NORTH LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – The remains of a more than 100-year-old North Little Rock landmark will see new life as a seminary for the Diocese of Little Rock.
Earlier this month Bishop Anthony B. Taylor of the Diocese of Little Rock said in a statement the St. Joseph Orphanage building will not be rebuilt after a fire damaged it in March.
On Thursday, Bishop Taylor said the diocese plans to use the land to house a new, much larger college seminary on the site previously occupied by the orphanage to be called the “St. Joseph College Seminary” in honor of the orphanage.
St. Joseph building to be torn down due to damage caused by March fire
The bishop said when the diocese’s current House of Formation for college-level seminarians on 12th Street in Little Rock was founded 13 years ago, it was a college seminary with a capacity of 10 seminarians. He said the program sometimes receives up to 14 seminarians taking part in a four-year program that has now been expanded to five years by the Vatican…