
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, February 2, 1991                   TAG: 9102020104
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: E-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: FRANCES STEBBINS CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

BOARD RELINQUISHES CONTROL OF MASSANETTA RETREAT CENTER

The board of Massanetta Springs Conference Center near Harrisonburg voted unanimously late last month to dissolve itself and turn the center and its assets over to the Presbyterian Synod of the Mid-Atlantic.

Friends of Massanetta, a group which has raised $200,000 to reopen the center after it was closed in 1988, said the board's action opens the way for future use of the center.

However, the synod executive, the Rev. Carroll Jenkins, said it is too soon to tell whether the center might open this summer. The transfer of ownership is to take place no later than March 1, a news release from the Friends group said.

The board dissolved itself after two years of controversy which followed its decision to close the center because of declining use and need for repairs it deemed too expensive.

The Friends group was formed to find a way to keep the center in use despite its limitations. The synod, a regional body of the Presbyterian Church U.S.A., now is free to appoint a team to consider reopening Massanetta gradually.

The board that formerly ran the center also suggested that the synod use a portion of the Massanetta endowment of the dissolved corporation to pay for consultation on new outdoor ministries.

The synod also now is free to transfer ownership of some cottages on the property to an owners' association.

Jenkins said the synod needs the center for future education and recreation ministries.

Affiliated with the southern branch of the Presbyterian church for more than a century, the center also formerly was used by Lutherans, United Methodists and other groups.

The national merger of Presbyterian bodies as well as declining demand for rustic facilities have been cited as reasons to reconsider Massanetta's value.

by CNB