St. Lawrence

St. Lawrence began in 1956, and it began with a promise made before there was anywhere to keep it. The first families of this parish met for Mass in a rented storefront in North Miami Beach, and the children learned all week in the same portable building where Mass was celebrated on Sunday.

The parish's founding priest, Rev. Bernard L. Hickey, wrote to those families asking them to build. He did not ask for a church alone. The appeal was for a Church-Auditorium and classrooms together, so that — in his own words — the parish could celebrate Mass “within our own Church” and “increase the number of classrooms so that all of the children of St. Lawrence Parish can attend our school.” The church and the school were one project from the first day. They still are.

What you will contribute is a gift to God. But in addition, your gift will help to provide adequate facilities for us to celebrate Mass within our own Church.

Rev. Bernard L. Hickey, Building Fund Appeal, 1956

In 1986 we renewed our church and turned the altar to face the people: the way this parish has always lived, face to face.

Seventy years on, that same corner of North Miami Beach holds our church, our school and our child care centre — three ministries, one family of faith, in English and in Spanish, led by our pastor, Rev. Fr. Cletus O. Omode.