St Joseph's College, Upholland

St Joseph's College, Upholland is a Former Roman Catholic seminary, situated at Walthew Park, Upholland, Lancashire, England. The foundation of the large building was laid in April 1880 and college was opened in 1883. The buildings have recently been deconsecrated.

History

St Joseph's College was founded in 1880 by Bishop Bernard O'Reilly to be the Seminary serving the North West of England. The college was formally opened in 1883 and was situated in Walthew Park, Upholland, the geographic centre of the Diocese of Liverpool.

The first Junior Seminary of the Diocese was founded at St Edward's College in 1842 as a Catholic 'classical and commercial school' under the direction of the secular clergy and was established in Domingo House, a mansion in Everton. Its President for the next forty years was to be Monsignor Provost John Henry Fisher. When the Junior Seminarians moved to St Joseph's the school was taken over by the Christian Brothers (who also ran St John Rigby College in nearby Orrell) and continues to this day and now serves as the Liverpool Cathedral Choir School. In recognition of the heritage owed to St Edward's College one of the two chapels at Upholland was consecrated as the St Edward the Confessor Chapel.

Along with the other main seminary in the north of England, Ushaw candidates for the priesthood studied and were ordained at the college. Up until the second Vatican Council boys as young as 11 years of age entered the Junior Seminary before progressing to the senior Seminary at 18. In 1972 following the changes of Vatican 2 the two junior seminaries of St Joseph's and Ushaw merged at Upholland, and in 1975, with declining numbers of men from Ireland offering themselves for the (now) Archdiocese of Liverpool the Senior seminary moved to Ushaw. St Joseph's continued to offer boarding school education for boys considering a vocation until 1987.

Following the end of the seminary training and boarding education St Joseph's became home to the Northern Institute and was used as a retreat and conference centre for the Archdiocese under the leadership of Msgr John Devine.

The election of Archbishop Patrick Kelly saw the controversial decision to close St Joseph's altogether and the property was sold to Anglo International who instructed AEW Architects for the conversion of the Grade 2 listed RC Seminary to 92 apartments, with 220 new build enabling units. The major controversies of the decision were the ongoing financial viability of St Joseph's (it had just started to make a small surplus under Devine's management) and the sale and disposal of the art and artefacts in the college, much of which had been donated by various parishes and people of the Archdiocese who were not offered their donations back.

Pastoral Letter Announcing Closure

Read at all Masses in all churches and chapels of the Archdiocese ofLiverpool on Sunday 19 September 1999.

Archbishop's House
Lowood Carnatic Road, Mossley Hill, Liverpool, L18 8BY
My dear People,
I know of only one way to begin this letter, and that is by telling youdirectly that, together with the Trustees of the Archdiocese, I havedecided - and the decision will take effect from November 30 - that weshould no longer continue to use the buildings at St Joseph's College,Upholland.My words are chosen carefully: I say that 'we should not'- not that 'wecannot' - continue to use them. In fact it would not be impossible tofinance their continued use: if we were prepared to set aside many otherdiocesan developments and activities, the money could certainly befound. However, I am convinced that that is a path I should not follow.
For several years now one attempt after another has been made to find away to maintain and develop the buildings, without detriment to otheraspects of life within the Archdiocese; but, despite huge efforts, we havegot no where. At the same time, careful note has been taken of the actualuse made of the buildings by the Archdiocese, and we have found that,given their size and the amount of work and money expended on them, theusage has been very small. Moreover, it is clear that alternative venuesfor more or less all current activities can be found elsewhere. Indeed,there is a strong argument that it would be to our advantage to use othervenues, which would, for example, provide greater ease of access for thosewith special needs and would be more readily accessible to those who mustrely upon public transport.
I need hardly tell you that this has been a most difficult decision tomake. I will long remember the last time I heard Archbishop Worlock speakat Upholland. He made two points very clearly: first of all, that he wouldnot be looking to the parishes to find any more resources to maintain thebuildings: but, secondly, that he was hopeful that other avenues wereopening to provide the necessary funding. As I walked through the buildingon that day, I saw how little of the vast space was in use: the task beingfaced was enormous. Sadly, his hope about those new avenues, despite everyeffort, has not been fulfilled.
Of course my difficulty has been the greater because, as I am only toowell aware, Upholland has not been part of my life as it has been part ofthe life of so many others. However, I return to that crucial word'should', which I used at the beginning of this letter. Today is HomeMission Sunday and with it comes the challenge that can never beignored: we are all called to the task of spreading the gospel, of makingdisciples here at home. That in turn means that I am not free to use theArchdiocese's resources in any way I please. I may use them only in theway that will most effectively initiate and develop enterprises whichstrengthen us all as disciples and heralds of the Lord. The specialcollection today supports the work of the Catholic Missionary Society, andit's helpful to recall how this Society, so important in the eyes ofCardinal Heenan, has so often and so effectively changed to respond to newsituations in which the gospel in its fullness must be preached. I believethat at this time the Archdiocese is summoned to change for the sake ofthe gospel
May I commend to your grateful prayers all those, especially MonsignorJohn Devine, who have worked so hard to retain the use, and exploit thepotential, of the Upholland Buildings. We thank God for the blessings thatthose buildings have brought the Archdiocese in the past. But now it is bychange, in response to the 'signs of the times', that we can be assuredthat we shall receive his blessings still.
Yours devotedly in Christ,
+ Patrick Kelly
Archbishop of Liverpool

Gradwell Collection

This collection, entrusted to Liverpool Hope University on the closure of St. Joseph’s College at Upholland, contains material covering the following subjects: theology, philosophy, church, secular and local history, ecclesiastical history, art, architecture, sociology, education and works of general reference. It also includes recusant works and early printed works. Donations and subscriptions aside, the book collection has not been added to since 1975 when the College ceased to operate as a seminary, however, the journal and periodical collection which is mainly theological, has been kept up to date. The collection is particularly strong in Catholic studies with standard works of Catholic reference and extensive runs of Catholic periodicals and journals of use to all levels of research.

Notable Alumni

*John Battle MP (Lab) (b. 1951), Labour MP for Leeds West
*Alexander Jones (d. 1970), considered one of the world's leading biblical scholars. He lectured extensively and authored innumerable articles and several books based on the Scriptures. Formerly a senior lecturer in divinity at Christ's College, Liverpool, he had followed his time at Upholland with studies at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome and at the Biblical Institute, also in Rome, as well as L'École Biblique in Jerusalem.
*Michael Kenna (b. 1953), Artists and photographer
*Paddy McAloon, singer with Prefab Sprout
*Tom O'Connor, TV personality, comedian
*Michael Joseph Pennington (b. 1971), AKA "Johnny Vegas", TV personality, actor, comedian
*Bishop John Rawsthorne (b. 1936), Bishop of Hallam
*George Carman QC (1929-2001), distinguished defence counsel in many of the most celebrated criminal trials of the last quarter of the 20th century.

External links

* [http://www.michaelkenna.net/html/books/boarding/index.html Michael Kenna images of St Joseph's in his book "Boarding school"]
* [http://s192798389.websitehome.co.uk/urbex/seminary/index.html St Joseph's Seminary Photo Gallery"]
* [http://www.urbanassault.t83.net/#/stjosephsseminary/4529044233/ Exploring St. Josephs Seminary]