Tim Aten Knows: Plans shown for church, school in Estates

A neighborhood information meeting this week provided a public introduction to the proposed St. John Paul II Parish on the southwest corner of Immokalee Road and Wilson Boulevard in Golden Gate Estates. 

Parish plans propose a campus with a new 40,000-square-foot Catholic church with a maximum of 1,250 seats; a parish hall and administration offices with up to 10,000 square feet each; a rectory up to 7,500 square feet; and a Catholic school of 200,000 square feet to ultimately serve as many as 1,000 students from kindergarten through 12th grade. The Diocese of Venice, doing business as Trinity Enterprise Holdings Inc., acquired the 41 acres at 191 24th Ave. NW in January 2015 for $2.3 million. The property’s southern boundary is 24th Avenue Northwest. 

Just as St. Agnes originally was a mission of St. John the Evangelist Parish in North Naples starting in 1999, St. John Paul II is a mission of the St. Agnes Parish, said the Rev. Robert “Father Bob” Kantor of St. Agnes Catholic Church, which was dedicated 20 years ago this year. 

“It starts as a mission,” Kantor said. “So, it’s considered in the church terminology as a mission from a parish. It’s a place where some church activities are going on but it’s not a stand-on-its-own-two-feet parish yet.” 

To build the church and school, the diocese requests a small-scale growth management plan amendment to change the land-use designation of the property from the Residential Estates District to a community facility planned unit development. The neighborhood information meeting, known simply as a NIM, is one of the initial public steps in the planning process for a proposed development.  

A NIM already was held two years ago for the St. John Paul II Parish proposal, but because so much time has passed and the diocese had more information to share, another NIM was held Aug. 25 at St. Agnes. The site plan is more solidified now, Kantor said. 

Parish plans 

The plan is to build the school first before the new church. The local need exists for both, Kantor said. 

“I think this is a development that has happened in more recent years,” he said. “Our Catholic schools are now full and there’s a good, healthy demand for them, and the community is growing.” 

Other Catholic schools in Collier County include Saint Ann School in Naples, Ave Maria Catholic Academy, and St. Elizabeth Seton and St. John Neumann in Golden Gate. 

The St. John Paul II school is proposed on the southeast corner of the diocese’s acreage at the intersection of Wilson Boulevard and 24th Avenue Northwest. A soccer field, basketball court and tennis courts are proposed on the northeast corner of the property, directly north of the school, conceptual plans show. 

The rectory, a home for the priests, is planned on about 1 acre at the southwest corner of the acreage. It will abut a more than 6-acre preserve. The church is planned between the rectory and the school, a master plan shows. 

Construction won’t start on the new parish for a few years yet, following a fundraising campaign. 

“The typical way we’ve done it is with a three-year capital campaign so people can make a commitment over three years,” Kantor said. “We want to make sure governmental approvals are obtained before we put the cart before the horse with any of that. But, when it happens, it’s generally a three-year campaign, and then the construction would follow. There’s site development that has to happen and all the preliminaries for construction. In the end, we’re talking a few years down the road.”  

Before the pandemic, the parish had plans to start a capital campaign years earlier for the new local church campus. 

“COVID put us all in a delay and it took a little while to get the steam going after the pandemic,” Kantor said. “So, now we’re in a position where we are beyond where we were before.” 

Church attendance has greatly rebounded and the general growth in the community continues to show greater need, Kantor said. 

“More people make a compelling case to have a church and school out there,” he said.  

Regional growth 

The Diocese of Venice in Florida was erected by Pope John Paul II in 1984 from parts of the Archdiocese of Miami and the dioceses of Orlando and St. Petersburg. The Diocese of Venice includes 10 counties in Southwest Florida.  

In response to the continued growth and need in Southwest Florida, Bishop Frank Dewane issued two decrees in March 2025 for the establishment of two new missions in the Diocese of Venice “to address the sacramental and spiritual needs of the faithful.” That recognition officially launched the St. John Paul II Mission in the Naples area and the St. Benedict Mission in Lakewood Ranch.   

Bishop Dewane retired this year after 20 years of service, but the diocese’s new leader, Bishop Emilio Biosca Agüero, is expected to stay the course to meet the needs of the local growth. 

“None of the factors that would lead to a new parish have changed, so I have every expectation that it will continue the work toward St. John Paul II Parish,” Kantor said. 

St. Agnes on the northeast corner of Collier Boulevard and Vanderbilt Beach Road is home to the area’s largest Catholic congregation. Because of the size of its congregation in season, the St. Agnes parish has been hosting Sunday Masses at Palmetto Ridge High School from December through April.   

“With the growth of the population, we just want to be there, present and available to the Catholics who are farther east in Collier County between St. Agnes and Ave Maria,” Kantor said. “We all know the population growth that’s happening out there, so wherever people are we want to try to our best to make sure the Catholic church is there present to serve them.” 

Not only is the general local population trending upward, but so is the church population. 

“There are more people showing an interest in faith,” Kantor said. “There are some people, some Catholics returning to the church, but some people who are completely unchurched. Especially among the youngest generation, there’s really a turn to faith, which is encouraging for us. So, we’re seeing a lot of new and younger faces in the congregation, which is wonderful to see.” 

The greatest growth in Collier County is predicted to occur east of Collier Boulevard in Golden Gate Estates, Ave Maria and future proposed villages. Even another parish in eastern Collier could be needed eventually beyond St. John Paul II. 

“It comes down to where people are,” Kantor said. “We want the church to be there, not only to provide a place for worship but to also serve that community in ways we can, whether it’s a school or providing all the kinds of outreach the church does in a good way. We want to make sure places don’t develop without presence there of the church, and for people to come to know Jesus in the setting that we provide.” 

The Tim Aten Knows weekly column answers local questions from readers. Email Tim at Tim.Aten@NaplesPress.com.