St. Thomas the Apostle appears as a quaint country church along County Road 10 at a crossroads with County Road 116 in Corcoran, about 25 miles west of Minneapolis in Hennepin County.

The church’s white steeple and belfry with hanging bell rope inside harken back to a bygone era, though the bell pull is still used today. Wind gusts from across nearby farm fields still buffet the building. The rectangular space within has hosted worship congregations since the first Mass was celebrated there on Christmas Day in 1896.

Now, the rumble of semi-trailer trucks passing the front door can shake the church’s foundation. Once a bastion of faith on the fields, St. Thomas the Apostle is becoming a sanctuary for an increasingly urbanized community — and parish leadership has determined a new church is needed to serve the growing parish.

With 375 households, the number of parishioners now surpasses the current church’s capacity of 168 people. A study commissioned by the parish with Partners Edge LLC (a subsidiary of Catholic Finance Corp. of Inver Grove Heights) indicated there could be up to 1,910 registered parishioners by 2040 as Corcoran and nearby Maple Grove grow.

Bolstering that study, the City of Corcoran 2040 Comprehensive Plan projects that the area will nearly double in population. A new church would be designed to seat about 400 people with room for overflow.

The farm fields surrounding the church are deceptive. From the church cemetery atop a rise of land to the north is a view of the Rush Creek Reserve housing development, which borders church property to the west. Beyond the fields to the east are several more housing developments — Maple Hill Estates, Bass Lake Crossing, and, just west of the border with Maple Grove, the Rush Creek Commons and a new shopping center.

Along County Road 116 and to the north, a 206-unit St. Therese Senior Living development is under construction near Corcoran city hall. To the south are the Tavera Single-Family homes and Townhomes developments.

Even with an expanded basement seating area for remote viewing of the Mass, many in the parish feel the church is lacking in accommodations — especially during Christmas and Easter.

Parish capital campaigns and related investments have raised $4.6 million toward a goal of $8 million to build a new church, said Carl Thelen of the parish Facilities Planning Committee. Fundraising has been primarily within the parish, but campaign organizers are trying to raise money outside the parish. If enough funds are raised this year, the parish could celebrate Christmas Mass 2026 in the new church, he said.

“As the world develops all around us in the years to come,” Thelen said, “we want this space to become the center of a Catholic experience that people will enjoy and admire.”

The Facilities Planning Committee has been plotting the church layout on the property — which has increased to about 24 acres with the purchase of an additional 4.5 acres from a developer to the west. The committee envisions centering the building facilities in the area beyond city setbacks from the road to create larger areas for parking and drop-off, while mindful of the cemetery space. A sizable narthex and vestibule at the entrance to the new building, which the current church lacks, would allow more pre- and post-Mass gatherings for greeting people and building friendships. The new building also would be engineered to accommodate future expansion of community space to the north.

Austin, Texas-based Studio io is helping make the design liturgically sound, with plans to bring elements of the parish’s heritage to the new church. This includes the church’s stained-glass windows, which were installed in the 1930s with donations from the families of William and Patrick Corcoran, the St. Thomas Altar Society, the 1931 St. Thomas Dramatic Club and other groups. The windows will be reset in a larger framework and provide natural light for the new church.

“We’ll use more art than was perhaps the case for many years,” said Father Glen Jenson, the pastor. “(There will be) symbols for the sacraments and the famous words of St. Thomas the Apostle — ‘My Lord and my God.’”

Nick Vasko of Studio io said he approaches the new church build as a “catechism in stone” — a faith statement through architecture. As such, imagery around the altar will serve as a reminder that like St. Thomas’ encounter with Christ in the flesh (probing Jesus’ wounds), people can draw close to Christ through the sacraments.

Father Jenson said there are plans for a large crucifix in place of the small metal crucifix that is currently part of the high altar — a style typical of country churches that is often supplemented by large wooden crucifixes during Lent. A strong image of the crucifix, Father Jenson said, will help bring focus to Christ’s sacrifice on the cross, which is what the Mass is all about.

“We want a feeling that will help people let go of what they come in with — all their preoccupations, anxieties and distractions — so that they can enter into divine worship,” Father Jenson said, “and so that the feel of the worship space itself will help people lift up their heart, mind and soul.”

“Our next big step,” said Thelen, “is to finish the work we need to do to submit a formal site plan to the city of Corcoran.”

St. Thomas the Apostle wants to offer a welcoming environment for young families as well as a space that continues to accommodate existing families, Thelen said. The hope for the new church is that it will have a feeling of reverence and the presence of God in a space that is poised to serve the needs of a growing community.