The new seminary chapel will accommodate about 250 people and will offer much-needed space for prayer and quiet contemplation. (Troy C. Hull | Catholic News Herald)MOUNT HOLLY — St. Joseph College Seminary is nearing completion of a new chapel, a major development that leaders say will strengthen the seminary’s mission of forming future Catholic priests and better accommodate visitors.
Father Matthew Kauth, seminary rector, said chapel construction is expected to be completed by the end of the year.
The $24 million project marks a significant milestone in the seminary’s continued growth. Working in collaboration with Bishop Michael Martin, seminary and diocesan leaders adopted a plan that not only includes a new chapel with seating for about 250 people, an office, a guest suite and other program spaces, but also will pay off existing seminary construction debt and set aside funding for an endowment to pay for long-term capital needs.
The project includes $20.7 million for the construction and related sitework and furnishings, $2 million for the endowment and $1.7 million for debt elimination. The funding comes from generous donors, many of whom gave to the seminary’s first capital campaign.
The new chapel will serve as more than an architectural addition, Father Kauth said – it is central to priestly formation.
“We form our buildings and then they form us,” Father Kauth said. “Proportion, integrity, clarity, harmony – all of these go into a building and they then go into those who live there. This has a subtle but powerful effect on the spiritual life.”
Father Kauth said one of the things that any seminary needs is space: “Ultimately, you create an atmosphere of openness and lucidity where the eye of the mind can rest.”
The project will also enable the seminary’s existing chapel – which seats only 50 and was originally designed as a lecture and dining hall – to be repurposed for lectures, banquets and other diocesan events.
Father Kauth said construction has gone unusually well.
“This has been perhaps the smoothest that I’ve ever encountered,” Father Kauth said.
He credited the progress to careful planning, strong execution by the team of architects and contractors and, of course, the prayers of the faithful.
The chapel is the latest milestone in the development of St. Joseph College Seminary, which was established in 2016 under then-Bishop Peter Jugis. In its early years, the seminary operated out of several temporary houses before securing land and building its permanent campus, located not far from Belmont Abbey College, in 2020.
To date, 24 priests have been ordained who came through St. Joseph College Seminary and are serving across the diocese.
— Walter Frei
