The long-awaited decision to move St. Charles Borromeo Seminary from its massive grounds off the edge of West Philadelphia has been finalized, according to an article posted May 24 by Catholicphilly.com, the news affiliate of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.
The seminary hopes for its new home to be along the grounds of Neumann University in Aston, Pa., Bishop Timothy Senior, seminary rector, said in a letter to archdiocesan priests and cited by the website. The university in Delaware County is little more than five miles from the border of the Diocese of Wilmington.
According to Catholicphilly.com, the seminary property in Wynnewood, Pa., has been sold to Main Line Health. While the price and other details of the recently completed transaction were not made public, the sale represents a landmark in the nearly seven-year process to consider selling some or all of the seminary’s 75-acre property.
Main Line Health owns Lankenau Hospital across the street from the seminary parcel and numerous other hospitals and health care facilities in the region, including Bryn Mawr, Paoli and Riddle hospitals.
In his letter, Bishop Senior said the seminary will continue to operate on the property for up to five years. During this time, “seminary officials and the Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia are exploring the purchase of property owned by the sisters near the university to construct new seminary buildings,” he said.
The seminary has been in its current location, near the city’s Overbrook section, since 1871.
