WASHINGTON COUNTY, Wis. — Members of St. Mary of the Hill Parish celebrated 100 years with an outdoor mass on Sunday. 

Father Jude Peters said the parish was formerly St. Augustine parish off Highway 167 and CC, but it burned down in 1922. 

“In September of 1924, Archbishop Messmer created St. Mary of the Hill Parish here at Holy Hill and told parishioners of St. Augustine to come here to the new community," he explained. 

He said around 500 families belong to the parish and that number continues to grow. It’s grown so much that a new parish is being built. Currently, mass is held in a multi-purpose room. 

“We’ve outgrown it,” Peters said. “We have been given permission to hire a construction company and architects and to construct a dedicated worship space which, in effect, will become our new church.”

Greg Ledesma has been a member of the parish for 25 years and said he looks forward to a beautiful place to worship.

“One of the neat things about this is that this is not a facility that is huge,” Ledesma said. “We are a smaller parish. You get to know everyone that’s here. You have more of a sense of community, I feel.” 

Peters said they’ve raised nearly $3 million for the church and hope to break ground this fall.

“It’s exciting and it means our parish is also growing,” he said.