In the beginning, St. John Fisher had 371 families and one tomato farm (located at 103rd and Kedzie). From the first masses celebrated in a parishioner’s home to the simple and drafty wooden church erected on the parish property, St. John Fisher has grown to encompass a full square block where church, rectory, school and a partially used convent building provide for a parish home for approximately 2100 families. The school has grown beyond the original building opened in 1950 to the present complex which provides an education from 3 year-old preschool through 8th grade for over 700 children—the largest Catholic school enrollment in the city of Chicago.

St. John Fisher is known for the generosity, enthusiasm and closeness of our families, the excellence of our school, and the beauty of our worship and liturgical music. The parish celebrated its 60th anniversary year in 2008-09. 

St. John Fisher
John Fisher, Bishop of Rochester in southeast England, lived during the turbulent years of the reign of Henry VIII. He became a bishop at the age of 35, and was known as an accomplished preacher and writer. In 1527, he was asked to study the problem of Henry VIII’s marriage. He incurred Henry’s anger by defending the validity of his marriage with Catherine of Aragon and, later, by rejecting Henry’s claim to being the supreme head of the Church in England. Fisher was summoned by Henry to take the oath to the new Act of Succession. He and Thomas More, Henry’s Chancellor, refused. He, along with Thomas, was sent to the Tower of London where he remained 14 months without trial. He was finally sentenced to life imprisonment and loss of goods.

When Fisher was called for further interrogation, he remained silent. He was tricked, on the supposition that he was speaking privately as a priest, and declared again that the king was not supreme head of the church. In the midst of all this, the Pope named John Fisher a Cardinal, which further angered Henry VIII who brought Fisher to trial on a charge of high treason. He was condemned and executed, his body left to lie all day on the scaffold and his head hung on London Bridge. Thomas More was executed two weeks later. John Fisher and Thomas More share a feast day on June 22nd.