By Tom Tracy - Florida Catholic

Photographer: TOM TRACY | FC

Children and adults prepare to process into the anniversary Mass for St. Anthony Parish and School.

FORT LAUDERDALE — Spanning generations of Broward County Catholics, young and old processed toward the altar of St. Anthony Church holding historic photographs showing pioneering members of this area’s oldest Catholic parish.

Despite hurricane damages, local anti-Catholicism, the Great Depression, the Second World War, the Korean War and more, this local church managed to make an important and historical contribution to the history of Fort Lauderdale over the past 90 years, said Father Jerry Singleton, St. Anthony’s current pastor.

“All of it an unbelievable achievement in leadership, sacrifice and a belief in the mission, and we remember the sacrifices of those who went before us,” Father Singleton told several hundred students, former faculty and alumni of this downtown parish gathered for a Mass and celebration Nov. 4 to mark 90 years since the establishment of the parish and 85 years since the establishment of the of the school.

Photographer: TOM TRACY | FC

Mary Louisa Smith Scott, Sister Therese Roberts, Ellen Salerno, Parker and Trey West look over historical photographs of St. Anthony Parish and School before the start of the anniversary Mass.

St. Anthony was originally located on the northeastern corner of Third Avenue and East Las Olas Boulevard. At that time there were 65 Catholic families living in the area and they gathered in a church built from formidable gray stone hauled in from quarries in northern Florida. It was dedicated in December 1922, under the guidance of Father G.J. Plunkett.

In August of 1946, Msgr. John J. O’Looney, who played a large role in the development of the parish, announced that the St. Anthony community would raise $350,000 to build a new church that would accommodate more than 1,000 people. This new church was built on the corner of N.E. Third Street and N.E. Ninth Avenue.

Elaborate ceremonies marked the occasion, with a sealed copper box containing the history of the church to that day and the state of affairs in the world and in South Florida placed therein for posterity.

Over the years, St. Anthony Church has played a role in the lives of many students and families who passed through the area and made contributions to the wider community in many areas of life, according to Father Singleton.  

Photographer: TOM TRACY | FC

Father Jerry Singleton, pastor of St. Anthony Parish, greets Don Gale, an alumni of the class of 1955 at St. Anthony School.

The church stands as a reminder of our ultimate purpose in life, he said. “In this busy world we need to be reminded that there is such a thing as the sacred, and the purpose of life is to love, to serve the Lord and be with him in eternity.”

Longtime member Tracey Bartholomew, who has had three children in the school and who works as a teacher’s assistant and in the parish ministry center, said a sense of community bonding is the most defining element of the parish along with a common faith and a sense of family.

She also credits Father Singleton with a strong sense of ministry and keeping in step with the needs of the times.

“He really has a vision and he believes in ministry, reaching out and giving people chances. He has reached out and brought us closer together and kept up with what is going on in the world and in this community,” Bartholomew said, adding that St. Anthony contends with challenges that other parishes not in a downtown environment might not encounter, including homelessness.

“My children were really nourished and fed with exactly what I wanted them to have: Catholic faith, love of God, love of neighbor, the community. They learned about service and what is important and I have never regretted coming here,” she said.

At a reception following the anniversary Mass, Pennsylvania native and social worker Stormy Chevis recalled growing up in a house three blocks away and going to the school for eight years. She and her husband also have two children who graduated from St. Anthony.

“I think we are in a rebirth,” said Chevis, who has served as president of the Home and School Association.

She was referring to the parish’s many ministries, including an outreach to people with cancer, divorce care and substance abuse ministry.

“We have a lot of new people in the area who were involved in ministries in other parishes and talked with Father Singleton about having more involvement in ministries and having parents involved in the school. If someone comes and says there is a need for this and want to help organize it, he says, ‘Lets do it.’”

Father Linus Nangwele, a native of Ghana, Africa, who is in residence at the parish and serves as school chaplain, said St. Anthony’s community represents the “catholicity of the Church” overall, in terms of the diverse makeup of the parish and what Father Nangwele called the concentric model of Church where Christ is at the center and the people and Church leadership intersect with each other.

There are an estimated 1,800 families in the parish, and Father Nangwele opened up an avenue for a sister parish relationship with a church in his home country.

“People here are very responsive to the needs of the community and take their faith seriously. Some days you go into daily Masses and some days I think it looks like a Sunday Mass,” he said. “That gives me great hope about the future of this community and the future of the church.”