A significant renovation is near completion at Moreau Seminary and Scholasticate, located on the opposite side of St. Joseph’s Lake from the University. It is the seminary’s first major refurbishment during its 75 years of operation — aside from minor upgrades made in 2001.
Moreau opened in 1958 and has since been home to formation programs for vocations to the Congregation of Holy Cross. The congregation’s initial seminary, now known as Sacred Heart Parish Center, was built in 1920 as a home for undergraduate seminary students. Sacred Heart Parish Center housed seminarians during the renovation to Moreau.
In the past, while undergraduate seminarians studied at Notre Dame, graduate programs were held at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., or in Rome. However, by the 1960s, these graduate programs were closed and moved back to Moreau.
Today, Moreau houses 43 people, including 12 postulants, 19 men in temporary vows, nine Holy Cross priests and brothers and three other priests visiting and working on graduate studies.
Following the renovation, Moreau Seminary was renamed and will now be known as Moreau Seminary and Scholasticate because it houses both seminarians and brothers.
Planning for the renovation took three years. Fr. Jim Gallagher, superior and rector of Moreau Seminary and Scholasticate, spoke with The Observer about the renovations. “Part of it was just trying to figure out what we do with the building,” Gallagher said. He noted that, in addition to residences, there are also office spaces for members of the Congregation of Holy Cross within the building. Consideration of how to use the building lasted about two years.
Following this initial planning, there was an additional year of preparation and meetings to create the designs for the spaces within the building.
“Even before the master plan, there was a good bit of surveying of the men in formation, the men in the province, thinking about what we need the building to be able to do, about what have been some of the challenges of the building,” Gallagher said.
Mackey Mitchell Architects designed the project, and construction was carried out by Bulley & Andrews construction firm.
After designs were finalized, work began in June 2024 when all those living in Moreau Seminary moved to the Sacred Heart Parish Center. While the renovation is mostly complete, some final work remains. The seminarians, however, moved back into Moreau this past August.
One aspect that still needs completion is the library, which holds about 50,000 volumes and is still being restocked. Sitting underneath the chapel, it was previously had only stacks of shelves. However, by moving some books from the library into an annex, additional study space has been created.
There are also new spaces within the renovated building, which Gallagher said “provide for a really nice, well-rounded person.” These spaces include a hobby room, a music room and a weight room, among others.
Regarding the renovations in general, Gallagher said he was pleased with the changes.
“Part of what excites me is some of the structural stuff that we were able to do. All of the windows in the building used to be single-pane windows,” he said. “The vast majority are now double-pane windows with a better seal.”
One other aspect of the renovation important to Gallagher was accessibility. Several areas around the building were previously inaccessible by wheelchair. To remedy this, a new ramp was added at the front of Moreau, and two new elevators were also installed in the building.
The fourth floor consists mostly of guest rooms used by the families of those who live at the seminary. Gallagher recalled one seminarian whose father had mobility issues and was thus unable to visit. “We needed to do something here so that people, especially members of our family, aren’t getting left out from the experience of staying with us because of the inability to navigate the building,” Gallagher said.
While the cost of the renovation is not public, Gallagher said it was a significant investment for the Congregation of Holy Cross and their donors, whom he said “see the value of well-trained priests and brothers, and who are very generous in investing in helping us make this project happen.”
Gallagher said “odds and ends” will continue to be worked on until the end of the spring semester at the seminary. He noted Moreau will also host events for the Congregation of Holy Cross. Over the summer, roughly 30 Holy Cross priests and brothers will visit Moreau as part of a new leadership training initiative.
“It has a very special place in the hearts of many of our Holy Cross, and so one of the things we wanted to do was to be attentive to that so that it remains a space that is central to our communities, formation and communal events,” Gallagher said.
