St. Margaret Mary Catholic Church History:

The mission church of St. Margaret Mary in Leander, Texas was founded in 1942 by priests of the Holy Cross Order to serve the small group of Catholics living in the Leander, Cedar Park, Liberty Hill and Jollyville areas. The people had petitioned the Holy Cross priests to build a church for them in their area. So eager were they to have a church, despite their small numbers and poor finances, that they built a church sanctuary mostly by themselves at Hwy 183 in Leander. The mission and the area it served grew slow¬ly through the years and was served by a number of Holy Cross and diocesan priests - first as a mission of St. Helen's in Georgetown and later as a mission of St. William's in Round Rock and then St. Thomas More of Austin.

In February of 1982 St. Margaret Mary officially became a parish and in 1985 property for a future church was purchased on FM 2243 West in Leander. A parish rectory was built and dedicated on the new site in November of 1985. The parish had outgrown its church facilities by 1986 but was not yet ready to build, so it became necessary to rent classrooms in the Leander Middle School each week for religious education classes for the children.

The Diocese of Austin purchased land for a future parish on West New Hope Drive in Cedar Park in 1986, and the next year parishioners of St. Margaret Mary voted to accept that property as the location for the future home of St. Margaret Mary Parish.

In 1992, fifty years after its founding and dedication, a building committee was selected and plans were drawn for a new Multi-Use Building and a Religious Education Building. Ground breaking for the new church location was held on Sunday, April 4, 1993. Construction began and was completed in late 1993. The first Mass was celebrated in the new building on Saturday, January 8, 1994 at
6:00 p.m.

The Multi-Use Building housed the parish administrative offices, and the Worship area seated approximately 545 for Mass. While being used as a transito¬ry church the Multi-Use Building provid¬ed space for meetings and social func¬tions and contained a full size commer¬cial kitchen. The Religious Education Building included ten classrooms, offices, and provided space for the Mother's Day Out program.

The parish continued to experience tremendous growth. As of August 2002 there were close to 1,100 families regis¬tered. Today there are nearly 1,400 reg¬istered families. New ministries continue to be added to meet the needs of our growing and diverse community. In July of 2002, construction began on our new per¬manent St. Margaret Mary Catholic Church between New Hope Drive and the Multi- Use Building. The church was completed in November of 2003 and dedicated on Sunday, December 7, 2003. The church is 26,351 square feet and will seat 1,300. During spe¬cial liturgical seasons, (e.g. Christmas and Easter) we can add more chairs to increase the capacity to 1500. The cost of the build¬ing alone was $4.6 million. The Day Chapel seats 40 and we also have a separate Eucharistic Chapel for private prayer and devotions. In order to keep the old connect¬ed with the new, we had the bell from the humble little rock church in Leander refur¬bished and placed in the bell tower in the courtyard of the new church. As in the past, it will continue for many generations, to call our people to come and celebrate the Feast of the Holy Eucharist.

Throughout its history the people of St. Margaret Mary parish have formed a community of caring, dedicated and faith-filled people. That spirit remains with us today and we welcome all new members into our parish family.