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Fr.Forgarty Fr. Hanrahan
Fr. Campbell
Fr.Sorel
Fr. Nash
Fr. Tepoorten
Fr.Mendenhall Fr.
Thompson
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Fr. Patrick Forgarty remains the parish pastor
until his death on January 9, 1949. He was described as "a
fiery priest". He built the small church in Richmond that
was eventually dedicated to St. Paul. The church was built
on a donated wedge of seemingly useless land of the intersection
of Granville and Garden City Roads and became the site of a
parish, formed out of the Lulu island portion of St. Anthony's
parish.
On June 20, 1948 six month before he died, Fr.
Forgarty was solemnly invested as a Domestic Prelate, an honour he
shared with his parishioners.
For may years during his term at St. Anthony's, Fr
Forgarty planned and raised funds for a new and bigger church at
73rd Avenue and Montcalm Street. He did not live long enough
to see his dream comes true, but he will always be remembered for
his vision.
The parish was without a priest for a couple of
weeks after Msgr. Forgarty's death. When his replacement
arrived and introduced himself, it was reported that Fr. Hanrahan
" spoke in a beautiful cultured brogue". The dark and
seeming shy priest from Ireland immediately " went to work" and
turned the parish one of the most active in the arch diocese.
Former parishioners who remember him fondly heap
praises on him. Fr. Hanrahan was a man " with a big smile and big
heart". He was called a "jewel in archbishop duke's
administration." Many remember him as "a real pastor to
prefer to remain a priest than to be a bishop". With
nostalgia, parishioners will recall how much Fr Hanrahan "care
deeply and made you feel that you belong." It was noted that
"he strongly believed he was responsible for every soul in his
parish, regardless of their religious beliefs."
Fr. Hanrahan served the parish for 20 years.
His health began to fails during his last years at St. Anthony's.
It was said that he was afraid he would drop the Holy Eucharist
while saying mass, and to prevent his hand from shaking, he would
overdose on medication.
The well known and much loved priest died at St.
Paul's Hospital on January 10, 1976. Sixty priest
concelebrated his Christian burial held at St. Anthony's church.
Arch Bishop James Carney said of him: "... he wouldn't crush the
broken reed or quench the smoking flax. He loved the Church
and the people who belonged to it. He didn't want to upset a
quarreling among them... he had the wisdom of the church and often
that is a great cross. For to those who have the wisdom of
the Church the foolishness of those who quarrel with their
spiritual mother is hard to bear"
Fr. Hanrahan was educated at Enniskeene and St.
Finbaris, Cork. He did philosophy and theology at St.
Keran's College, Kilkenny, and studied Canon Law at the Irish
College in Rome. He ordained in 1938. He served in
Kamloops, Princeton, and the Holy Rosary Cathedral before coming
to St. Anthony's Parish.
Fr. Campbell came to
St. Anthony's Parish in 1969 and served for a year. He left
in 1970 for Holy Name Parish where he served for ten years,
1970-1980. He was later appointed as Chaplain at Youville
Residence and Shaughnessy Hospital for six years, from 1980-1986,
before he retired in 1987. Fr. Campbell founded St. Jude's
Parish in Vancouver and served as its Pastor for 10 years, from
1944-1954. He was born in Price George, B.C. on July 11,
1915 and was ordained in 1941.
Fr. Sorel was eleven
years from retirement when he came to St. Anthony's Parish in 1970
and served for 6 years. Prior to St. Anthony's Parish, he
was Pastor at St. Ann's i Aldergrove where he served for eight
years from 1962 to 1970. He also served at St. Patrick's in
Vancouver from 1958 - 1960 and again from 1976 - 1979 after
leaving St. Anthony's.
Fr. Nash served St.
Anthony's Parish at a time when the Parish has drastically changed
from its earlier years. Gone were the school and the
families of past years. During his last years as Pastor,
population shift has reduced the Parish to 350 families, most of
whom were retired or single. Although church activities
dwindled, CCD classed were still held to fill the gap left by the
closing of the school.
An native of the
Okanogan, Fr. Nash studied at St. Augustine Seminary before he was
ordained by Arch Bishop Duke on June 21, 1936. He was Pastor
at Sacred Herat, Ladner and Immaculate Conception Parish, North
Delta from 1039. After serving as Chaplain at the BC
Penitentiary and later at St. Mary's at Collingwood, he did short
stints at St. John the Apostle, Most pure Heart of Mary, and
St. Vincent Mission in Sechelt peninsula. Before coming to
St. Anthony's, Fr. Nash spent ten years at St. Joseph's Parish in
Langley.
Fr. Tepoorten
replaced Fr. Nash as Pastor in 1985. He was young and
energetic and almost immediately had the onerous task of planning
the 60th anniversary celebration of the Parish. During his
short stint at St. Anthony's, Fr. Tepoorten transformed the
liturgy and, being young himself, he was able to attract youth.
The number of alter servers and young people willing to help in
the church increased. He is credited with removing the wood
paneling and exposing the marble high alter behind. He left
in 1986 when he decided to try new something in Eastern Canada
(the Oratory of St. Philip Neri). Fr. Tepoorten attended St.
Peter's Seminary in Ontario and was ordained in Vancouver 1981 by
Arch Bishop James Carney.
Fr. Bill as he was
affectionately known to all, took over is an intellectual, he
studied Russian literature at the University of Washington and
spoke fluent Russian. Trevor Lautens of the Vancouver Sun
described him as a feasty priest of serious intellect and
skillfully shaped ideas. He was given numerous duties on top
his Parish responsibilities, and was very much in demand giving
lectures and interviews with the media. His Sunday homilies
were intellectually stimulating. When he was sent to Russia
in 1992, Fr. Donald Larson administered to the need of the Parish
and till the appointment of Fr. Ronald Thompson.
Fr. Thompson came to
St. Anthony's Parish as a young pastor in his late 30s. In a
short eight years of service he has made great strides to improve
the Parish. He reopened St. Anthony's School and pursued
vigorous program to attract more students. Under is
direction construction of new addition to the present school
became a reality. He did much to increase The spirituality
of the parishioners. Fr. Thompson initiated Sunday vespers before
the evening mass and the recitation of the divine office before
weekday morning masses. He stared the Oblate of ST. Benedict
and put together a spiritual books and video films. Fr.
Thompson reinvigorated the Youth Group, and with a lot of energy
to spare, takes the "young-at-heart" seniors to several outings a
year. He was also responsible for the installation of the
organ pipes in the choir loft and improvements to the church
structure (e.g. awning in front of the church, the sheltered
walk way between the church and the rectory, marble communion
rail, and tiled sanctuary. He also installed the fabulous stained
glass windows of 12 apostles.
Fr. Thomson was born
in Vancouver one of four children of James Thomason and Catherine
Rooney. He attended St. Andrew's school, where he taught
alter servers (including the Latin responses) until grade 12.
He attended John Oliver High School, the Seminary of Christ the
King in Mission, Resurrection College, University of Waterloo in
Ontario, St. Peter's Seminary, and University of Western Ontario.
He was ordained priest on May 5, 1979. Before he came to St.
Anthony's he served at St. Patrick's in Vancouver with Fr. Sorel
and went on to St. Mary's Chilliwack, St Edmonds in North
Vancouver, St. John the Apostle in Vancouver and Hold Cross in
Burnaby.
