Plans for a multi-million-dollar campaign next year to improve the physical structure of Kenrick-Glennon Seminary will continue despite the departure of Archbishop Raymond L. Burke, who announced the plan two months ago, archdiocesan officials confirmed this week.

"Please accept my assurance as archdiocesan administrator that the (seminary expansion) campaign is a necessity and will proceed as planned," Bishop Robert J. Hermann wrote this week in a letter to priests.

The archdiocese plans to hold a campaign in parishes in fall 2009, Frank Cognata, archdiocesan chief development officer, told the Review.

The letter from Bishop Hermann, named archdiocesan administrator until the Vatican appoints a new archbishop, followed the June 27 announcement that Archbishop Burke will begin duties next month as head of the Vatican's highest court.