Seminary Hosts Displaced Students : Education: Classes from nearby Alemany High resume. Prospects are dim for a return to the campus’ quake-damaged buildings.

The 1,600-member student body of quake-wracked Alemany Catholic High School in Mission Hills resumed classes Wednesday in temporary quarters at a nearby high school-level Catholic seminary--with a treat offered by the teen-age priests-in-training.

About 150 seminarians--dressed in navy blue sweaters, ties and khaki pants--handed out a chocolate sucker to 11th- and 12th-graders arriving for morning classes and to the 9th- and 10th-graders arriving for afternoon classes.

While he said he was “real satisfied” with the smooth resumption of classes at Our Lady Queen of Angels High School Seminary, Alemany Vice Principal Robert Gebauer said prospects are dim for ever returning to Alemany’s buildings on Rinaldi Street. Only three of 12 buildings there are usable, and only one of those three contains classrooms.

“We would like to build a new school and the archdiocese is beginning to agree,” Gebauer said.

In the meantime, temporary relief was provided by the seminary, which is next to the San Fernando Mission and a short walk from the Alemany campus.

Father Dick Martini, rector of the seminary, said beds and other furniture were removed from dormitories on the east side of the seminary campus to make space for 31 classrooms. The dormitories have been used by church retreat organizations and other church activities in recent years, he said.

Sister Pat Tobin, an Alemany counselor, praised the “cooperative, adaptive spirit” of the students on the first day back.

One student conceded, however, that it was difficult to find her classes, despite carrying around a map of the seminary’s maze of tile-roofed, one-story buildings.

“The classes are only a half-hour long, and I was 15 minutes late to each class,” senior Celerina Aguirre joked with friends.

Next month, Alemany teachers will begin teaching in 26 trailer-like movable classrooms, the first three of which were set in place on the seminary grounds Wednesday.

Church officials do not expect any problem with the increased mingling of young “expectant fathers,” as 14-year-old seminarian Joseph Reyes quipped, and the girls of the coeducational Alemany student body.

“Alemany has come over before to use our swimming pool, and seminarians have been over there socializing at their football games,” Martini said.

Students at Our Lady Queen of Angels Seminary have the chance to explore whether they want to become priests while getting an accredited high school education, administrators said. About half the graduates continue studies at the Los Angeles Archdiocese’s St. John’s College Seminary in Camarillo.