Three new retreat cottages were blessed and officially opened this month at the Carmel Center of Spirituality in Liberty, Tennessee, marking an expansion of overnight lodging at the 235-acre sanctuary. Bishop J. Mark Spalding blessed the houses, named Bethlehem, Cana, and Galilee, each of which can accommodate up to 10 guests. More than 100 people toured the newly constructed buildings during the celebration.
According to Nashville Catholic, Bishop Spalding celebrated Mass in a tent on the Carmel Center grounds before the blessing, telling attendees that the center helps people know the Lord more and encouraging them to remember those who helped make the project possible. Father James Panackal, administrator of the Carmel Center, thanked everyone who contributed through prayer, donations, or physical labor. Panackal was assigned full time to the center in 2023, the outlet reports.
Each cottage includes a full kitchen, dining room, and living room, along with a master suite featuring a queen-size bed and full bathroom. Four additional bedrooms in each house hold two single beds apiece, and two more full bathrooms and a porch round out the floor plan. The dining room table in each cottage seats 10 people, the same report notes.
Filling a Long-Standing Gap in Overnight Lodging
Before Bethlehem, Cana, and Galilee opened, anyone seeking a self-directed overnight retreat at the Carmel Center had only two options: the single-unit hermitages known as Emmaus and Holy Spirit, which offer individual self-directed retreat options, according to CMI-North America. The new cottages give the center its first real capacity for larger parish and group retreats. Father Roy Palatty, who became director of the Carmel Center earlier this year, said per the Nashville Catholic account that the overnight accommodations will allow guests to have extended retreats.
Janene Parisi, who has attended daily and Sunday Mass at the center since early 2025, praised the cottages' serenity, calmness, and connection with nature, the publication reports. The cottages were designed with the expertise of architect Mitchell Barnett, according to the Carmel Spirituality Center. Bob Schneider designed the retreat houses, and Sparks Construction LLC built them.
A Sanctuary Rooted in a Couple's 1982 Promise
The Carmel Center traces its origins to a friendship that began in 1982, when Larry and Bonnie Bean met Father Peter Ackappady, CMI, twelve years before the center's first dedication. The Beans purchased acreage and deeded it to the Carmelites of Mary Immaculate congregation, then took up residence in Liberty in 1989. Bishop Edward U. Kmiec first blessed and dedicated the Carmel Center on June 24, 1994, and it officially opened later that year.
Jean Nicholson, program coordinator of the Carmel Center, shared a message from Bonnie Bean that she received on September 25, 2026. In the letter, Bean said the new hermitages fulfilled a dream she had shared with her late husband, Larry. The center now plans to build a conference center.
The Grounds and the Order Behind Them
The Carmel Center's first structure was the Grotto of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, a monumental limestone statue sculpted by Romanian artist John Czeransky and funded by Bishop Kmiec, according to the Carmel Retreat Center. The campus also includes Chavra Hall and adjoining kitchen and conference facilities. The center sits roughly 55 miles east of Nashville and is led by the Carmelites of Mary Immaculate, an Eastern-rite Syro-Malabar order founded in Kerala, India, on May 11, 1831, by Chavara and two fellow priests as India's first indigenous religious order for Catholic men, per Encyclopedia.com. The congregation now counts more than 2,500 members serving in over 30 countries, according to Wikipedia.
CMI priests from parishes across the region attended the blessing, including Father Thomas Kalam of St. Henry Church, Father George Chalbhagam, who pastors churches in Centerville, Hohenwald, and Waynesboro, and Father Joseph Mundakal of St. Frances Cabrini Church in Lebanon. Also present were Father Cyriac Kurian of Church of the Nativity in Thompson's Station, Father Joseph Kattakayathil of the Cathedral of the Incarnation, Father Abraham Panthalanickal of St. Christopher Church in Dickson, Father Mike Kerin of the Divine Savior Mission in Celina, Father Vimal Backiyaraj of St. Thomas Aquinas Church in Cookeville, and Father Siby Padinjaredath, who pastors parishes in Springfield and Cedar Hill. Father Thomas Chathamparampil, former prior general of the congregation, and Father Benny Mikalel, delegate superior of the congregation, also attended, with CMI priests traveling from Kentucky, Knoxville, California, Louisiana, Canada, and India for the occasion.
The Carmel Center sits in Liberty, Tennessee. Beyond overnight retreats, the center also hosts First Saturday mornings of prayer, with opportunities for adoration and Mass, per The Tennessee Register.
