The origins of the Parish

St. Anthony’s Parish came into existence at the initiative of Cardinal Leo-Josef Suenens. In 1973, Ireland, UK and Denmark became members of the EEC (as it was then known) and this resulted in an increased presence of English-speaking people in the greater Brussels area, a certain percentage of whom were Roman Catholic. Cardinal Suenens asked the Irish Franciscans, who already had an Irish College in Leuven for several hundreds of years, to provide an English-speaking pastor for a new chaplaincy. The Franciscans responded positively and appointed Fr. Michael Bailey in 1973. Fr. Michael initially resided in the Irish College in Leuven and said Mass for the small but growing community in the Church of St. Joseph (a chapel of the Redemptorists in Brussels). It was not long before these premises proved to be too small and the liturgy was moved to the chapel attached to St. Julien’s church in Woluwe.