The Rev. Claude T Lenehan

The Rev. Claude T. Lenehan, O.F.M., a professed Franciscan Friar 74 years and a Catholic Priest 70 years, died July 5, 2025. He had been Pastor of several Franciscan parishes is northern New Jersey in the 1960s and 1970s.

November 1, 2019, Saint Elizabeth of Hungary Church, Wyckoff, saluted Father Claude as one of the Saint Elizabeth’s Eight Honorees at a banquet highlighting eight individuals who had served the parish in an outstanding way. He served as Pastor 1964 to 1967 prior to becoming Pastor of Saint Anne Church, Fair Lawn.

Born Thomas Lenehan in 1928 in Wallington, NJ, the future Father Claude attended Passaic’s School No. 3 where he excelled in track and field sports. He then pursued studies in Franciscan seminaries in Callicoon, NY, Rye Beach, NH, and Washington, DC.

In the 1990s Father Claude worked with the Ministry of The Word team of Franciscan evangelists based in Ho-Ho-Kus. A focus on helping couples in troubled marriages led Father Claude to mentor the New Jersey unit of Retrouvaille, a branch of the Marriage Encounter movement in the early 2000s. He retired from active ministry, taking up residence at St. Anthony Friary, Butler.

VISITATION: Thursday, July 10, 2025, 10:00 a.m., St. Anthony Church, 65 Bartholdi Ave., Butler, NJ. MASS OF CHRISTIAN BURIAL: 11:00 a.m., also at St. Anthony Church. BURIAL at Mount Calvary Cemetery, Butler.