A Multi-function Beauty: A New Church is Dedicated in Florida

Osprey is a town just off the Gulf Coast of Florida about an hour drive south of Tampa—charming, comfortable and maybe a bit sleepy. The 5000 (ish) residents are commuters into Tampa or Sarasota or ‘snowbirds’ from the North. The main street through town is U.S. Highway 41, with the local name, Tamiami Trail, and the biggest business in town is a recently opened WalMart.

The parish in Osprey was begun only five years ago when, in 2000, the Most Reverend John J. Nevins, the Bishop of Venice, Florida, asked the Carmelites to take on a new foundation. Osprey was a fast-growing town in need of a local parish, and the Carmelites had been serving in the diocese for twenty-five years and already administer two parishes, so the Carmelites were the natural choice to begin a new church. Father Lukas Schmidt, O.Carm., was asked to lead the new community. He and the founding parishioners soon chose the name Our Lady of Mount Carmel, and they began meeting in a rented storefront chapel on Tamiami Trail. At first the parish was a“mission” from the cathedral, but because of such quick growth it was named a full parish only a year-and-a-half later. From the beginning the parishioners were determined to move out of the storefront chapel and into a “real” church, so fund-raising began in earnest.

Their efforts were a success and they built an attractive and functional multi-purpose building also on Tamiami Trail (where else?). This
building contains just about everything—staff offices, meeting rooms, classrooms, kitchens, an outdoor patio café and, of course, a large church. This building is centered on a ten-acre parcel of land landscaped with palm trees, native flowers, a large pond with a fountain jet, and a life-size statue of Our Lady of Mount Carmel at the entrance.

When you enter the building, you are greeted with something that is very Florida—a 350-gallon salt-water aquarium. Both the aquarium and its on-going maintenance are generous gifts of a parishioner. The tropical fish add a colorful and relaxing touch.

The other major interior feature is the worship space. It is a large room and takes half the building.

Eventually it will become the parish’s hall, but that is for an undetermined future. For the time being, it is a well-appointed church interior with seating for 600. The large stained glass windows have a pelican motif because the pelican is both a Christian and a secular symbol and will “work” both while the room is a church and when it becomes a church-hall. The room is so attractive and so “churchy” that it is hard to think that this will not be the parish’s permanent worship space.

The day of the dedication, January 15th, was a warm and sunny Sunday morning—a typical mid-January day in central Florida. The dedication Mass was celebrated on January 15th with Bishop Nevins presiding and Carmelites Lukas Schmidt, Leo McCarthy and Thomas Walsh as the principal concelebrants. Reverend James Boyce, Eastern Regional Superior, along with local Carmelite and diocesan clergy also concelebrated. A parish-wide luncheon reception followed.

The parishioners have shown themselves generous and very dedicated to this new parish, so there will probably be another article in the not-too-distant future when the congregation moves from this new but temporary church to an even newer permanent church.


Father Leo McCarthy shows the 350 gallon saltwater aquarium located in the lobby of Our Lady of Mount Carmel’s multi-purpose building