* God’s house will soon have one less mansion — as a palatial waterfront retreat owned by Roman Catholic priests on the East End of Long Island has been put on the block for $19.9 million.
St. Gabriel’s Spiritual Center for Youth, which sits on 24 sprawling acres on the shores of Shelter Island in Coecles Harbor, is being sold off so the aging, financially distressed clerics can bankroll their retirement, sources said.
The property is a little slice of heaven that includes a 29-room retreat house.
There is also a lounge the overlooks the water, a chapel, a salt-water swimming pool, two tennis courts and two full-size basketball courts. Much of the meadows and rolling hills have gone untouched.
The retreat house was recently renovated after a fire gutted it in 1999.
Named for Gabriel Possenti, the patron saint of youths, it has been owned by the Passionist priests, a small New Jersey order, since 1911, and has been run as a youth retreat since 1963.
The new buyer could just enjoy the estate as their personal redoubt — or they could chop it up into lots and make a new housing development, under local zoning laws.