About Saint Elizabeth's
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A story of faith, generosity, and a community growing together in Wyckoff.
Our story, year by year
From families gathering in the Fire Hall to the parish home we share today, explore the people and moments that shaped Saint Elizabeth.
1870–1909 · Beginnings
1870: The railroad comes to Wyckoff
Wyckoff, then part of Franklin Township, is a town of mostly Dutch farmers known for apples, grapes, corn, potatoes, and oats. Catholics on the edges of town travel to Paterson or Ridgewood for Sunday Mass; about eight Catholics near the center gather in any building available, whenever they can find a priest.
1898–1903: A growing community
Wyckoff Fire Hall, private homes, and the Wyckoff Reformed Church. As the number of Catholics grows, Father Paul T. Carew, who also serves the Ramsey and Ho-Ho-Kus churches, celebrates Sunday Mass in Wyckoff. From 1899 the community gathers regularly in the Fire Hall.
November 28, 1902: The parish is born
The parish is incorporated under the patronage of Saint Elizabeth of Hungary, with Father Carew as its first pastor. It begins as a mission of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Ridgewood. With the help of Judge Thomas Fuller of Paterson, a building fund drive begins.
July 12, 1903: The first Mass
Everett and Clinton Avenues. Under Father Carew’s direct supervision, the chapel is completed. Its dedication and first Mass take place the same day.
A few years later: Closed for debt
A national financial crisis hits. Wyckoff’s Catholic families, struggling to keep their homes and feed their children, cannot pay the debt. The little church is closed and scheduled to be sold.
April 4, 1909: Saved
Father Francis Koch, O.F.M., Director of the Church Extension Society, celebrates Mass at Saint Elizabeth’s and announces that the note against the church, $1,175 in debt and interest, has been canceled. Parishioners repay $200 so other needy parishes can be helped, and in gratitude give even more in money, painting, and repairs.
1909–1983 · The Franciscan years
July 1909: Entrusted to the friars
Most Rev. John J. O’Connor, fourth Bishop of Newark, entrusts the Wyckoff mission to the Franciscan friars. Parish records name Monsignor Edward Blecke as pastor from July 29, 1909.
1911–1913: Room to grow
Father Seraphin Geegan arrives from Saint Bonaventure in Allegany, New York, and greatly improves the parish facilities. In 1912 the chapel is enlarged.
1913–1920: More land
Father Ferdinand Hackman, a former professor of philosophy and Church history, becomes pastor, and the parish buys land next to the church. Father Maurice Vollmer serves from 1915 to 1917 in his first priestly assignment, and then Father Hackman returns.
1920–1935: A church made beautiful
Under Father Damian Kehr, the church is extensively repaired and its interior beautifully redecorated.
1935–1944: Dreaming of a school
Father Ivo McElroy leads the parish until 1940. His successor, Father Fergus Fitzsimmons, buys property across from the church in hope of opening a small school.
1944: Father Benignus Harkins
Father Harkins begins a 16-year pastorate that will give the parish a new home.
January 1952: Planning a new home
Father Harkins launches the building committee, and the parish acquires acreage at the corner of Wyckoff and Greenwood Avenues. Ground is broken in September 1953.
October 31, 1954: Church and school dedicated
Most Rev. Thomas A. Boland, Archbishop of Newark, and Father Celsus Wheeler, O.F.M., Minister Provincial of Holy Name Province, lead the dedication of the new church-auditorium and Saint Elizabeth School. The bell from the old church is preserved in a stand in front of the new one.
1961–1972: New pastors, new energy
Father Colman Dunn (1961), Father Claude Lenehan (1964–1967), and Father William Abbott (1967–1972) lead the parish. Father Abbott founds the parish council in 1971.
Christmas Eve 1971: A true church
Working with the new parish council, the church-auditorium is converted into a conventional church, completed in time for Christmas Eve.
1973–1983: The last Franciscan decade
A team of Franciscan friars administers the parish until Father Warren Louth becomes pastor in July 1976. In September 1978 Saint Elizabeth’s is among the first parishes to begin the RENEW program. Father Reginald Redlon is named pastor in 1979.
1983: A grateful farewell
With limited friars to serve their many parishes, the Franciscans hand Saint Elizabeth’s to the priests of the Archdiocese of Newark, after 74 years of care.
Our school & the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace
Teachers, principals, and friends
Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace (C.S.J.P.) served the school as principals, teachers, and staff. Principals included Sister Beatrice Ryan, Sister Bridget O’Shea (also teacher, vice principal, and religious coordinator), and Sister Maureen Collins. Sister Ann Taylor, Sister Maureen D’Auria, Sister Thomas Francis Halleran, and Sister Clare McNerney taught in its classrooms, and Sister Monica Donohoe was its librarian and media specialist. Sister Patricia Wall served the parish as pastoral associate.
