Seminary Housing

[brycehecht]

When you go to college seminary, what are the living arrangements like? Do you get your own bedroom, bathroom, etc? Thanks.

 

[L_Marshall]

Every seminary (college and major) I’ve ever seen has a private bedroom, with a desk and dresser. As so far as bathrooms, I’ve seen four different accommodations:

1. 
   *]Private bathrooms in each room.
   *]Bathrooms shared between two or three rooms.
   *]Each individual room having a toilet, with sinks in the hallway. If showers aren’t in the rooms, there’s a room for showers off the main hallway.
   *]Each individual room having a sink, with toilets and showers in a different location.
   
   It mainly depends on when the seminary was built, and where it was built. The older seminaries I’ve seen have the sinks in the hallway (which has lead to several jokes between friends of Radamus – let us shave).

 

[jediknight]

There are plenty of what is called " come and see weekends " for seminaries, all you have to do is contact your diocese vocation director and ask for information. You may not have a choice as to which seminary you get to visit but it will answer a lot of questions for you .

 

[InThePew]

There are plenty of what is called " come and see weekends " for seminaries, all you have to do is contact your diocese vocation director and ask for information. You may not have a choice as to which seminary you get to visit but it will answer a lot of questions for you .

I would strongly recommend attending one of these - particularly at the seminary (or seminaries) your diocese sends its students to. Part of this is obviously checking out where you’d be living, what the bedrooms are like, meeting people, etc. However, another part is perhaps less obvious - how you feel about the place (e.g. do you feel content there, or does it feel like you’re in the wrong place) and could you picture yourself there. Some religious order also offer similar opportunities for enquirers to visit and stay with them for a short period.

 

[Lawrence178]

At Our Lady of Guadalupe Seminary (the one I am entering in 12 days!), each seminarian has his own room. There is a desk, chair, dresser, closet, twin bed, a little bit of shelving, a crucifix, and a bathroom with a sink, toilet and shower. For each floor, there is a laundry room (no bleach allowed, one drop and cassocks are ruined!). There is a small exercise room. There are two rooms for recreation, one more of a reading room and chess room, the other with a TV, ping-pong table, etc. No internet, video games, or cell phones.

I have also been to Saint Charles Borromeo Seminary, the one for the Philadelphia Archdiocese, they have similar arrangements. The only substantial differences would be the video-games in their recreation room, an oddly impressive gym (donated by some famous coach), and really comfy beds (donated by some mattress store going out of business).

 

[L_Marshall]

I have also been to Saint Charles Borromeo Seminary, the one for the Philadelphia Archdiocese, they have similar arrangements. The only substantial differences would be the video-games in their recreation room, an oddly impressive gym (donated by some famous coach), and really comfy beds (donated by some mattress store going out of business).

I must admit that St. Charles Borromeo is the origin of the “let us shave” joke. One of their floors (I think freshman) has the sinks the hallway.

I would recommend taking a tour of whatever your diocese uses for a seminary. One of the best things I can recommend is seeing if you can do an overnight when either the seminary is in session, or it is simulated. The largest part of seminary life isn’t the facilities, but the actual life style. It’s very different from any other sort of school I know.

 

[Lawrence178]

I must admit that St. Charles Borromeo is the origin of the “let us shave” joke. One of their floors (I think freshman) has the sinks the hallway.

I thought so! The floors aren’t used for the seminarians, though, another floor has been renovated and given the aforementioned layout of rooms. The rooms with the hallway sinks (the Saint Francis dorm? I don’t know, it has been so long) are used solely for guests, like me when I went on the “come and see” weekends.

 

[L_Marshall]

When you go to college seminary, what are the living arrangements like? Do you get your own bedroom, bathroom, etc? Thanks.

May I ask the original poster if he has any particular college seminary in mind? It seems like quite a few of us are familiar with different ones, and we may be able to give you the exact layout if you can give us the name(s) of the seminary(ies).