Jacksonville, Fla. – Bishop Felipe J. Estévez of the Diocese of St. Augustine will join the Catholic faith community of St. John Paul II Mission Church for a groundbreaking ceremony on Saturday, August 8 at 11 a.m. The ceremony will take place on the 35-acre property site that was donated by the Davis family to the diocese. The site is 127 Stonemason Way, Jacksonville, Fla., near Valley Ridge Blvd., west of the Kelly Pointe subdivision in Nocatee.

The groundbreaking is for a 12,000 square foot, single-story multi-purpose building that will serve as a temporary worship space until the mission can afford to build a church. The space also includes a lobby, commercial kitchen, administrative offices, conference rooms, and a large multi-purpose area with a stage. The project is expected to cost $4 million, and the projected completion date is spring 2016.

St. John Paul II is a mission church of Our Lady Star of the Sea Catholic Church in Ponte Vedra Beach under the leadership of Msgr. Keith Brennan, pastor. A mission is a congregation too small or too new to be established as a separate parish. Mission churches are usually administered to by a priest or priests of a nearby parish as designated by the bishop.

Bishop Estévez appointed Father Edward Shaner to serve at Our Lady Star of the Sea Parish as a parochial vicar in March 2014 and he is overseeing the new mission in Nocatee.

Msgr. Daniel Logan, retired pastor of Our Lady Star of the Sea Parish, celebrated the first Mass of the mission community on July 9, 2012 at St. Francis in the Field Episcopal Church on Palm Valley Road. Since then, and until the new building is completed, Our Lady Star of the Sea Parish continues to lease space from St. Francis for the mission to celebrate Mass on Saturdays at 5 p.m. The mission has 136 registered families.

Sauer Incorporated of Jacksonville was awarded the contract to build the new multi-purpose building and Kasper Architecture of Jacksonville is providing design services for the project.

For additional information about the project, call Charles David at (904) 349-0256.