Surrounded by pastures, nestled just outside the small northern California town of Galt, sits the Richard A McGee Correctional Training Center. Today, the facility houses the Basic Correctional Officer Academy and other staff training. Since 1983, thousands of correctional officer cadets have made their way through the academy. But originally, the school trained priests.
Correctional Training Center early years
According to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sacramento, “St. Pius X Minor Seminary relocated (from Humboldt County) to Galt in 1961, housing 200 students a year … until its closure in 1977.” St. Joseph Parish in Elk Grove credits Father Patrick Gilligan with securing the land to construct the seminary. “(He) was also responsible for a sizable donation of land given as a gift to the Diocese for the purpose of building and establishing a Seminary and home for the Salvatorian Order on Twin Cities Road (south side), 1 mile west of Highway 99,” the parish states in their Voices from the Past series. According to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation records, the seminary was constructed in 1959. The Galt facility even had some special touches, including a 28-foot by 36-foot-stained glass window, which later found its way to a church in Orangevale.
Window finds new home
“In 1977, St. Pius closed as a school. Later the Diocese of Sacramento decided to sell the property to the State of California. Several parishes became interested in the window for their new buildings but the size of the window made it difficult. “Simultaneously, Divine Savior Church was being organized in Orangevale. The shape and the size of the stained-glass window drove the shape and the size of the building. The solution was to make the stained-glass window an inner wall with a larger cupola above it.” The opening of the Galt school made the front page of the Catholic Herald newspaper on April 20, 1961. The paper was published by the Catholic Diocese of Sacramento. “Thousands to attend new Pius X Seminary dedication,” the paper proclaimed. “All are invited to witness the actual blessing ritual, performed by Pope John’s official representative in the United States, Archbishop Egidio Vagnozzi.”
The newspaper published an aerial photograph of the school as construction was nearing completion.
