The Augustine Institute recently closed on the sale of Boeing’s “corporate university” training center near the Florissant area, which the company stopped using during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Institute, which has served as a Catholic graduate school and Catholic multimedia platform / streaming service, will move to St. Louis County from its Denver-area office complex.
The Augustine Institute is investing more than $50 million for the purchase and operating costs of the 286-acre site, which includes four buildings for classrooms and more, plus the historic Desloge chateau built in the 1920s, along with five miles of nature trails. Dr. Tim Gray, president of the Augustine Institute, said St. Louis is the perfect launching point to expand their Catholic educational efforts.
“It used to be known as the Rome of the West,” Gray said. “As the country was expanding, it was from St. Louis that the church in the entire western half of the country was taken care of and nurtured. We hope to make St. Louis a city on a hill again… people who are going to be working in Catholic schools, teaching as catechists, leaders in Catholic parishes, dioceses, or other Catholic organizations.”
Further details can be found here at St. Louis’ Fox 2 News website.