St. Joseph ground breaking

Members of the St. Joseph Baptist Missionary Church were joined by Sheriff Mark Hebert, other local officials and representatives of Iberia Bank to break ground for their new worship center Friday. The new church, to be located at 877 Irish Bend Road in Franklin, will be built on land across the street from the current church. The current church, which suffers from structure problems, holds a congregation of about 200 members. The new church will be about 5,000 square feet with the capacity to hold about 299 parishoners. Church services are held Sundays at 11 a.m., Sunday School is at 9:30 a.m. and Bible Study is held Wednesdays at 7 p.m. Funds for the new facility were obtained through a loan from Iberia Bank. Ronald C. Young serves as pastor.