From the Heart of the Shepherd
From the bulletin for The Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time (2026 Oct 25)
October 25, 2026 - 30th Sunday of Ordinary Time
Punch your neighbor in the shoulder if you have never been in the Rumpus Room. Or the gym locker rooms. Or the old principal’s office. Or the Rectory bowling alley 😝.
Except for the last one, such “unknown” spaces abound at our parish. Particularly in what we now call the Parish Center, which of course was originally the St. Mark’s Convent. For example, flick your neighbor’s ear if you have never seen or even heard of the beautiful two-story chapel that is located on the second floor of the Parish Center (complete with stained glass, confessional, sacristy, choir loft, and working pedal organ!). In fact, until recently, there were even spaces upstairs that the pastor had never seen: the old “superioress suite” that until recently had been the living quarters of the priest in residence from the St. Paul Seminary.
…Until recently. Next month, after something approaching fifteen years, the St. Paul Seminary’s lease of roughly 70% of the old convent is coming to an end.
These are dormitories that, after the last Sister of St. Joseph moved back to St. Catherine’s, had been used as a temporary residence of the Handmaids of the Sacred Heart, and after that to host at least one women’s retreat at the parish. Initially, the Seminary used the convent as overflow housing, placing here their pretheologians (men with college degrees who needed to study philosophy before moving on to theology), along with a priest rector and a deacon or two. Starting above five years ago, the site became home to the new Propaeudic program, designed as year pf detox and human formation for men entering seminary after college, in which they would prepare for studies through a time of solidifying their relationship with Christ, growing in self-knowledge and discerning more clearly their vocation.
From a parish perspective, the seminarians were ideal renters. They were well-behaved and didn’t create problems (how many of you even knew they were up there?). It was the best possible use of the space (the formation of potential future priests!). And the rental income was of course a crucial inflow during a stretch of years of financial insecurity surrounding the school closing. From our perspective, we liked to think that the location was ideal for the Seminary as well: in close proximity to the seminary itself, but still apart from the hustle and bustle of campus, in a quiet neighborhood, at a vibrant Catholic parish, and in quarters which, though spartan, nevertheless had a beautiful chapel and were well-suited for a program of twenty or less men.
Alas, all good things come to an end in this world. Understandably, Seminary did not want to rent forever. Last year they closed on a property all their own, at St. Francis de Sales off West 7th. Over the summer, the Propaedudic program moved out of our old convent and into the new space in time for the new school year.
We are sad to see them go. We are grateful for the ways that they enriched our parish community the last decade and a half. We wish them the best. And now I wish I knew what to do with that other 70% of the old convent…
Some uses will be obvious, at least in the short term. Our staff will be eager to have a proper lunchroom and larger kitchen, as well as some extra meeting and office space (right now three part-time staff members are crammed into the “shared office” which is no larger than an ordinary office!). But the rest is a big question mark. What to do with twenty eight cells built for little nuns? Common bathrooms, which are more than a little outdated? And that beautiful chapel? And how does this opportunity relate to the still-unclear campus master plan and all the empty space in the school?
Of course we have been noodling about this for some time. A religious community toured it (too small, they said). Perhaps (graduate) student housing? A living community for Catholic singles? An urban retreat center? Our parish not having the means to renovate, nor the staff the bandwidth to explore and develop possibilities, much less take on the work of rental management, I am writing this article… and inviting you to start dreaming.
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