By Most Reverend Keith J. Chylinski • Posted October 1, 2024

“To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.” (Ecclesiastes 3:1)

I visited the Overbrook campus of St. Charles Borromeo Seminary for the final time on Monday, September 30. As of midnight that day, we reached the end of the seminary’s five-year lease with Main Line Health, which means that we have permanently vacated the property.

It is hard to believe that we have reached this point. It has been very surreal to see the crosses and statues come down, the rooms being cleaned out, and the chapels being relegated. There are certainly many mixed emotions with this move, and I know that many people have been experiencing various stages of grief during these past couple of years. I am no exception.

But I wish to share with you the grace of this last time on campus – hoping that it is a source of consolation and hope for you.

When I walked through the empty corridors on this final visit, I was expecting to be sad, or to become overwhelmed with nostalgia. This expectation is certainly understandable, since I have spent 16 years of my life at this campus (some professors even more!).

Yet interestingly, the only sentiment that I experienced during this visit was gratitude. I was so thankful for Mother Overbrook: for all who envisioned, designed and built her, for all who were her benefactors, for all who served within her walls as administrators, faculty and staff, and for all who were enrolled as seminarians and students.

So many people have walked these halls, sat in these classrooms, and prayed in these chapels. Thousands upon thousands of faith-filled pilgrims, all taking part in the formation of the famously called “long black line” of priests who have gone through this hallowed institution.

In this spirit of gratitude, and in the name of all these people, I said a prayer of thanksgiving to God. I thanked him for allowing such an outpouring of grace on this campus for over 150 years. And I thanked him for all of you!

As friends, benefactors, students, faculty, staff, and alumni of the seminary, you are all part of her story … and you continue to be, because St. Charles Borromeo Seminary is quite alive, striving to fulfill the same sacred mission at its new campus.

When a seminarian would finish his program of formation at St. Charles, it was not uncommon for him to take a picture of his car sideview mirror, with the imposing pillared entrance of the college building in the distance. This photo would symbolize the seminarian’s achievement, and his saying “farewell” to Mother Overbrook. I decided to do the same on this final visit.

As I left the campus, I also said “goodbye.” Yet strangely, as I looked in the mirror, there was no sadness. Just gratitude … and many hopeful things to plan for as I turned right onto East Wynnewood Road, and drove up to our new home in Lower Gwynedd.

St. Charles Borromeo, pray for us!

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Bishop Keith J. Chylinski is an auxiliary bishop of Philadelphia and rector of St. Charles Borromeo Seminary, Lower Gwynedd.