Regina Caeli Parish was formally erected in the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston on August 15, 2013. It is the only Archdiocesan parish, in over 40 years, to offer the sacred liturgy and sacraments exclusively according to the Traditional Latin rites. Located in Northwest Houston on a 40 acre tract, Regina Caeli is entrusted as a personal parish to the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter (FSSP), an apostolic society instituted by Pope St. John Paul II in 1988 to offer the sacred liturgy in all of its solemnity according to the Latin liturgical books of 1962. Since it is a personal parish, any person who wishes to join may become a member or supporter.  Fr. Van Vliet, FSSP is the founding pastor.

Regina Caeli moved from its temporary quarters to its property on October 29, 2016, when St. Athanasius Chapel Hall was blessed by Cardinal DiNardo. The chapel hall is the first building in a multi-year, master-planned parish complex. The complex will be in the Mission Style and once the main church is built, the chapel hall will be converted to a meeting hall. A fence will enclose the parish buildings. Included in the plans are a chapel dedicated to St. Joseph, to whom we have entrusted the property, and a rectory for our priests. Much of the 40 acres, however, will remain rural for meditative purposes, with outdoor shrines and Stations of the Cross.

We are in the process of constructing our second building, the Blessed Fr. Solanus Casey Gatehouse. This building will provide a temporary rectory, adminstrative offices and meeting rooms. Upon its completion, the offices currently in St. Athanasius will be converted to meeting rooms. For more information about the construction, please click here.

OUR PRIESTS

Fr. Charles Van Vliet, FSSP, is the founding pastor of Regina Caeli Parish.  He is of Dutch-Canadian ancestry and worked on helicopters for 11 years as aircraft maintenance engineer in Canada before studying philosophy at Thomas Aquinas College in California. As a youth, he worked with his father, a master carpenter, and became equally adept at carpentry. He began his priestly studies at the International St. Peter Seminary in Wigratzbad, Germany, in 1992 and was ordained to the priesthood in Ottawa, Canada, in 1996.  He served in various FSSP apostolates in Canada and the United States. In 1998, he was assigned to oversee the construction of Our Lady of Guadalupe Seminary in Denton, Nebraska.  Construction of Sts. Peter and Paul Chapel was the final phase; it was completed in early 2010 and dedicated on March 3, 2010.

In 2006, Father Van Vliet attended the General Chapter of the Fraternity of St. Peter in Wigratzbad, Germany and was elected to a six year term on the General Council as Third Assistant to the Superior General and General Bursar. He established the Houston apostolate of the Fraternity in August 2011.


Fr. William Rock,  FSSP  is on temporary assignment at Regina Caeli from February to June, 2021. He was ordained on Oct. 26, 2019, at St. Mary Church in Providence, Rhode Island by Bishop Athanasius Schneider, ORC, of Kazakhastan. Father knew God was calling him to the priesthood. The more he learned of the Traditional rite, the more he desired a priestly formation  and life with the Fraternity.

 

Past Assistant Priests at Regina Caeli
 Year 2020 Rev. Michael Malain, FSSP
2018-2019 Rev. John Kodet, FSSP
2016-2018 Rev. Joshua Houck, FSSP