By B.C. Manion
Catholics often come home for Christmas, and at St. Peter the Apostle Catholic Church that will take on special meaning this year as the parish moves into a home of its own.
If all goes according to plan, the parish will receive its certificate of occupancy in time to have its first masses during the weekend of Dec. 23, with a special blessing of the building by the Most Rev. Robert Lynch, bishop of the Diocese of St. Petersburg.
Then, on Dec. 24 and Dec. 25, the parish will have its first Christmas Eve and Christmas services at the recently completed Parish Life Center, 12747 Interlaken Drive in Trinity.
The parish, which was formed in January 2008, was carved out of the boundaries of St. Thomas Aquinas in New Port Richey and Our Lady of the Rosary in Land O’ Lakes.
It has grown from 200 families in the beginning to more than 500, and the Rev. Dennis Hughes, pastor of the church, expects that growth to continue.
More families are moving into the area, spurred in part by the opening of the Medical Center of Trinity, Hughes said.
The housing market is on the rebound, too, Hughes said.
“There’s something like 30 or 40 homes under construction in the subdivision right here,” Hughes said, indicating the subdivision next to the church.
The $2.3 million Parish Life Center is roughly 15,000 square feet, including a main hall, a chapel, offices and a kitchen.
The 8,000-square-foot main hall has ample space to seat 650 worshippers.
In addition to masses, Hughes expects the parish center to be used as a meeting place for various ministries of the church. It’s also likely that the center will offer some religious classes, including a potential afterschool program, he said.
Hughes doesn’t expect the church to add a school, especially because Odessa Elementary is just down the street.
Eventually, the parish plans to build a church on the same site, but that won’t happen until the parish center is paid off and membership has grown substantially.
The new parish center is the third place St. Peter the Apostle has conducted worship services at, Hughes said.
Initially, it met in a chapel at Trinity Memorial Gardens. Then, it moved to a storefront at Trinity Village shopping center between a Cold Stone Creamery and a Five Guys restaurant.
St. Peter the Apostle parish is one of four new parishes the Diocese of St. Petersburg was planning before the economic collapse.
The diocese was also looking to add parishes in Wesley Chapel, Spring Hill and Brandon, Hughes said. But the recession caused the diocese to put those plans on hold.
To be sure that Saint Peter the Apostle has been able to move into its new home in time for the Dec. 23, Dec. 24 and Dec. 25 services, call (727) 264-8968.
For more information about the parish, visit www.sptatrinity.org.
Blessing of the parish center
St. Peter the Apostle Parish Life Center will open for services beginning Dec. 23, with the Most Rev. Robert N. Lynch, bishop of the Diocese of St. Petersburg, blessing the center at the 11 a.m. mass. Other masses on Dec. 23 will be at 7:30 a.m. and 9 a.m.
Christmas services
Christmas Eve masses will be offered on Dec. 24 at 4 p.m., 5:30 p.m. and midnight.
Christmas masses will be on Dec. 25 at 9 a.m. and 11 a.m.
