The History of Our Parish (DRAFT)
The Frankfurt area's two English-language Roman Catholic parishes were officially combined at the start of 2020, merging two long-established communities serving foreigners in the metropolitan area. While lockdowns and social-gathering restrictions due to the Covid-19 pandemic have hampered joint activities since the single parish's founding, the two had already cooperated over the previous decade, with combined parish picnics and activities such as pilgrimages and rosary groups.
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Bishop Franz Kamphaus established the English-language parish in December 1995 at St. Leonhard's -- the oldest Catholic parish church in central Frankfurt, built in 1218-19 -- after people who had attended Mass at the local U.S. military base's St. Sebastian chapel sought a new spiritual home following the American facility's closure at the end of the Cold War. In the decades since then, the community has developed into a truly international one, with people from some four-dozen countries on average attending its weekend Masses.
After the city of Frankfurt, which owns the church building, undertook a major historical renovation project in 2011 that closed the St. Leonhard's site for several years, the English-speaking parish shifted to Holy Cross Center for Christian Meditation & Spirituality, a Bauhaus-style church built in 1929 in the municipal district of Bornheim. St. Leonhard's reopened in late 2019, with a Mass reconsecrating it in August in observance of the building's inauguration 800 years earlier. Parts remain under construction as builders resolve some technical issues.
Until the Covid-19 pandemic forced a halt to social gatherings as of 2020, the parish held weekly after-Mass coffee socials on Sundays, a tradition that should resume once restrictions are lifted. The larger national groups have hosted pot-luck brunches featuring traditional dishes in honor of holidays important to those countries -- for instance, St. Patrick's Day in March by Irish parishioners; the Birth of the Virgin Mary in September by members from the Indian subcontinent; American Thanksgiving in November; and the Feast of the Immaculate Conception by the Filipino community. A recent addition has been a celebration in August by parishioners from Africa. On each of those special days, Mass includes hymns from the respective country.
St. Leonhard's parish priests included:
- 1995-9X Father Martin Löwenstein, SJ
- 199x-xx Father xxxxxxx, SJ
- 199X-XX Father xxxxxxx, SJ
- 199X-2000 Father Joseph Shad, SJ
- 2000-2008 Father John "Jack" Kelly, SJ
- 2008-2009 Father John Marsh, XXXXX
- 2009-2015 Monsignor Stephen Alker
- 2015-2019 Father Steven Forster
St. Mary's
The parish that eventually took the name St. Mary's was set up by the Bishop Wilhelm Kempf in 1967 to serve English-speaking foreigners living the Taunus hills area around Frankfurt. Over the years, the community was located at churches in the towns of Oberursel and Kelkheim. In September 1999, it settled in Liederbach at St. Marien (St. Mary's), a church initially consecrated in August 1987.
St. Mary's parish priests included
- 1968-80 Father Earnest Beck
- 1980-81 Father Hubert Schiffer
- 1981-87 Father Philipp Schmitz
- 1987-2007 Father Klaus-Henner Brüns
- 2007-08 Father John "Jack" Kelly, SJ*
- 2008-09 Father John Marsh, xxxxxx*
- 2009-15 Monsignor Stephen Alker*
- 2015-19 Father Steven Forster*
* shared with St. Leonhard's