Our History

There were very few Catholics in Wildwood, Florida in the 1960s, and there were no Catholic churches in the area. The nearest Catholic church was located several miles away, which made regular worship challenging. To address this issue, Father William Killian, the pastor of St. Paul Parish in Leesburg initiated an endeavor to allow Masses to be celebrated in Catholic homes. Beginning in 1973, six homes in Wildwood were used for Sunday worship on a rotating schedule. Religious Education was held at St. Paul Catholic Church.

By 1981, the Catholic population had grown so much that it was no longer feasible to worship in homes. That’s when the pastor of St. Lawrence Parish in Bushnell initiated the celebration of Masses at the Page-Theus Funeral Home Chapel in Wildwood.

This arrangement worked extremely well, and continued for 13 years. By the early 1990’s, the funeral chapel could no longer accommodate our growing Catholic community. So, the original founding families began to petition the Diocese for a solution. As a result, the Orlando Diocese purchased 19 acres of land north of Wildwood as the site of a future church. Construction began in the summer of 1993; and the Mission Church of St. Vincent de Paul, with a seating capacity of 400 was completed on June 5, 1994.

The opening ceremony and Mass were held at the new St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Mission. In November 1994, Bishop Norbet Dorsey performed the Rite of Blessing of a new Church at a special Mass. Priests from St. Lawrence Parish were assigned to the Mission Church of St. Vincent de Paul to celebrate one Mass each Sunday at 8:30 am.

In 2002, Fr. Peter Sagorski from Bushnell was assigned as the Sacramental Minister for the Mission of St. Vincent de Paul. He immediately began tackling the many challenges of our growing church as the area population continued to climb. In 2004, during the mission’s 10th anniversary Mass and celebration, Bishop Thomas Wenski declared St. Vincent de Paul a parish. He also named Fr. Sagorski pastor.

In 2013, Father Peter Puntal arrived as Pastor, and construction began on a new larger church. Bishop John Noonan dedicated the new St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church on August 26, 2014.

In 2002, Father Peter Sagorski was assigned as the priest for the St. Vincent de Paul Mission. Bishop Thomas Wenski came to the mission in 2004 to officially declare it an established parish. In 2013, Father Peter Puntal arrived as Pastor, and construction began on a new larger church. The new Church of St. Vincent de Paul was dedicated by Bishop John Noonan on August 26, 2014.

In February of 2016, the Diocese of Orlando acquired 16.44 acres of land.

The parish continued to grow, and a capital campaign “Building the Way to Heaven” was launched to fund expansion efforts. In July 2017, the parking lot was paved and the road loop was added. Construction of the rectory and maintenance buildings was completed in December 2017.

The original mission church was ultimately demolished in September 2019 to make room for a larger parish hall. The Family Life Center which includes a parish hall, meeting rooms, administrative offices; a kitchen, gift shop and library, was completed in January 2021, with Bishop John Noonan’s blessing.

Fr. Kenny Aquino took over as pastor in July 2023. He is leading the efforts to help our parish evolve to meet the needs of our ever-growing parish and neighboring community.

As our parish grows and develops, we are excited to see what the future will bring; and we are looking forward to each new day. We have been blessed by God with such an amazing community, and we are so honored to serve God through ministry, faith and love.