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The Early Days of St Anthony’s Parish

By Fr Pat Conlan

Kraainem (04 December 2005).- The It might be hard to believe now, but the Parish that we know as St Anthony’s might never have come into being. Thanks to Fr John, we have an eye witness account of the struggles to form and bring the Parish into being. The following is an adaptation of the story of the foundation from an account furnished by Fr Pat Conlan and passed on to Parish Life by Fr John. Thank you Father.

The story is told through the eyes of Fr Pat Conlan.

“The story begins with the appointment of a new community of Franciscans to St Anthony’s College in Leuven in 1969 following a period of uncertainty about the future of the community there. This new community was composed of Fr Eunan Deeney, Fr Hyacinth Ennis, myself Fr Pat Conlan, Fr Adrian Lyons and Brothers Isidore Cronin and Martin Thomson. Several students, ordained deacons, also resided there.

“At that time, the British and Irish governments were negotiating entry into the EEC and while there were Anglophone Masses to be found the British and Irish families wanted something more suited to their needs. The Redemptorist fathers of St Joseph’s in Square Orban in central Brussels were looking for groups at that time to use their church and an Irish widow, M Fouchard, who worked in the house formed a group of English speaking families who approached the Franciscans in Leuven about starting up an English speaking Mass. They agreed with alacrity and Fr Hyacinth, with Fr Eunan’s guidance in the background, opened negotiations. Fr Hyacinth and myself [Fr Pat] as the car drivers were chosen to say Mass in Sq Orban with occasional celebrations by Fr Eunan and Fr Adrian. The deacons helped out, and one of the Brothers, Br Martin Thomson, taught Catechetics in the BSB in Tervuren.

“The ministry in Sq Orban spread to some supply work in the American parish in Waterloo or St Nicolas in the city centre. The date of the first Mass was November 30th, 1969. About 40 people attended. The congregation soon grew to near 300, attending weekly Mass in Sq Orban. The majority were British and the Irish were the second largest grouping, while there were also some West Indians and Americans. Some were working on the accession negotiations but the majority worked for multinational companies or international organizations.

“The community, known now as St Anthony’s after the college in Leuven, had a strong overlap with the Irish Club in Brussels. In 1971 the community began to grow through the fostering of this relationship. A charity walk on March 27th was followed by the first get together held near Sq Orban on April 24th and on Corpus Cristi, June 10th , Cardinal Suenens was the chief celebrant at a Mass in the pro-cathedral in Brussels for the parish priests and chaplains of the national groups. Fr Hyacinth read a prayer in Irish on that occasion, with unforeseen consequences, and Fr Adrian organized the first day of recollection on July 4th in Leuven. Numbers at the smaller gatherings were about 50 in each case.

“A Community Council was elected in the autumn of 1971 as the number of events was growing. There was a strong ecumenical agenda with close contact between the community of Franciscans in Leuven and their Anglican counterparts. On November 6th there was an official meeting for prayer of both Catholics and Anglicans at the Anglican Center in Brussels.

“At this point, following the formal accession of the UK and Ireland to the EEC, Cardinal Suenens decided that a chaplaincy was needed and meetings took place in Brussels in the early part of 1972. The Community Council met with the Redemptorists to negotiate the use of the church, as opposed to the Oratory that was being used up to that time, but matters reached a stalemate. The Cardinal was in favour of approaching the English Hierarchy to establish a parish but the Community Council was adamant that it wanted to retain the Irish Franciscan link. The Cardinal then withdrew the offer of a parish, fearing – on foot of the “Irish” prayer of June 10th 1971 – that the Mass would only be celebrated in Irish!

“Meanwhile the charity work continued alongside the sacramental ministry. The situation with the Cardinal’s office and the Redemptorists was such that it was decided on October 8th 1972 to appoint Fr Michael Bailey to investigate the entire situation with a fresh pair of eyes, including the possibility of taking over an existing English speaking parish. Having spent some time in residence in Leuven, he moved to Uccle and transferred the mass to St Julien from St Joseph’s, where they community used the smaller of the two chapels for their celebration with the after mass social element taking place in a local café. That year, 1972, saw the establishment of the parish, the celebration of the Christmas ceremonies away from Leuven and the beginnings of what is now the parish in Kraainem where Fr Michael finally moved, after a spell in Woluwe St Pierre, in 1983.

This is, as was mentioned earlier, an adaptation of the text supplied by Fr Pat himself. For reasons of brevity it has been edited. The inverted commas are retained to maintain the sense of this being his own recollection of the events rather than one composed by the editor.

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