St. Agnes Catholic Church parishioners on Key Biscayne are expected to be attending Mass in a new building later this year.

“In six months or so we will consecrate the new church,” Archbishop Thomas Wenski tweeted this weekend. His message included a picture of him with Fathers Juan Carlos Paguaga and Andrzej R. Foltyn as they stood outside the new building.

The existing church is about 70 years old, and it can no longer handle the number of parishioners comfortably. The current building was erected in 1954, and it had been intended to serve as a temporary facility until a bigger church could be built.

Since 1954, St. Agnes has conducted  more than 5,000 baptisms and more than 1,000 weddings, the Florida Catholic says.

The building project has been going on for a couple of years and includes more than just a church building. It has a multipurpose center and a building for young students at St. Agnes Academy. That building has been open for about a year. All of the facilities are on a 7-acre site, with about 34,000 square feet of space, Islander News reported.

Church leaders originally considered renovating the current building, but it would have been impractical. Islander News says the church building itself will have a capacity of 600 people, about 50% more than the 398 the 1954 building holds.

The project also is incorporating more parking, wheelchair-accessible bathrooms and a crying room for young children.

St. Agnes Academy serves children from preschool through grade 3 in the new education building. It features a religion room and an additional lab. The gymnasium will be use by the academy students, but it will also serve as a venue for educational, religious, and social events.