St. Jude Parish Purchases 11 Acres Of Land At Leihano

St. Jude Parish (current photo) has purchased land in Kapolei and will break ground for its new location at Leihano in 2020. Photo courtesy ‘Hawaii Catholic Herald.’

Kapolei’s St. Jude Parish has confirmed the purchase of 11 acres at Leihano, a community in the area still under development.

Currently, the church is located on 3.7 acres at 92-455 Makakilo Drive.

“The whole concept started with a study in 2010 (by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Honolulu),” explained Marlene De Costa, director of real estate with Roman Catholic Church in the state of Hawaii.

The study she refers to focused on the Leeward Vicariate, which includes a number of churches from Waipahu to Waianae. It found that the number of Catholics in the area was expected to increase 28 percent, and St. Jude showed a projected increase of 50 percent.

Simultaneously, St. Jude Parish conducted its own study to determine if it had adequate space required for the future.

“It would be best to relocate rather than stay where they were,” said De Costa, who noted that St. Jude Parish is not the only one within Leeward Vicariate that needs to move. “We knew we needed between 10 and 12 acres based on the feasability study.”

St. Jude Parish is hoping to build a church that can seat 1,200 — a much larger space than the current 500-seat facility. Other projects on the agenda are plans for a rectory (where priests live), offices, a religious education space and ample parking.

A long-range goal is to build a school for children in kindergarten through eighth grade.

Of importance when choosing the location were multiple access points.

“It’s an active parish,” said De Costa. “Currently, they only have one way in and one way out.”

St. Jude Parish sees 1,800 people attend Sunday Masses and even more who attend religious education classes, outreach ministry meetings and food-service projects.

Aside from multiple access points, the area at Leihano also hit the mark on other important buying factors for the parish, including price and lot configuration.

The Leihano facility also is expected to house a senior living community (which opens next fall), retail shops, a hotel and residential units.

As of now, St. Jude Parish is working on design plans and hopes to launch its capital campaign next October. Groundbreaking for the new facility is planned for 2020.

For more information, visit St. Jude Parish online at stjudehawaii.org.