'Father Gil' resting at Maryland center

Saint Luke administrator: Institute offers 'spiritual retreat, psychological help'

SILVER SPRING, Md. - Quiet woods, rolling hills and a graceful statue of Christ surround a psychiatric center where the Rev. Gilbert "Father Gil" Pansza is being treated after removal from duties at Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church.

Saint Luke Institute in this Washington suburb had no guards stationed at the foot of its long driveway where a no-trespassing sign was posted. No bars were visible on its windows Thursday.

But access is not easy.

"All of our doors are locked," Katie Thiede, Saint Luke's executive administrator, said. "We are a controlled-access building."

Visiting Pansza on Thursday at the Catholic facility wasn't allowed without direct permission from him, Thiede said.

Pansza declined a visit, saying on the phone that he's awaiting legal counsel before making any statements.

He has been at the facility that treats clergy and others since mid-December when Fort Worth church leaders removed him from the Wichita Falls church. They said they discovered references in a file to Pansza's sexual abuse of a minor in the 1970s before he entered the seminary.

"Right now he's at a place for rest, some retreat and spiritual retreat but also for a type of psychological help he can get for the transition, for the shock of having been removed in December," said the Rev. Michael Olson, vicar general for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Forth Worth.

Pansza is doing well and is free to leave, Olson said.

Most of its patients are directed to Saint Luke Institute, Thiede said. The center treats all kinds of addictions.

The institute treats people with depression, anxiety and "a wide range of sexual problems" by offering mental health counseling, wellness programs and education, according to its Web page. Research is also done at the facility.

The facility is perched above busy four-lane New Hampshire Avenue, just north of Northwest Branch Park.

It's been at that location for 10 years, but it's been in operation since the 1950s, Thiede said.

The institute is on a 43-acre campus with a chapel, garden courtyards, tennis courts, handball courts and a basketball court.

Thiebe declined to give a tour, saying she "wasn't comfortable with that. Our entire building is confidential."

Pansza said the facility where he's staying was once a seminary.

The institute at 8901 New Hampshire Ave. has a middle section of light-colored stone flanked by sprawling brick wings. A triangular metal plaque of a downward-facing dove with a ring in its mouth hangs on the middle section.

Across from it, at 9001 New Hampshire Ave., is a smaller building with the letters "Missionary Servants of the Most Holy Trinity."

North of Washington, Silver Spring is one of many communities densely packed around the nation's capital.

By all appearances, it's another affluent Washington suburb, but it's not an incorporated city.

No clear boundary is discernable upon reaching the Montgomery County town about 7 miles north of Washington. Traffic puts the brakes on a drive from the city to Silver Spring, demanding about 30 minutes to go the short distance on a weekday afternoon.

Rolling hills and tall trees, many stripped of leaves by the winter, characterize the landscape.

Busy main arteries such as Maryland 650, also called New Hampshire Avenue, crisscross the burg and dilute the landscape's charm.

The Silver Spring Metro Station is a large subway hub, and within walking distance from that is the regionally well-known American Film Institute and Silver Theater Cultural Center.

The historic AFI building in the city's thriving downtown has an old-time marquee, and the center boasts on its Web site that it trains the next generation of filmmakers.

The downtown where AFI is located is inside the Capital Beltway - also known as Interstate Highway 495.

About 74,000 people live in the diverse community, according tothe Census Bureau. It's about half white, with blacks and Hispanics making up the bulk of the minority population, according to the Census Bureau.

Approximately $65,000 is the median income for a family. The median value of a home there is about $425,000.

Scripps Howard News Service reporter Trish Choate can be reached at (202) 408-2709 or choatet@shns.com.