Woodinville Catholic Church Breaks Ground on New Building Sunday

The groundbreaking ceremony for Woodinville’s at 17828 NE Woodinville-Duvall Road will be Sunday at 1 p.m.

The new church is being built on the site that was formerly the Woodinville Riding Club. The Archdiocese of Seattle purchased this real estate in 2001 in anticipation of future growth of the Catholic community in and around Woodinville. This is the first parish in the United States to be named after Mother Teresa.

The building, designed by Seattle-based Broderick Architects, includes a single-story, 16,000 square foot church facility that will seat approximately 600 people. Goudy Construction of Bellevue will develop the land and build the church. The public is invited to Sunday’s groundbreaking ceremony and the reception to follow.

“Our new church will be a beautiful spiritual home for the people of Woodinville,” said Fr. Frank Schuster pastor of Blessed Teresa. “We invite local residents to visit our parish and find out what Catholicism is about.”

In its early days in Woodinville, Blessed Teresa Parish celebrated its services in various locations including Leota Jr. High School, , Northshore Universalist Unitarian Church and .

“We are grateful for hospitality of several local faith communities in our area and the Northshore School District. Such hospitality helped our parish begin in our early days in Woodinville,” said Fr. Schuster.

Three years ago, the parish created a temporary worship space by renovating a warehouse located at driving school in Woodinville.

“The building of our new church comes at a good time. We are quickly outgrowing our present facility,” said  Fr. Schuster.

The first Mass in the new church will be in the spring of 2012.