FAYETTEVILLE--The Catholic community of east Fayette County is getting its own home.

The Catholic Church of St. Gabriel is constructing a multipurpose building on 16 acres fronting Antioch Road off Highway 92 South.

Ground was officially broken on the site by Archbishop John F. Donoghue on the Feast of St. Gabriel, Sept. 29, 1993. Construction on the building began last October and is expected to be completed this summer.

The building, designed by Dowling and Associates and constructed by Fayette County builder Tiernan and Patrylo, is part of a master plan for the parish which when fully built will contain four buildings. The Church itself will be the second phase.

The multipurpose structure will contain 10,000 square feet of space and will include 10 classrooms for religious education and meetings and a 3,600-square-foot area to be used for worship.

St. Gabriel began as a mission of St. Philip Benizi Church in Jonesboro and celebrated its first Mass on Aug. 1, 1987 in the log cabin in Fayetteville.

Since its inception the growing congregation met at several locations around Fayetteville and currently meets at east Fayette Elementary School for its weekend Masses.

Father Paul Berny was named the first pastor when the mission officially became a parish of the archdiocese on Oct. 1, 1994. St. Gabriel’s has over 325 families currently and is expected to continue to grow as the permanent buildings are completed.