The Pope John Paul II Catholic School recently broke ground on Camp Easter Road in Southern Pines.

The new building is being funded by a $4.3 million capital campaign. It should be finished next January or February, and school leaders say they will be ready to move once the new building is ready. "I think the community would really like to have a nice facility," said school principal Rosemarie Duckman. "It's a great alternative to public school."

The school is a part of St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church in Southern Pines, and it is currently next to the church on Connecticut Avenue and Ashe Street in downtown Southern Pines. The church, too, eventually will move to the Camp Easter Road property.

The school now serves 102 students in pre-kindergarten through sixth grade. The new facility will provide room for the school to expand to the eighth grade. The school's current building, Duckman said, is becoming too cramped to accommodate the needs of the students.

"We'll have room for everybody," she said. "Right now, we're kind of makeshift. This facility is old, and there's always something breaking down."

The new facility will boast one classroom building, a chapel, a cafeteria with kitchen, a science lab, a computer lab, a media center and music and art rooms. The campus will also have a full gymnasium and soccer and baseball fields.

"In today's day and age," Duckman said, "you really need all these things."

The school opened in 1955 as the St. Anthony of Padua Catholic school, but later closed in 1971. The church reopened the school in 2002. In 2005, the name changed to Pope John Paul II Catholic School.

"It is a regional school," Duckman said. "There aren't any other Catholic schools in this area."

To show support for the school as a regional enterprise, Bishop Michael Burbidge attended the groundbreaking in Februrary.

"I was very happy to see the bishop there," Duckman said, "and he supports the school 100 percent."

At the groundbreaking ceremony, Bishop Burbidge prayed a prayer of blessing for the new building and sprinkled the construction site with holy water.

"This is a day of rejoicing," Bishop Burbidge said in the order of blessing, "and I am very happy to see you reach this significant moment in your building program."

Katherine Evans can be reached at 693-2480 or by e-mail at kevans@thepilot.com.