Friars want no part of relocating

By TOM ANDERSEN
The Journal News

Publication date: 7/14/2000

GARRISON --The dirt path that tumbles through the maple forests on the Franciscan Friars' land in Graymoor is just a tiny fraction of the 2,144-mile Appalachian Trail -- a mere quick walk through the woods in a corner of Putnam County.

But this quick walk has triggered the intense territorial instincts of both the National Park Service, which operates the trail and wants more land to protect it, and the Franciscan Friars' themselves, who own the surrounding land.

For the Park Service, the justification for its actions is the eminent domain clause of the U.S. Constitution. The Park Service wants to add 18 of Graymoor's acres to the 58 it already has an easement on, to protect it against encroachments by the friars.

"We ... do not see it resulting in any restriction on the Friars' ability to carry out their ministries," Park Manager Pamela Underhill said.

The Franciscans, of course, answer to a different authority. But they are by no means assuming the meek mantle of St. Francis of Assisi when it comes to protecting their land and buildings, and their future.

"The attempt to take more land through eminent domain, I really find an affront because it borders on possibly restricting future ministries here at Graymoor," the Rev. Arthur Johnson, the head of Graymoor, said yesterday. "I find it an affront that a civil servant in the Parks Service makes a judgment about Roman Catholic ministries."

The Appalachian Trail stretches from Maine to Georgia, and although it is well-known among hikers, the section at Graymoor is not exactly Interstate 95 when it comes to through traffic. In the busiest summer months, five to eight hikers a day cross Graymoor.

But when they do, they get one of the warmest welcomes on the trail. The friars feed hikers a hot meal, let campers pitch tents and stay for the night, or give them a bed in a dormitory and a hot shower -- for free. The friars' hospitality is noted in guidebooks to the trail, and last year 446 hikers availed themselves of it, said the Rev. Fred Alvarez, who is in charge of providing services to the hikers.

"Graymoor is the Hilton of the Appalachian Trail," he said.

The trail first crossed Graymoor in 1923, but the agreement to use the Franciscans' land was informal. By 1984, the National Park Service decided it wanted the trail to travel a different route through Graymoor, so it worked out a formal easement for 58 acres. The friars still owned the land, but they sold their rights to use it for $116,500.

A year later, though, the Franciscans violated the terms of the easement by building a pump house for a new sewage treatment plant on the land and laying sewer pipes under the trail.

"I can't say why it was built," said Johnson, who has been Graymoor's minister general for about a year. "It was a dumb thing to do. I don't know if it was a mistake or not."

It was the possibility of a similar encroachment that prompted the Park Service to begin negotiations to buy more of Graymoor's land. When those discussions stalled in May, the Park Service referred the case to the Justice Department to start eminent domain proceedings.

Under eminent domain, the Constitution empowers the government to pay market price for land it thinks it needs to acquire for the public good. It is an absolute power and the only recourse is for the landowner to go to court to challenge the price. Johnson said the Park Service has appraised the land at $2,000 an acre. The Park Service would not confirm the appraisal.

The only other hope is to persuade the government to return to the negotiating table, which the Franciscans hope to do. They have also asked Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., and Rep. Sue W. Kelly, R-Katonah, for help. Kelly wrote to Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt on Wednesday, asking him to instruct the Park Service to drop the eminent domain proceedings.

Babbitt's office said yesterday that it had not yet received Kelly's letter.

The 400-acre Graymoor property is home to 43 priests and 85 nuns. Among the property's buildings is St. Christopher's Inn, which provides shelter to 1,000 homeless men a year. Weekend retreats and other events draw several thousand visitors a year.

The organization has no plans to expand, Johnson said, but neither can it guarantee that it won't. Among other things, if the Park Service gets the land it wants, it would hem in the sewage plant, and if that facility can't grow, neither can Graymoor.

"We just want to make sure we have the ability in the future to maintain our ministries and our living space," Johnson said.

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