ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. – At a time when dozens of Catholic parishes in the St. Louis Archdiocese are closing, a new deal to bring America’s largest Catholic graduate school of theology to St. Louis County is raising eyebrows.
It comes at a time when dozens of Catholic parishes in the St. Louis Archdiocese are closing.
In an exclusive interview with FOX 2 Wednesday, the graduate school’s president said he understood such concerns and that it was important to clear them up.
The property, bordered by New Halls Ferry Road and the Missouri River near Florissant, has long been one of St. Louis County’s best-kept secrets. There are people who have lived nearby for their entire lives with no idea of what was beyond the gates and the guard house at the entrance.
That is all changing now. The new owner has a story to share about a shared rebirth for the Catholic Church and St. Louis.
A word that comes to mind when seeing sprawling property? Majestic.
The Augustine Institute recently purchased the site. Dr. Tim Gray, president, has quite a few more words for it.
“Bucolic beauty… absolutely stunning and breathtaking… a place to pray, contemplate, reflect, and to be renewed,” he said. “It wasn’t on my radar for us to move five months ago, four months ago. I wasn’t even thinking about this. Then we found the perfect place for our growth. Now, we’re coming to St. Louis.”
The Augustine Institute is a Catholic graduate school and Catholic multi-media platform and streaming service.
It will move to St. Louis County from a Denver-area office complex.
The school has closed on the sale of Boeing’s corporate university training center, which the company stopped using during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Augustine Institute is investing more than $50 million for the purchase and operating costs of the 286-acre site, which includes four buildings for classrooms and more, plus the historic Desloge chateau built in the 1920s, along with five miles of nature trails.
Though the sale comes as the St. Louis Archdiocese is closing or merging more than 50 parishes and schools, the Augustine Institute is funded by donations, student tuition, sales of Catholic school curriculum materials, and subscriptions to the institute’s multi-media streaming service. It is not funded by any archdiocese or the Catholic Church but is critical to their missions, especially in St. Louis, Dr. Gray said.
“It used to be known as the Rome of the West,” he said. “As the country was expanding, it was from St. Louis that the church in the entire western half of the country was taken care of and nurtured. We hope to make St. Louis a city on a hill again…people who are going to be working in Catholic schools, teaching as catechists, leaders in Catholic parishes, dioceses, or other Catholic organizations.”
While only about 50 of the 550 graduate students attend classes on-site in Colorado, the number is expected to triple here, he said.
Classes will begin on-site in September.