Many of you will have heard that St John’s Seminary in Wonersh is to close in its present form. The Seminary has served the Church for 130 years and there is great sadness that formation must now end at the site.
Unfortunately there was no new intake this September. With the seminarian body numbering just 17 the community is small, with the building and staffing costs too high to sustain. Arrangements have been made for the remaining seminarians to join the community at Allen Hall, Chelsea in September 2021.
Archbishop John Wilson and Bishop Richard are committed to providing priestly formation that will serve the people of our Dioceses and parishes into the future. St John’s will remain a legal entity so that consideration can be given to the ways in which the tradition of priestly formation established at Wonersh in 1891 will continue.
The Trustees of St John’s are extremely grateful to rectors, staff and seminarians, past and present, and to all those who have supported the Seminary over the years. We ask our Diocesan church family to pray for vocations to the priesthood, keeping our seminarians in their thoughts and prayers over the coming months.