After well over a decade of prayer, planning and perseverance, Brampton, Ont.’s historic St. Patrick’s Parish will officially break ground on its new church May 24.

For many, the project’s next — and most important — step marks a joyous continuation of a dream long held by generations of parishioners and clergy alike. 

Celebrations will take place on Pentecost Sunday with Holy Mass at the current St. Patrick’s Church at 1 p.m., followed by a procession to the new site located at 150 Martin Byrne Dr. for the formal blessing and groundbreaking ceremony. There, Toronto Auxiliary Bishop Ivan Camilleri will preside, joined by parishioners, major donors, local mayors and councillors. The day will conclude with a festive barbecue, live music, games and family activities back at St. Patrick’s. 

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Msgr. Owen Keenan, pastor of St. Patrick’s, the Archdiocese of Toronto’s second-oldest parish, said the long-awaited moment is deeply meaningful for all. He spoke to The Catholic Register about the parish community's vision for a larger church, dating back to the 1980s, with planning truly intensifying in 2015 under the late Fr. Vito Marzilliano. 

Unfortunately, misfortune befell the project even in its earliest stages. 

“ First, our architect Renzo Pianon died at 47, and then COVID hit us hard with the drop in attendance and various fundraising challenges before Fr. Vito left us far too young,” Keenan said. “There were moments of asking what is next? How much more can the community endure?” 

Still, the community persisted through Marzilliano’s Loaves and Fishes Campaign — a project solely dedicated to St. Patrick’s mission of building a new, larger church property to serve a growing local population. 

Speaking to the Register in October 2025, Keenan revealed the City of Brampton, Region of Peel and the City of Caledon anticipated an increase of between 50,000 to 60,000 people within the confines of the parish in the next 15 to 20 years. He also shared the growing interest from parishioners — and pledges of $1 million to be paid upon the start of construction and an additional $1 million in bequests from an anonymous parishioner and an area business, respectively.   

While the community has continued to rally behind the cause, including a promising showing and fundraising efforts at last year’s gala in October, Keenan concedes that a sense of restlessness has been creeping in. 

“ We've managed to maintain and re-establish a good level of fundraising after COVID, but we've run out of runway — people are only going to throw money at a question mark for so long.  Thus far, we have around $350,000 worth of new donations already, with more expected as we go and as we break ground,” he said. 

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In total, the project has amassed several million dollars for the project. 

Despite the impressive figures, Keenan reiterated that rising prices have played a role in the project’s delay. Even as the market shows it's a good time to build, a 32,000-square-foot project in 2018 was estimated to cost $12.9 million, but by 2024, a reduced 28,000-square-foot building was estimated to cost as much as $26.5 million, leading the parish to scale its operation back from wants to needs. 

Still, the new church itself is set to be Marzilliano’s swan song, and become something truly unique as his original vision promised. 

“He was quite an artist, and so the design for the new church will be based on a 19th-century reconstruction of a sixth-century church in the Holy Land, specifically the Church of the Multiplication of the Loaves and Fish in Tabgha, Israel,” Keenan said. 

The extensive project involves building a bigger version that remains faithful to the original design, complete with a traditional Romanesque style, rounded apse, cruciform shape and pillars up the aisles. 

Now, the project that required a true test of the community's resiliency, patience and faith will reach its most defining moment with May 24’s first dig. 

Looking back on the multi-generational effort, Keenan is grateful for the patience and steadfast support of parishioners who have sacrificed for this new church over a decade.

“ We are all very excited, and I can't say enough about the good people of this parish who have been wanting this for so long. There are  lots of good people for whom we're enormously grateful,” he said. 

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“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.” 

See thenewstpatricks.com/.