of education, formation, spiritual growth, communal and human development." This particular center was named and designated primarily as a center for the study and development of spirituality and liturgy in honor of Pope Paul VI who sparked the implementation of the spiritual and liturgical renewal in the Catholic Church following the Vatican Council II. Paul VI Pastoral Center rests on 149 acres of rich farmland, rich in history. It has served not only the northern panhandle and much of West Virginia, but its influence has spread across rivers and borders to serve portions of the Church in the dioceses of Steubenville, Youngstown, Pittsburgh, Greensburg and beyond.