LLOYD HARBOR, N.Y. — The Seminary of the Immaculate Conception, which trained generations of men for the priesthood until 2012, is planning to sell most of its property on Long Island to help the Diocese of Rockville Centre alleviate financial burdens after it declared bankruptcy four years ago.
Bruce Baumann, vice president and director of operations and finance, said the seminary is hoping to sell 200 of its 216 acres — with 180 acres going to the New York State Department of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation and another 20 acres to be purchased by the Village of Lloyd Harbor.
The seminary will hold on to the remaining 16 acres, including the seminary building itself and the land immediately around it,
and remain open and overseen by its rector, Msgr. Steven R. Camp. “We’re not going anywhere,” Baumann said.
The price tag for the 200 acres is approximately $100,000 per acre, according to Baumann — meaning New York State will pay $18 million and the village $2 million.
The sale could be completed by the end of this year, Baumann said, noting the land being sold will be preserved, and the 180 acres the state is purchasing will become part of the Caumsett State Historic Park Preserve.
“If we were going to cut the property into four-acre lots for development or building of homes, the price would have been much higher, but that was not our desire. Our desire was to keep it in a natural state,” he said, adding preservation is in keeping with the spirit of “Laudato Si’,” Pope Francis’ 2015 encyclical on the importance of respecting the environment.
A spokesman for the Department of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation said the agency is in discussions with the seminary and that the sale has not yet been finalized. Jill Cervini, the village clerk and assessor for Lloyd Harbor, said the village planning board is expected to meet in late November to discuss the purchase.
The sale stems from the Diocese of Rockville Centre’s bankruptcy filing in 2020. New York State passed the Child Victims
Act in 2019, a law that allowed victims of abuse — including clergy sex abuse — to file lawsuits even if the statute of limitations had expired. In September of this year, the diocese announced it had reached an agreement to pay out $323 million to 600 abuse survivors — the largest diocesan bankruptcy settlement in history.
The settlement funds include “insurance contributions, diocesan assets, and sale proceeds from diocesan property and contributions from parishes and other related entities,” the diocese said in a statement. The Diocese of Rockville Centre had no comment on the plans to sell off seminary property.
While it no longer trains seminarians, the seminary still houses the formation program for permanent deacons from the Diocese of Rockville Centre. However, it largely functions now as a retreat and conference center for Catholics seeking a deeper connection to their faith and non-Catholics looking for a quiet getaway.
The seminary, built in the 1920s and dedicated by Bishop Thomas Molloy in 1930, trained priests from the Diocese of Brooklyn
for many years. During the 1930s, seminarians farmed the property, growing corn and other vegetables. The seminary expanded its training program after the Diocese of Rockville Centre was established in 1957. Before then, the diocese was part of the Diocese of Brooklyn.
The seminary ceased its priestly formation role in 2012 when the Diocese of Brooklyn, the Diocese of Rockville Centre, and the Archdiocese of New York decided to house their formation program at St. Joseph’s Seminary and College in Yonkers. Following the sale, the seminary and its 200 guest rooms will continue functioning as a retreat house, according to Baumann.
