Emmaus House celebrates 50 years by sharing stories

July 16, 2024

by April Young

In telling of the history of Emmaus House, I could tell you that it was founded when Bishop Maurice Dingman called a meeting in 1973 with the chancellor, Monsignor Ed Pfeffer, Jesuit Father Gene Merz, and other Jesuits to begin a house of prayer.

I could tell you of the three different locations over its 50 years. I could offer you a Gospel of Matthew-style litany of the Jesuits, religious women, diocesan priests, and lay people who have served in leadership roles.

But in my years of experience of Emmaus House, both in receiving and giving its ministry,  that is what tells the Emmaus House story: our experiences.

We were named for the story in Luke 24, when the disciples walk with Jesus on the road to Emmaus. For 50 years, we’ve likewise walked with each other, belonging to each other, in this pilgrimage on earth.

With our hearts burning within us, we’ve recognized Christ in the breaking of the bread. In contemplative, intimate community we’ve celebrated the Eucharist and discerned how to become what we receive.

We’ve been built not only with bricks, but with trust, earning it one sacred story at a time, holding each with profound reverence. Our foundations have been laid with secure footings and stewarded finances, as well as deeply spiritual leaders formed in the Ignatian tradition.

We have curated and nurtured a precedence of hospitality, dating back to Sister Mary Dingman’s beef soup and carried into today with a disability-accessible space to ensure everyone can participate. These past 50 years have been time-marked by schedules and calendars, dates and times of retreats and spiritual direction appointments, but always with the intention that we allow enough time and space so that all who come feel safe, valued, and heard.

The spirit and history of Emmaus House is beyond what can be captured in dates, facts, wood, or stone. It echoes through every heart that has graced us with the privilege of companionship, prayer, song, or sacred silence.

The official, unofficial anthem of Emmaus House has long been “All Are Welcome” by Marty Haugen. It is particularly the final verse that gives praise to the spirit of our community: “Let us build a house where all are named, / Their songs and visions heard / And loved and treasured, taught and claimed as words within the Word. / Built of tears and cries and laughter, / Prayers of faith and songs of grace, / Let this house proclaim from floor to rafter: / All are welcome, all are welcome, all are welcome in this place.”

All are welcome to join in celebrating our 50th anniversary with an open house on Wednesday, July 31 from 4-7 p.m. at 3315 70th St. in Urbandale.