After 153 years at its Wynnewood location and visitations by two sitting popes, Saint Charles Borromeo Seminary welcomed 140 seminarians today Aug. 21 at the newly constructed and more sustainable campus in Lower Gwynedd for the seminary’s 193rd academic year. Twenty-three of these men, including seven from the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, are new to the Seminary and its program of priestly formation.
The new campus features three new chapels, a library, two residence halls for college and theology seminarians along with priest faculty. It also boasts a new student life center, which includes a dining hall, classrooms, library, and administrative offices. A fitness center is located in the college dormitory.
With new, state-of-the-art facilities, the seminary will be able to run more efficiently, reducing its operating costs and enhancing the learning and formation experiences of priests preparing to serve in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and the broader Church for many years to come.
The buildings at the former Overbrook campus were constructed between the 1870s and 1920s, and although architecturally beautiful, the aging buildings eventually became inefficient and required costly ongoing maintenance.
In 2016 seminary administrators decided to relocate in order to strengthen the program of priestly formation with up-to-date facilities. The Overbrook campus was sold to Main Line Health in 2019, and a 15-acre property for the Lower Gwynedd campus was purchased from Gwynedd Mercy University in 2022.
Construction was completed earlier this summer, and the cost of the project totaled $54.5 million.
Speaking of the new campus, Bishop Keith J. Chylinski, rector of Saint Charles Borromeo Seminary, said he’s most looking forward to “carrying out the sacred work of priestly formation in these new, beautiful and updated facilities.”
“This campus is truly designed and built for this kind of work in the 21st century,” he said. “It’s a much more intimate setting than at Overbrook, which will help to form the men more deeply with the understanding that the Church is a family, and that we are all in this together.”
Efforts were made to preserve the history of the Overbrook campus wherever possible. In constructing the new main chapel – named the Immaculate Conception Chapel – altars, stained-glass windows, and pews were moved from the old campus to the new.
Other smaller chapels on the new campus include St. Therese of Lisieux Chapel in the College Division building, and St. Pio of Pietrelcina Chapel in the Theology Division building. Construction of a small chapel for priest faculty members is also in the works.
The St. Jerome Library stands prominently on the new campus and is named in honor of Dick and Angela Clark, whose donation to the seminary’s capital campaign made it possible.
The library includes 87,000 circulating and reference books, 3,000 special collection books with several dating back to the 15th century, 900 journals and newspapers, as well as a variety of digital media.
Seminarian Charlie Capelli, 31, looks forward to bringing the fraternity and traditions of the Overbrook campus to the seminary’s new home in Lower Gwynedd.
A Doylestown native who calls Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish home, Capelli is starting his sixth year at St. Charles.
“I feel like there’s a season for everything,” he said. “It’s cool to be a part of this new phase of St. Charles. It’ll be interesting to see what our old traditions look like at the new place.”
“I really feel blessed to experience a little bit of Overbrook, but the new campus is a better fit for the style of formation we have today,” said seminarian Sean Barker, 19, who begins his second year at St. Charles.
A Delaware County native and member of St. Madeline Parish in Ridley Park, Barker looks forward spending time in Mass and prayer at Immaculate Conception Chapel. He thinks the closer, more convenient layout of the Lower Gwynedd campus will “bring our community more together.”
“The tradition goes on forever; it’s just new buildings,” Barker said. “It’s the people that make the seminary, not the buildings.”
Seminarian Dan Monastra, 25, recently returned from an eight-week Spanish immersion program in Guatemala. He was understandably delayed to begin packing for move-in day at the new campus.
A member of St. Agnes Parish in Sellersville, Monastra starts his seventh year at St. Charles. He’s happy that the project, which was many years in the making, is finally complete.
All the seminarians are looking forward” to the opening of the new campus, Monastra said. “The old buildings are very nice looking and impressive,” but the new campus is “much more sustainable” with newer technology and fewer maintenance needs.
Monastra has a hopeful outlook on the new campus, saying it provides “lots of room to grow. We’ll see what opportunities will arise in the future.”
St. Charles has established an endowment fund to ensure the long-term sustainability of its mission.
Bishop Chylinski said he’s “so grateful to the many people who have so generously contributed to our Comprehensive Campaign. Their generosity has made this new campus possible, and we cannot wait to show them the fruits of their generosity.”
The campaign is ongoing, and the rector hopes to reach the goal of $40 million by next summer. All proceeds raised will go directly to the endowment, which will help St. Charles to be financially sustainable for many years to come.
