The Catholic Bishops of Queensland have announced that processes have been put in place for Holy Spirit Seminary to be co-located on the land of the former Pius XII Provincial Seminary at Banyo from the beginning of 2008.
Professor Peter Sheehan, Vice Chancellor of Australian Catholic University (ACU) and Professor John O’Gorman, Pro-Vice Chancellor welcomed the return of the seminary to the Banyo campus.
Professor O’Gorman said ACU looked forward to a fruitful relationship which best served the educational needs, both lay and presbyteral, of Queensland.
From 1998, the formation program for students to the priesthood had continued at Wavell Heights in buildings belonging to the Parish of St Paschal’s.
Under the direction of the Rector, Fr Michael McCarthy, the relocated seminary at Wavell Heights was renamed Holy Spirit Seminary in December 2001.
The Bishops of Queensland are very grateful to Fr Gerry Kalinowski and the parishioners of Wavell Heights for the generous way they had responded to the presence of the seminary within their parish community.
Simultaneous to consideration of moving the seminary in the late 1990s, the Bishops of Queensland invited the Australian Catholic University to consider moving from its Mitchelton campus to the Banyo site.
Subsequently ACU agreed to this move and opened its doors at Banyo to its first students in 2003 after relocating from Mitchelton. The Bishops of Queensland acknowledge the great work being done by ACU in higher education on the Banyo site.
The co-locating of the seminary has been made possible because the Bishops of Queensland retained 10 acres for the purpose of developing a Seminary and Theological College.
When inviting ACU to relocate their campus to Banyo, the Bishops of Queensland always had it in mind that at some later date, students for the priesthood would return to live on site to be closer to St Paul’s Theological College and the Banyo Library Collection housed within the ACU Library.
After being consulted on conceptual plans for the siting of a new seminary at a meeting in May 2006, and after discussions with the University, the Bishops of Queensland directed that formal plans be drawn up for the construction of new seminary buildings with a hope that the new seminary would be open for seminary formation at the beginning of 2008.
Both seminary students and staff would live on the Banyo site in specialised living and support amenities.
This re-founding of the Seminary at Banyo, which will train priests for the five Diocese of Queensland (Archdiocese of Brisbane, Diocese of Cairns, Townsville Rockhampton and Toowoomba) signals a new era in formation for future presbyteral leadership.
Released by the Catholic Communications Office