Sts. Peter & Paul Catholic Church at 5300 Old Howell Branch Rd, Winter Park, FL 32792-9323 US - Mission Statement

We are a Christ-centered, Spirit-filled family.  Responding to the father's loving invitation, we gather together as a diverse community to worship, to minister others, and to celebrate our faith through the sacraments, community outreach, education and personal witness.

Our Five-Year Goals

• To deepen and enhance the spiritual life of the parish through liturgy, personal prayer and devotions.
• To provide religious education and spiritual formation.
• To minister to those within the Parish family and community.
• To reach out to returning Catholics and unchurched persons.
• To foster inter-denominational and inter-religious relationships.
• To deepen our commitment to stewardship of prayer, time and talent, and treasure.
• To celebrate our diversity and our commonality.

Our Church History

Sts. Peter & Paul Parish was established on July 27, 1967. We celebrated our first Mass on August 13, 1967, on the grounds of Camp San Pedro. During the following two years, Pastor Michael Troy and 200 families were a community on the road, celebrating Mass in San Pedro Center, New Hope Baptist Church and Aloma Elementary School. On November 1, 1969, we celebrated the first Mass in the domed recreational building. It served not only as our church, but also the rectory, church offices, ministry meeting room and community auditorium.

As our community grew from the original 200 families to 1000 families in 1980, the need for a larger church was recognized. Through the generosity of our parishioners, the church was built and dedicated on September 14, 1980, by the Most Reverend Bishop Thomas Grady and Pastor John Mitzi. The Church provided a place for our growing parish family to express our unity, common faith and publicly manifest our love for Almighty God. The domed building was converted to a social hall, child care and pre-school.

Over the years, our facilities have expanded to provide for the growing needs of our community. A social hall was built in 1974 and later converted to our present child care center in 1980. We dedicated the Parish Family Center on March 3, 1991. It is used for the religious education of our children, meeting places for parish ministries, social functions, and many community groups.

Continuing in the tradition of planning for future generations, our parishioners conducted a study in 1996 to develop a 20-year Master Site Plan for the best use of our facilities. The first priority identified was to build a larger church to provide for our growing parish community, which currently has 3000 families. "And many were gathered together, so that there was no longer room for them, not even about the door; and He was preaching the Word to them" (Mark 2:2,4). And so it is at Sts. Peter & Paul - there are many at the door. From its beginning, the strength of our faith community has been our love of God and a spirit of hospitality and sacrificial generosity.