About Us

The  English Speaking Community of Christ our Redeemer was formed on February 16, 1963 by, and continues to draw its strength from, the many English speaking Roman Catholics who reside in Rotterdam and its surroundings, and who find that their religious needs are served better when they can worship in English, which is either their native language or a comfortable second language.

The diverse origins of its community members results in a unique community, one which has benefited from a broad cultural and ethnic background over the years, since its beginning. The sense of community arising from the Roman Catholic faith and the sharing of language is a significant characteristic of the community.

Our Mission Statement

We, the English Speaking Community of Christ our Redeemer want to share our talents and opportunities to serve as messengers and instruments of Christ's Gospel, following the Roman Catholic faith and tradition. Through the wide variety of cultures and international networks, our Community offers a unique opportunity to share the vision of God's Kingdom with the global community. We aim to show our love for God in the love for our neighbour and our environment and to connect our spirituality, religious formation and daily lives with the promotion of justice and peace.

The Community Council undertakes its mission to support the Chaplain in presenting the gifts and talents of the community members for the greater glory of God and service of the world. 

How It Started

Our community members come from all over the world!  United Kingdom, Ireland, United States, Cyprus, Poland, Philippines, Indonesia, Netherlands, France, Italy, Chile etc..

Come and join us!
Early in 1963, when Sister Salvina Westra was headmistress of the ‘Stella Matutina’, a Catholic Secondary School for girls on the Walenburgerweg in Rotterdam, she was asked by the Director of the “Kerkelijk Bureau” if the school chapel could be used by the English-speaking people in Rotterdam for Mass on Sundays.
As she was a teacher of English and lived on the premises, the request was granted. Fr. A. de Veer, a White Father who had been on the foreign missions in Africa, was appointed Chaplain.
After the initiative of parishioners, and announcements in the local press, the first 15 parishioners found their way to the chapel on the second Sunday (the 10th) of February, 1963.
After Mass, there was an opportunity to have a cup of coffee in the basement, which was called the ‘Kriekepit’, the name of the fox’s den in a medieval Dutch story.
 




















































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The group of 15 British, Irish and American people gradually grew. 
Fr. De Veer managed to get the weekly Mass Booklets regularly from England, to enable the congregation to join in the prayers. The congregation grew into a fully fledged parish, and was registered as such in February, 1964.
There was regular coming and going of church members; we had single people, couples and many families, so that from time to time, there was a Christening, a First Holy Communion, just one Confirmation ceremony and two Weddings.
Fr. De Veer left in 1971 and was replaced by another White Father, Fr. A. v/d Pol, who spent many years as a missionary in Africa. Fr. v/d Pol made many friends among the parishioners and was very well liked, but alas,
he was transferred to the Parish for English-speaking people in Amsterdam at the end of 1974. However, not before a successor was found, Fr. A. Sträter, yet another White Father, who had just returned from the missions in poor health.
Despite his illness, Fr. Sträter served us faithfully for a period of 6½ years, until his sudden death in April, 1981. His great courage was admired by all who knew him.
A cry for help was made to the Mill Hill College in Roosendaal to send priests until another permanent priest would be appointed. Fr. J. ter Meer began to say Mass for us at the end of 1981, and remained for approximately 9 months. He had returned from the Philippines to try to settle in Holland again, but his heart was in the Philippines. He returned to work on the mission where he felt he belonged.
Fr. G. Zegwaard then joined us as Chaplain in September 1982.
After spending 35 or more years in his beloved Indonesia, he found it very hard to settle down in Holland, but as time went on, he got used to his new post.
In January, 1984 the Parish moved to a delightful little Chapel in the Convent of the Fransiscan Sisters on the Robert Fruijnstraat n Rotterdam.
Parishioners continued to come and go, the Parish became more International and numbers grew steadily until there were more than 100 people.
The Parish had to ‘move’ again in September, 1989 to the Verzorgingstehuis Frankeland in Schiedam.
Some people missed the intimate atmosphere of the Convent for a while, but they gradually got used to the new surroundings.
Fr. Zegwaard hardly missed a Sunday until 1994, when he had two spells in hospital. This was his Parish and he made himself available to the congregation whenever he could.
Fr. Zegwaard passed away in his sleep on Friday, June 14th 1996. Although his health had been deteriorating for some time, it came as a terrible shock for the community as he had been a dedicated Chaplain for 14 years. He will be remembered for his great loyalty to the Parish as well as for many good deeds.
As it was vital to keep the Parish going, Fr. A. van Santvoord, who helped us out when Fr. Zegwaard was hospitalised in 1994, came to our rescue.
More priests were found, namely, Fr. Joop Visser, Fr. Ben Engelbertink and Fr. Augustine Ayaga from Ghana.
After enjoying two years with us, Fr. Visser was appointed Parish priest of the Kruisvindingskerk in Rotterdam Zuid. When Fr. Ayaga returned to Africa, Fr. Patrick Eyinla from Nigeria took his place for a year.
In 1998 the Parish Council was abolished and was replaced by a new system whereby, Fr. Engelbertink, Fr. Lieberom and Peter Higgins led a team of co-ordinators for the various tasks i.e. church preparation, reading, serving, catering, music and so on.
Fr. Engelbertink was joined by Fr. H. Lieberom in January, 2000. Both priests, have served us faithfully until 2007, making sure to send replacement priests whenever the need arises.
We continued to celebrate Mass in the chapel of the care home at St. Liduinastraat in Schiedam until the director retired. The new management team decided to stop renting out the chapel to outsiders and we were forced to look for new accommodation. At around the same time there was a power struggle within our community. Peter Higgins stepped down and another couple took over although Aurora did most of the work.  Some of our regular parishioners were not happy with the new situation and moved on.
Finally we managed to find a church which we could rent - the Heilig Hart or Gorzenkerk.
 The church had a Dutch community which was not large enough to cover the running costs so they were please to receive us. They could have their Mass on Sunday at 10 a.m. and  we could have ours at 11 a.m.
There was also a nice community room where we could have a get-together after Mass.
To this day our community still celebrates Mass in the Heilig Hart and we get together afterwards in the community room.
We still have a multi-national community, we ensure  that there is always a priest available and that everything else necessary to provide a nice service each Sunday is on hand. 
September 2018 we moved back to Frankeland care home after rumours that the Bishop of Rotterdam was planning to close the Heilig Hart church along with several other churches in the Schiedam, Vlaardingen and Massluis parishes.