1987–2003: A school that grew
Under Sister Maureen Collins, principal from 1987, the school grows to 300 students with waiting lists in many grades. In 2003 she leaves to serve as Provincial Leader of her community.
1983–2003 · A new church
1983–1988: Planning begins
The Archdiocese approves hiring an architect, and recommendations are made for rebuilding.
1988: Father Thomas O’Leary
Father (later Monsignor) Thomas M. O’Leary becomes pastor and leads the parish through its great building project.
1989: A $2.9 million promise
In April a revised plan for a new church, expanded school, gym, and meeting space goes to the Archdiocese. By Christmas, parishioners have pledged more than $2 million toward the $2.9 million project.
1991: One school, two parishes
Students from Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Oakland join, and Saint Elizabeth School becomes an interparochial school of the Archdiocese.
September 18, 1992: The new church is dedicated
700 Wyckoff Avenue. The church where we gather today is formally dedicated. The parish hall and gymnasium follow in January 1993, and the parish library opens in 1994.
2002: One hundred years
The parish celebrates its centennial and records its story in The Church of Saint Elizabeth 1902–2002.
2003–today · A living parish
October 2003: A new shepherd
Monsignor O’Leary retires after 46 years of priestly ministry, and Monsignor Donald E. Guenther becomes pastor on October 21. By 2004 the parish has 2,800 families, about 80 ministries, and 1,200 students in religious education.
2004–2005: The school turns 50
Saint Elizabeth Interparochial School celebrates 50 years with new uniforms and an alumni gala in February 2005 that welcomes graduates from 1954 on.
2007–2009: Youth on fire
A new youth ministry launches with an open house in March 2007. In 2009 the parish youth group, Branches, builds a “Cardboard City” to call attention to homeless young people.
July 1, 2008: Monsignor Robert E. Harahan
Monsignor Guenther retires, and Monsignor Harahan, formerly pastor of Saint Teresa of Avila in Summit, becomes pastor. In 2014 he is named headmaster of Seton Hall Preparatory School.
July 1, 2014: Father James J. Weiner
Father Weiner, formerly pastor of Saint Luke in Ho-Ho-Kus, becomes pastor. That May, the parish says farewell to Monsignor O’Leary, whose funeral Mass is celebrated at Saint Elizabeth’s.
July 1, 2017: Father Stephen J. Fichter
Father Stephen, formerly pastor of Sacred Heart in Haworth, becomes the 21st pastor of Saint Elizabeth’s.
November 17, 2018: Our patroness welcomes us
Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin celebrates the feast of Saint Elizabeth with the parish and blesses a new 7-foot statue of the saint in white marble, weighing 3,000 pounds and given anonymously by a parishioner. It greets everyone at the church entrance.
Spring 2020: Church at home
When public Masses are suspended, the livestream the parish installed two years earlier lets parishioners keep praying the Mass together from home.
September 27, 2020: A chapel that holds our history
Daily Mass Chapel. Bishop Michael Saporito dedicates the new chapel, which joins every era of the parish: stained glass from the original church above the altar, the tabernacle from the 1954 church, and an altar made from the 1992 church’s baptismal font. Windows from the old bell tower line the sacristy, and an 18-foot Risen Christ window was designed by Father Stephen Fichter with Lamb Studios of Midland Park.
Today: More than 3,500 families
Led by Father Stephen J. Fichter, Ph.D., Saint Elizabeth’s is home to more than 3,500 families.
2027: 125 years
We celebrate 125 years of faith, service, and tenderness in Wyckoff.
Sources for this history: The Church of Saint Elizabeth 1902–2002, The Catholic Advocate parish profile (November 17, 2004), the Wyckoff Historical Society, and Jersey Catholic (October 2020).
Our parish story
From these roots
Father Stephen observed that the generous spirit, values, and deep faith of the parishioners in 1909 is the same set of values and faith we live today. The baptisms, First Communions, Confirmations, weddings, and funerals are all part of the spiritual lives that we share with our previous generations. The work we do today in that same spirit of generosity to continue to nurture the growth of Saint Elizabeth’s will impact our faith community’s future. It is Father Stephen’s great hope that one day a little more than a century from now, a new generation of Saint Elizabeth parishioners will say that it was from these deep roots in our past that we remain here in Wyckoff on bended knee to thank God and our patroness, Saint Elizabeth, for the many blessings we have received over all these bountiful years!
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