SAINT JOSEPH APPEAL

The following is the 2024 Saint Joseph Appeal Letter from Abbot Gregory Boquet, O.S.B. and Fr. Matthew Clark, O.S.B, President-Rector.

Dear Friends,

For more than a century, Saint Joseph Abbey and Seminary College has contributed greatly to Louisiana and the southeast region of the United States by educating and forming young men for the Roman Catholic priesthood. Today, many church parishes are staffed by young men from the Abbey and Seminary College who desire to shepherd their flocks through parochial ministry and evangelization, and many of our seminarians have gone on to become prominent civic and religious leaders within our community and throughout the country.

As we look toward the Solemnity of Saint Joseph, the patron saint of our Abbey and Seminary College, we reflect on God’s continued blessings and offer our sincere thanks for your continued support and prayers. As we have continued to grow, you have generously donated to help us improve our buildings and surroundings. We have already completed renovations to Savio and Benet halls. The beautiful Savio Hall renovation gave us 42 new dorm rooms to house our seminarians and included furnished common rooms and dean suites on each floor.  The “new” Benet Hall has given us a refurbished auditorium for lectures, student meetings, and more, and it has an expanded role as our new Welcome Center, where all guests on campus are greeted and able to check in for information and directions.

Your past generosity also helped us get the propaedeutic phase of priestly formation in place at Saint Joseph Abbey and Seminary College. If you recall, the Vatican recently added this required time for intense preparation to the formation program for first-year seminarians. Being a seminarian isn’t easy. Many young men struggle to meet the demands of seminary life, and some arrive with broken relationships, increased anxiety, loneliness, and many challenges of the secular world. This phase of formation helps seminarians address these issues, and as we approach the end of our inaugural year, we are assessing the successes and the areas that need refining to better serve our young men.

Today, through this Saint Joseph Appeal, we humbly ask for your financial support to improve conditions in another dormitory for our young men, specifically those in the Propaedeutic program. Borromeo Hall, where these first-year seminarians will be housed, has not been renovated and needs updates and repairs.

We hope to raise $300,000 through this St. Joseph Appeal. Your generous donations will be used to:

• Update furnishings in the dorm rooms

• Refurbish the showers and bathrooms

• Repair the walls and flooring

• Add landscaping

We are grateful to our benefactors who continue to respond to the needs of the Church today. May all of us imitate our patron, St. Joseph, who always responded without reservation to the will of God.

In the Peace of Christ,
Abbot Gregory Boquet, O.S.B.
Fr. Matthew Clark, O.S.B., President-Rector

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Make a check payable to the Saint Joseph Abbey and mail to:

Saint Joseph Abbey and Seminary College
75376 River Road
St. Benedict, LA 70457
Attn: Saint Joseph Appeal

Questions? Contact Debb De Noux at 985-867-2264 or ddenoux@sjasc.edu.