Student Life

Recreation and fellowship are essential aspects in the life of a well-formed person. To foster growth in these areas in the life of seminarians, Saint Joseph Seminary College provides a wealth of recreational facilities and supports relevant student organizations. You can access additional information about the provided facilities and student organizations through the links to the right.

College Facilities

Located one mile off Louisiana Highway 25, four miles north of Covington, Saint Joseph Seminary College is one hour from downtown New Orleans and slightly over an hour from Baton Rouge. The Seminary College is ideally situated upon a fifteen-acre campus in the midst of the piney woods of the Ozone Belt. Artesian water and clean, invigorating air have justly brought fame to the region. Surrounding the College Seminary is a twelve-hundred acre tract of rich forest land. A small river, the Bogue Falaya, deriving its name from the Choctaw Indians who once inhabited the site, borders the western side of the campus.

The extensive campus, with its large gymnasium, two lakes, and football field, provides adequate recreational facilities for basketball, volleyball, boating, baseball, touch football, hiking, handball and tennis.

Pius X Hall (1960), the large main building with two courtyards, houses administrative offices, faculty offices, a student chapel, a private meditation chapel, audio-visual room seating for one hundred, language laboratories, and sixty-eight private rooms. Monumental statues of Saint Joseph and of the Mother of God, early works of Louisiana sculptor Frank Hayden, mark the front corner of the building and the large open courtyard known as Mary Plaza. An adjacent building, Borromeo Hall (1960), is a self-contained unit, with four classrooms on the ground floor. Borromeo Hall was renovated in 1994, with the addition of central air-conditioning and some restructuring. Bathroom facilities for students, formerly on the first floor, are now on the second floor, also the location of private rooms for pre-theology students and older undergraduates. Besides classrooms, the first floor includes two seminar rooms, a larger meeting room, and public restroom facilities. Concrete ramps were recently added to the entrances of several of the buildings to aid in access for the disabled.

Other facilities are: Rouquette Library (2018); Meinrad Center (1960), having accommodations for guests, exhibits, group hospitality and a medical dispensary; Benet Hall (1960), a six-hundred seat auditorium with modern stage and equipment; a gym (1952) with two basketball courts, two large recreation rooms, and offices; a students dining hall (1918), accommodating over one hundred students, with an adjacent lounge, called The Wharf.

Saint Joseph Abbey Church dominates the landscape of the campus. It is here that the liturgical and religious life of the Seminary College focuses most sharply. Extensive and colorful murals by Dom Gregory de Wit (1892-1978) of Holland add to the religious atmosphere and decor of the Abbey Church.

Athletics

The program is directed by a council of students, composed of two members appointed at large by the SGA, and a faculty member. This council of athletic representatives, working with the Dean of Students, provides opportunity for seminarians to participate in organized athletic activities of a team and individual nature.

During each semester, intramural team sports such as touch football, basketball, volleyball and softball are organized. More individual sports such as tennis, table tennis, handball, and weight lifting are encouraged and scheduled by the athletic council.

Student Government Association

Seminary student life is largely a matter of student-planned and student-directed activities. These are managed by the Executive Board of the Student Government Association (SGA) composed of four officers - President, Vice-President, Secretary, and Treasurer - elected from the student body at large.

The SGA seeks to achieve its aims through referenda, resolutions, and the appointment of committees for special objectives. Its purposes are to promote good spirit among seminarians; to assure unity among all groups; to promote a spirit of cooperation between the students and faculty; to represent student needs and legitimate requests to the proper authorities; to foster and organize students activities under faculty moderators; and to aid the development of creativity and initiative among the students.Under the Executive Board of the SGA, there are six standing committees: Apostolic, Athletic, Hospitality, Religious Activities, Social Life, and Yearbook.

Besides these standing committees, the SGA sends representatives to the committees for Academic Affairs, for Library, and for Student Life.

The Seminary College administration and faculty are interested in and supportive of the SGA, seeing its activities as learning and maturing experiences for students through self-regulation.