In a letter dated 04.04.1962 written by Father Josef Zihler S.J. to the very first Vicar-General of Zurich, Alfred Teobaldi in which he expessed the joy of the British/American community joy of the possibility of them being able to attend Mass in English is the the first indication of the existence of an Engligh-speaking community in the city of Zurich. He had already commenced catechism classes for the English-speaking children and had gone on to celebrate the first Holy Masses in English. This news spread widely and parents of the children that attended the catechism classes eagerly asked him when the Mass in English was to begin.

Amid his busy schedule of dealing with the administration in the Jesuit Apologetic Institute in Zurich from 1941-1964, and among his many other interests and activities Father Josef somehow found time to be the first to cater for the pastoral needs of the English-speaking Catholics. Father Josef’s sudden death on the 10th 0f December 1969 from a heart attack came as a shock and disbelief to all who knew him.

The «Intenational Catholic Echo», a monthly trilingual magazine in English, French and Spanish printed in Geneva had in its December, 1962 edition an article tittled ‘The English-speaking Catholics in Zurich now have their own Chaplain’. This article was submitted to the magazine by a Claretian priest , Father Gereon H. Hagspiel C.M.F. to whom Father Josef had handed over the running of the English-speaking Catholics in Zurich. In this article he wrote that thanks to the then Vicar-General of Zurich, Rt. Rev. Msgr. A. Teobaldi, that special services for the English-speaking Catholics was started in the city of Zurich in May 1962. - to be continued