‘You cannot be lonely at this church’: St. Anthony’s in West Van celebrates 100 years

Thirty years ago, Trisha Andrew decided to return to church, and she discovered St. Anthony’s Parish in West Van. She has been a part of the parish ever since. Now, as the parish celebrates its 100th anniversary, Andrew has been reflecting on the significant role the parish community has played in her life. 

A bit of a self-described hippie, Andrew said she only went at the behest of a friend, but community and sense of belonging surprised her. “St. Anthony’s has an incredible warmth to it,” she told The B.C. Catholic in an interview.

Since then, the parish has become her second home. “I’ve never been to a parish that felt like it was my home,” she said. “I felt accepted and supported – in general the whole community was very welcoming.”

After suffering from cancer several years ago, the parish community “embraced me in prayer,” said Andrew. “You feel like a person; people know you, and they say hello.”

Like many at St. Anthony’s, she has fond memories of all the priests who served during her time there. She especially appreciated the effort that their most recent full-time pastor, now Bishop Gary Franken, put into the community.

“He tried to make everybody fit,” she said. “If you liked to play cards, he would steer you towards someone else who played cards. If you had a special devotion, he would connect you with other people – he would help you find connection.”

“People are so lonely – you cannot be lonely at this church!” she said.

The centennial festivities started with Mass celebrated by Archbishop J. Michael Miller. Other priests and deacons with connections to the parish joined him, including recent parish administrator Father Paul Goo, administrator and one-time pastor of St. Anthony’s Father Vincent Hawkswell, and soon-to-be-installed pastor Father Arsene Dutunge.

Bishop Gary Franken, who served as St. Anthony’s pastor for 11 years, also concelebrated.

“As we commemorate the 100th anniversary of the founding of this parish erected to honour St. Anthony, this afternoon we rightly look to the past with gratitude,” Archbishop Miller said in his homily.

“What has taken place here in West Vancouver is not unlike what happened in the early Church,” saint the archbishop. “It can rightly be compared to that smallest of seeds, the mustard seed, which with God’s often unnoticed grace, grows into a great shrub that puts out branches, not for birds but for the faithful and others to find a nest in its shade.”

When compared to the 2,000-year history of the church, 100 years is “a drop in the ecclesial bucket of time before the Second Coming,” joked the archbishop.

“Nevertheless, as we commemorate the 100th anniversary of the founding of this parish erected to honour St. Anthony, this afternoon – and in these days of celebration – we rightly look to the past with gratitude,” he said.

“Grateful remembrance of your splendid heritage should lead you as well to live the present moment with renewed enthusiasm and hope,” said the archbishop. “As St. Anthony’s begins its second century, the good Lord is calling you to commit yourselves ever more intentionally to parish renewal, a process that I know has been embraced here with passion.”

After listing a slew of challenges facing today’s Church, including “reconciliation between the Church and Indigenous Peoples,” the vocations crisis, and the effect the cost of living is having on young family formation, the archbishop told the congregation, “It is urgent, therefore, that as a parish community, you listen attentively – and prayerful listening is a must – to what the Holy Spirit is saying to your parish in the present circumstances.”

“To live out the Great Commission in our world requires a willingness to change,” he said. "Our greatest enemy, one that saps our spiritual energy and holds us back, is “the complacent attitude that says: ‘We have always done it this way.’”

“Dear parishioners,” said Archbishop Miller, “have trust that as the future unfolds God will continue to do great things for St. Anthony's Parish. Above all else, be people of prayer and hope, not because you are naïve or foolishly optimistic, but because you know that ultimately the Church is God's, not ours, and that the Lord has promised to be with us until the end of time.”

“Look humbly, yet confidently, to the future, praising and thanking Almighty God for the unfailing love and mercy he has bestowed on this Parish. He has taken the tiny, even insignificant, seed sown a century ago and has been transforming it into something great and magnificent.”

