new church<\/a> 24 May.<\/p>\nFor many, the next \u2013 and most important \u2013 step of the project marks the happy continuation of a dream long dreamed of by generations of parishioners and clergy.<\/p>\n
The celebration will be held on Pentecost Sunday with a Mass at the existing St. Patrick’s Church, followed by a procession to the new site at 150 Martin Byrne Dr. for a formal blessing and groundbreaking ceremony. There, Toronto Auxiliary Bishop Ivan Camilleri will preside over a gathering that will include parishioners, major donors, local mayors and councillors. The day will conclude with a festive barbecue, live music, games and family activities at St. Patrick’s.<\/p>\n
Monsignor Owen Keenan, pastor of St. Patrick’s, the archdiocese’s second-oldest parish, said the long-awaited moment is deeply meaningful for everyone. He spoke to Canada’s The Catholic Register about the parish community’s vision for a larger church, which dates back to the 1980s, with planning really intensifying in 2015 under the late Father Vito Marziliano. <\/p>\n
Unfortunately, misfortune struck the project in its early stages.<\/p>\n
\u201cFirst of all, our architect Renzo Pianon died at 47, and then COVID hit us hard with declining attendance and various fundraising challenges, before Father Vito left us at a very young age,\u201d Keenan said. “There were moments of asking what’s next? How much more can the community endure?”<\/p>\n
Nevertheless, the community persisted through Marziliano’s Loaves and Fishes campaign \u2013 a project entirely dedicated to St. Patrick’s mission of building a new, larger church property to serve the growing local population.<\/p>\n
\n
A rendering of the front of the new St. Patrick’s Parish in Brampton, Ontario, Canada. Construction of the new church is scheduled to begin on May 24, 2026. | Credit: Screenshot of St. Patrick’s promo video<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Speaking to the Catholic Register in October 2025, Keenan revealed that the city of Brampton, Peel Region and the city of Caledon are projected to grow by between 50,000 to 60,000 people within the parish’s boundaries over the next 15 to 20 years. They also shared the growing interest of parishioners \u2013 and the promise of $1 million to be paid when construction began and the bequest of an additional $1 million from an unnamed parishioner and an area business, respectively.<\/p>\n
While the community has continued to rally behind the cause \u2013 including promising performances and fundraising efforts at last October’s event \u2013 \u200b\u200bKeenan admits a sense of unease is creeping in.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe’ve managed to maintain and re-establish a good level of fundraising after COVID, but we’ve run out of runway \u2013 people are only throwing money at question marks for so long. So far, we already have about $350,000 of new donations, with more expected as we grow and as we move forward.\u201d<\/p>\n
In total, the project has raised several million dollars for the project.<\/p>\n
Despite the impressive figures, Keenan reiterated that rising prices have played a role in the project’s delays. Even though the market shows it is a good time to build, in 2018 a 32,000-square-foot project was projected to cost $12.9 million, but by 2024, a smaller 28,000-square-foot building was projected to cost $26.5 million, causing the parish to scale its operations behind needs.<\/p>\n
Nevertheless, the new church itself is set to be Marziliano’s swan song and become truly unique as his original vision promised.<\/p>\n
“He was quite an artist, and so the design of the new church will be based on 19th-century reconstructions of sixth-century churches in the Holy Land, particularly the Church of the Multiplication of the Loves and Fishes in Tabgha, Israel,” Keenan said.<\/p>\n
The extensive project involves the construction of a larger version that remains faithful to the original design, complete with traditional Romanesque style, circular apse, cruciform shape and pillars above the aisles.<\/p>\n
Now, the project that has required a true test of the community’s resilience, patience and trust will reach its most decisive moment with the first excavation on May 24.<\/p>\n
Overseeing the multi-generational effort, Keenan is grateful for the patience and steadfast support of parishioners who have sacrificed for this new church for more than a decade.<\/p>\n
“We’re all very excited, and I can’t say enough about the good people of this parish who have wanted this for so long. There are a lot of good people for whom we are very grateful,” he said.<\/p>\n
“We want a place for families who are stressed to be able to come together to appeal to the Lord. Let’s find our identity in Christ, as St. Paul says, and let’s truly rejoice together.”<\/p>\n
this story was first published<\/a> in The Catholic Register of Canada and adapted by EWTN News. It is reprinted here with permission.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After more than a decade of prayer, planning and perseverance, St. Patrick Parish in Brampton, Ontario, Canada, a historic parish in the Archdiocese of Toronto, will officially break ground. new church 24 May. For many, the next \u2013 and most important \u2013 step of the project marks the happy continuation of a dream long dreamed<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":131374,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[5203,1063,479,1906,605,552,7218,9011],"class_list":["post-131356","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bible-news","tag-archdiocese","tag-break","tag-church","tag-finally","tag-ground","tag-historic","tag-parish","tag-toronto"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131356","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=131356"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131356\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":131375,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131356\/revisions\/131375"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/131374"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=131356"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=131356"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=131356"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}