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St. Anthony Celebrates 125 Years

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By GEOFF FOX

The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 10, 2008

SAN ANTONIO - It has been a community meeting place and a voting precinct.

Its school has educated generations of children.

Without St. Anthony of Padua Catholic church, which turns 125 this week, there might not be a San Antonio.

"I don't think it's an overstatement to say that the church is the community," said Will Plazewski, a lifelong San Antonio resident and member of the city commission. "The community was founded by Judge Edmund Dunne as a Catholic colony, so Catholics could have a place to live without persecution.

"Not that other faiths aren't welcome. The Methodist church has been here about 100 years."

Four generations of Plazewski's family have been educated at St. Anthony's school; seven generations have lived in the small town. His wife, Cassandra, is a physical education teacher at the school, as well as a former student.

Barbara Sessa, the city's clerk, can relate. She attended school at St. Anthony, as did three of her six children. There are currently about 200 students at the K-8 institution.

"San Antonio is all the better for the presence of St. Anthony," she said. "In this community, there's just a certain attitude. Church members are inclined to step up and help with any community activity or need, and not just for Catholic students, but children in general.

"One member who joined recently said that he had lived in a lot of places around the United States and never felt more welcome than when he came here."

The downtown institution celebrated its birthday with a weekend of festivities attended by hundreds of people. There were skits about local history Saturday and a barbecue picnic Sunday afternoon.

In the past decade, membership at St. Anthony of Padua has grown from about 250 to 600 families, as more people have moved to the area, said the Rev. Henry Riffle, the pastor. Besides locals, the church draws parishioners from Blanton, Wesley Chapel and Zephyrhills, among other places.

Space at the church, which seats about 225, was so cramped a couple of years ago that the governing Diocese of St. Petersburg and the parish considered building a new sanctuary on a 20-acre parcel on nearby Curley Road.

"That may be a question we deal with again but probably not for another five or 10 years," said Riffle, who has been at the parish seven years. "We added an evening Mass on Sunday, and in the winter we move Masses to the parish center, which seats 400."

On Sunday, parishioner Carl Harig, 80, escaped the heat beneath a tree, where he ate his barbecue and was cooled by a soft breeze. His family has been in the area since the 1920s.

Harig, who has lived in San Antonio most of his life, agreed the church's growth seems "sustainable" for now.

The influx of families is nothing new to St. Anthony, established June 13, 1883.

The current church, parish center, school - with three modular classrooms - and office building sit on 3 1/2 acres on St. Anthony Way, just north of State Road 52. The church, with its classical architecture, stone grotto and stained-glass windows, was built in 1911, replacing a smaller wooden church.

"They just needed a bigger spot," Riffle said.

Development on Curley Road, between State Roads 54 52, likely will determine when and if the church expands in the future.

Reporter Geoff Fox can be reached at (813) 779-4613 or gfox@tampatrib.com.

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