Two seminaries will close this spring.
Christ the King Seminary in Buffalo has been forming students for the Catholic priesthood since 1857. Initially part of St. Bonaventure College, it was incorporated separately in 1974 and then moved to the campus of St. John Vianney Seminary in Buffalo.
The seminary’s annual budget is about $3.6 million. In the fall of 2019, the seminary reported to the Association of Theological Schools that it had a head-count enrollment of 55 students and a full-time-equivalent enrollment of 39.8 students. Twenty-six men are currently preparing for the priesthood and the remainder are lay or diaconal students.
Earlier this month, the seminary’s board of trustees and members of the seminary corporation voted to close the school at the end of the current academic year. Father Kevin Creagh, the seminary rector, announced the decision on February 4, 2020.
More information on the closure can be found on the seminary website and in the Buffalo News.
The board of trustees of Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene, Texas, has voted to close Logsdon Seminary, which offers the school’s graduate programs in theology. Currently enrolled students will be offered a “teach-out” to finish their degrees. The university will continue to offer undergraduate programs in theology and ministry through the Logsdon School of Theology.
In October 2018, university trustees announced cuts to programs and personnel of Logsdon Seminary and the closure of four extension sites in Texas. At the time, university president Eric Bruntmyer said the cuts were the result of decreased funding from the Southern Baptist Convention’s Cooperative Program and the Baptist General Convention of Texas.
In the fall of 2019, Logsdon reported to the Association of Theological Schools that it had a head-count enrollment of 125 students and a full-time-equivalent student body of 66.3.
More information can be found on the university website and in the Baptist Press.