After thanking everyone who made the celebration possible, the archbishop told the congregation, “It’s really wonderful when we can celebrate the Eucharist together in a kind of peaceful and contemplative way, which characterizes your parish.”

Bishop Franken gave a speech at the subsequent dinner held in the St. Anthony's elementary school gym. “There are some people who, because they came to St.  Anthony's parish, their life is different in a very good way,” he told the gathering.

“St. Anthony’s will always be known as a place where people are welcome. That's what made it special for me,” said the bishop.

Long-time parishioner and cofounder of the Our Lady of Good Council Domestic Abuse Services Pat Battensby helped blow the candles out on the birthday cake. As a parishioner of 53 years, she told The B.C. Catholic, she appreciates the busy community and  prayer groups.

“We’ve worked together and had a good time for so many years,” she said.

As if responding to the archbishop’s challenge to look to the future, four young people, Sofi Siclic, Eva Jarvis, Robert Jarvis and Tyler Yupangco, gave speeches about their experiences and hopes for the future.

Yupangco, who was graduating from St. Thomas Aquinas Secondary, thanked the community for their wisdom and council.

“It is my hope that we continue to grow this community,” he said, with “more youth involved in the different ministries of St.  Anthony’s.”

“We are the hope for St. Anthony's future,” he said. “We will keep this legacy alive and running. So together, let's continue to nurture our parish, ensuring it thrives for another 100 years. Thank you for listening and Happy Centennial!”

History of the Parish

Like many Vancouver parishes founded in the early 2oth century, St. Anthony’s sprang from humble beginnings.

In the late 1800s, West Vancouver residents needed to travel to North Vancouver until an Oblate priest started celebrating Mass in an Ambleside summer cabin in 1915.

As the congregation grew, Masses were celebrated in hotels and community halls. Children took the train to receive catechism lessons and sacramental preparation from the Sisters of the Child Jesus in North Vancouver.

The community petitioned Bishop Timothy Casey for a church in 1920. He sent an Oblate named Father William Brabender to establish a mission parish and begin plans for a new Church building to be constructed at Inglewood and Haywood - where the present church stands. The archdiocese had purchased the property in 1912 for around $450.

Later that year, Father Brabender celebrated Mass in the partially completed church. Most of the furniture, sacred vessels and the bell, which still stands outside the parish to this day, were donated by the Squamish First Nation.

The mission became a parish in 1924, with improvements and additions made over the next few decades until the post-war boom grew the community beyond the little church's 150 capacity. A new building was constructed in 1952, and the community built St. Anthony's Elementary School, which was finished in 1958 on the eventual building site for Holy Redeemer Parish.

Throughout its long history, the parish has been served by many priests and religious orders, including the Oblates of Mary Immaculate and the Norbertine priests through the 30s and 40s. Numerous orders of women religious have also taught at the school, including the Sisters of the Child Jesus, the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peterborough, the Sisters of St. Ann and – most recently – the Franciscan Sisters of the Eucharist.

The 90s were a time of change, not just for the church building but for the community's involvement. Father John McCarthy organized the Knights of Columbus to join the long-standing Chapter of the Catholic Women's League (founded in the 30s), and he pushed his congregation to take spiritual and administrative ownership of their parish.

St. Anthony's most recent full time pastor, now-Bishop Gary Franken, would continue this work through his 11-year pastorate. He created the Parish Leadership Team and organized formation programs such as Alpha, Life in the Spirit and Catholic Christian Outreach's Faith and Discovery series.

The parish has been blessed with a consistent line of administrators, each contributing to the parish's growth and development. Father Paul Goo and their once pastor, Father Vincent Hawkswell, are notable among them. In July, St. Anthony's will be under the pastoral care of Father Arsene Dutunge.

This brief history is indebted to the work of St. Anthony's parishioner Patrick Raynard. A more comprehensive history of the Parish will be available in a soon-to-be-published book. 

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