Woodstock College

Former Jesuit seminary in Maryland

39°20′08″N 76°52′12″W / 39.33556°N 76.87000°W / 39.33556; -76.87000^[1]

Woodstock College was a Jesuit seminary that existed from 1869 to 1974. It was the oldest Jesuit seminary in the United States.^[2] The school was located in Woodstock, Maryland, west of Baltimore, from its establishment until 1969, when it moved to New York City, where it operated in cooperation with the Union Theological Seminary and the Jewish Theological Seminary.

The school closed in 1974.^[3] It was survived by the Woodstock Theological Center, an independent, nonprofit Catholic research institute located at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.

History

Woodstock College was originally located along the Patapsco River in Woodstock, Maryland, west of Baltimore. It incorporated in 1867, and opened on September 22, 1869.^[4]

In the 1960s, the college began considering affiliating with an urban university.^[5]^[6]

The argument to move the school into a city and place it in affiliation with a broader network of institutions of higher learning received decisive support from the newest ideas of theological education and priestly formation emerging from the Second Vatican Council and the Jesuits' own Thirty-First General Congregation. In consequence, the college closed its original campus and moved to New York City, New York in 1969^[7] where it operated in cooperation with the Union Theological Seminary^[8] and the Jewish Theological Seminary. Controversies over the merits of the move into the city, specific controversies arising over the life style of the Jesuits in training in New York, and a general desire of the order to consolidate its theology schools nationally led to the school's closure in 1974.^[3]

It was survived until 2013 by the Woodstock Theological Center,^[9] an independent, nonprofit Catholic research institute located at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. The theological library retains its independence through an affiliation with the library at Georgetown University, where it is still housed.

Campus

The original campus buildings in Woodstock, Maryland are now used as a Job Corps Center, while the campus grounds are part of Patapsco Valley State Park.

Rectors and Presidents of Woodstock College

This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (August 2008)

No.	Name	Years	Ref.
1	Angelo Paresce SJ	1869–1875
2	James Perron SJ	1875–1881
3	Joseph E. Keller SJ	1881–1883
4	Pierre O. Racicot SJ	1883–1890
5	Edward V. Boursaud SJ	1890–1893	^[10]
6	Joseph Jerge SJ	1893–1897
7	Burchard Villiger SJ	1897–1901	^[11]
8	William P. Brett SJ	1901–1907
9	Anthony Maas SJ	1907–1912
10	Joseph Hanselman SJ	1912–1918	^[12]
11	William Clark SJ	1918–1921
12	Theodore Daigler SJ	1934	^[13]
13	Edward J. Sponga SJ	1957–1960	^[14]
14	Michael F. Maher SJ	1963
15	Felix Cardegna SJ	1965–1970	^[15]
16	Christopher F. Mooney SJ	1969–1974	^[16]^[17]

Notable people

See List of people associated with Woodstock College

References

Citations

^ "Feature Detail Report: Woodstock College". Geographic Names Information System. U.S. Geological Survey. 1979-09-12. Retrieved 2008-04-05.
^ "A Death in the Family". TIME. 1973-01-22. Archived from the original on November 1, 2008.
^ ^a ^b Blau, Eleanor (1973-01-09). "Woodstock Jesuit College Here, Experimental Seminary, to Shut". The New York Times. p. 1.
^ "Leading Catholic Seminary". The Times (Ellicott City). 31 March 1965.
^ Fiske, Edward B. (1966-12-16). "Jesuit Seminary Weighs Urban Tie". The New York Times. p. 52.
^ Doty, Robert C. (1967-09-02). "Jesuit Seminary May Move to City". The New York Times. p. 15.
^ Fiske, Edward B. (1968-02-28). "Jesuit Seminary From Maryland To Move to Morningside Heights". The New York Times. p. 16.
^ Lissner, Will (1969-10-23). "Protestants Greet Jesuits Here". The New York Times. p. 49.
^ "Jesuit College Plans Transfer". The New York Times. 1973-12-02. p. 105. Woodstock College, the Jesuit theology school being phased out here, will transfer some of its resources and assets to a new Jesuit research center to be established in Washington.
^ Obituary: Father Edward V. Boursaud 1902, p. 279
^ "PROMINENT JESUIT VERY ILL.; The Rev. Burchard Villiger of Philadelphia Not Expected to Recover". The New York Times. 1902-11-04. p. 1.
^ "Presidents - Hanselman". College of the Holy Cross.
^ "Archbishop v. Sun". TIME. 1934-07-23. Archived from the original on November 25, 2010.
^ "What I Wanted as a Person". TIME. 1968-07-26. Archived from the original on December 2, 2008.
^ "The Jesuits' Search For a New Identity". TIME. 1973-04-23. Archived from the original on January 10, 2008.
^ "Mooney Is New Head Of Woodstock College". The New York Times. 1969-10-18. p. 9.
^ Saxon, Wolfgang (1993-09-28). "C. F. Mooney, 68, Religion Professor And Noted Author". The New York Times.

Sources

"Obituary: Father Edward V. Boursaud" (PDF). Woodstock Letters. 31 (2): 277–280. October 1902. Archived (PDF) from the original on March 21, 2021. Retrieved October 28, 2022 – via Jesuit Archives & Research Center.

External links

Woodstock Letters collection

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