On May 20, 1987, Bishop John J. Snyder, Bishop of St. Augustine, called Father Flannan Walsh to establish a new parish west of Gainesville effective August 18, 1987. The Parish initially composed of 200 souls, and began meeting for Sunday Mass at Oak Hall School and at Fort Clark Baptist Church on weekdays and holy days. A small friendly community formed and grew.

Fr. John Patrick, retired chaplain from the United States Air Force joined the Parish in 1988 and began assisting Fr. Walsh with Masses. In 1992, we moved into our own multi-purpose Parish center on property the Parish purchased from the Diocese of St. Augustine. Fr. Paco Revilla began offering a Spanish Mass at Queen of Peace. Fr. Jeff McGowan was assigned to Pastor our Parish in 1994.

Under Father Jeff's direction, and the hard work and planning of our Parishioners, Queen of Peace set a goal to pay-down the mortgage by 1998. Typical of our hardworking, goal-achieving nature, the mortgage on the multi-purpose building was paid off in December 1997. In 1995, the Parish began to consider the next phase of building ... a new Church and school. In 1998, the Capital Campaign was launched to begin building the Church facility and the first three grades (Pre-K, Kindergarten, and First) of an Interparish school. In 2000, we opened Queen of Peace Academy. Each year, a grade will be added, until 2007, when we will have reached 8th grade.

In 2002, our Parish and school continue to be faithful and good stewards to God's message of stewardship. As a Parish we tithe 10% of our income to support other charities and to expand our ministries to serve both the Parish and community at large.

In the Fall of 2002, our Parish entered the next phase of our spiritual journey by becoming a total stewardship Parish.

St.Francis Catholic High School welcomed its first Freshman class in August 2004. Classes were held at Holy Faith Catholic Church while the permanant campus was being built. The long awaited high school, located on NW 39th Avennue, opened to Freshman and Sophomores in August 2005.