Work on new building to begin
CATHOLICS BREAK GROUND

Ground was broken for a new St. Joseph Catholic Church building Saturday, Aug. 4. Parishioners looked on as Bishop Edmund Carmody blessed the site.

Construction is due to start any day, said parish secretary Mary Angel, with costs expected to run around $2 million.

The diocese has decided the new church, which will accommodate 500 people, is needed.

The church has 100 registered families, but summer tourists and Winter Texans swell the number of attendees to 500, at times.

Bishop Emmanuel Ledvina established what is now St. Joseph Parish in 1919.

When the original Catholic church in Port Aransas was built is undetermined, but Rev. John H. Scheid signed a First Communion Certificate for Charles Edward Scott on April 19, 1912.

The first church was a mission and never actually consecrated. It still stands on Oakes Street, now owned by Sarah and Wallace Wright, who purchased it in 1967. They incorporated parts of the church into the private residence it is today.

The current church seats 200. Building on it was begun in 1962 and finished in 1963.

In 1992, St. Joseph was elevated from a mission to a parish, and Msgr. Rory Dean was appointed as pastor. Dean retired in December 2006. Father John Xaviour is now the parish priest.