Saint John the Apostle Parish was established by Archbishop Joseph Hurley of St. Augustine in 1945 with Father Lawrence J. Flynn as its founding pastor. On January 22, 1950 the Most Reverend Thomas J. McDonough, Auxiliary Bishop of St. Augustine, celebrated a Pontifi cal Mass for the blessing and dedication of the school with a chapel-Auditorium, rectory and convent. Father Peter Reilly, a young Irish priest, was appointed second pastor of St. John’s in 1952.