The new place of worship for Shellharbour’s Catholics has been targeted in a suspected arson attack, just months before it was due to open.The 570-seat All Saints Catholic Church was due to become the central church for the 12,000-strong Shellharbour City parish, when it opened in August.But the $5 million College Ave building has been badly damaged in a fire that police say is suspicious.Parish priest Father Bryan Jones will now have to wait until at least March next year to relocate his flock.Once All Saints is completed, Sunday Mass at Warilla’s Sacred Heart Church will end.The church site has already been sold and is now leased back for church services.Stella Maris Shellharbour will remain open, while the Oak Flats Mass Centre site is also expected to be sold.Fr Jones said the church would need to seek an interim solution while the damage to All Saints was repaired."Structurally the building is sound, but there is fairly extensive work to be done to rectify the fire damage and, very particularly, the extensive smoke damage," he said."Smoke has penetrated the upper levels of the building, the insulation will have to be replaced and to do that the roof has to come off."The electrical wiring that's in place has to be double-checked and certainly a lot of it has to be replaced."The church ceiling, which was almost complete, will also need to be torn down and replaced.Fr Jones said it appeared arsonists had carried pallets from the building site, combined them with builders' materials already inside the church and set fire to them."It's a lot of disappointment, of course. The extra time involved, one way or another, is going to cost us a bit," he said. Insurance is expected to cover most of the demolition and repair work."In the real world I would expect some extra costs, but I wouldn't expect those costs to be great," Fr Jones said.Some subcontractors, including painters and electricians, would also be out of work while repairs took place, he added."You can see the hurt on the faces of the people who have been working there. They truly put themselves into the building."Police and firefighters attended the scene after the fire broke out on Friday night.Police Inspector Mark Robinson said the fire was being investigated and appealed for information.