The rendering above shows how planned renovations to the St. John Vianney Seminary will look when completed in 2023. The building at right will continue to be used for seminarians’ dormitories. A new, larger chapel is shown at left, with a choir loft and floors above it that will include rooms for all priests to live in residence, guest rooms and a small, private chapel for visiting bishops and vocations directors, priests’ offices, a high-tech classroom and conference room. The renovated facility will also feature a new entrance.

The rendering above shows how planned renovations to the St. John Vianney Seminary will look when completed in 2023. The building at right will continue to be used for seminarians’ dormitories. A new, larger chapel is shown at left, with a choir loft and floors above it that will include rooms for all priests to live in residence, guest rooms and a small, private chapel for visiting bishops and vocations directors, priests’ offices, a high-tech classroom and conference room. The renovated facility will also feature a new entrance. COURTESY FINN DANIELS ARCHITECTS and STUDIOIO LITURGICAL DESIGN CONSULTANTS

“The heart” of St. John Vianney College Seminary in St. Paul, as rector Father Jonathan Kelly described the facility’s chapel, will be demolished next spring and replaced with a larger chapel. It will include a confessional, wooden pews (instead of chairs), shrines for Mary and St. Joseph, and a 1,500-square-foot choir loft that will include an audio-visual control room, choir storage and room for 35 people.

The chapel is where seminarians learn to recognize the voice of God and receive the courage to follow his will for their lives, Father Kelly said. However, current seminarians and staff don’t all fit in the existing chapel, part of the SJV residence at the University of St. Thomas.

The renovated chapel will serve the daily liturgical and formational needs of the seminarians “and will leave an indelible impression on the entire campus,” he said.

The existing 1,600-square-foot chapel and about 1,400 square feet of adjacent space will be demolished and replaced with a four-floor, nearly 23,000-square-foot addition.

“We’re not really taking up much more footprint,” said Father Kelly. “We’re just making better use of that footprint.”

Built in 1982, the existing building is “a beloved but tired dormitory that we’re turning into a first-class seminary to match our program that is recognized nationwide as a premiere formation program for college seminarians,” Father Kelly said.

The main reason for the renovation and expansion is that formation is much different than it was when the facility was built 39 years ago, Father Kelly said, when the focus was on academics, and not the comprehensive formation the seminary offers today.

With formation changed, new requirements mean more priests and program space are needed, he said, “to accommodate formation as it needs to happen to prepare our men for today’s realities.”

Other improvements will include rooms for all priests to live in residence, guest rooms and a small, private chapel for travelers who visit the seminary. With men from about 20 dioceses attending the seminary, their vocations directors and bishops visit regularly.

Father Kelly emphasized that the point is not about building a building. “I’m excited that it shows we are investing in the program and that we’re here to stay,” he said.

The dream is to begin the renovations March 19, 2022, with the solemnity of St. Joseph, Father Kelly said, and finish a year later on March 25, 2023, the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Recent updates to the kitchen, bathrooms, dorm rooms and common areas are fully funded. The seminary has raised about $6.5 million toward the renovations planned to start next spring, and hopes to secure the final $3.5 million by December, Father Kelly said.

He estimated more than 1,500 students have graduated from St. John Vianney and more than 500 have been ordained priests.