About St. Bridget · Ettrick, Wisconsin
St. Bridget Catholic Church is a small, historic parish in the village of Ettrick, Trempealeau County, in western Wisconsin's Coulee Region, serving roughly 90 families and belonging to the Diocese of La Crosse. Its roots reach back to 1869, when Fr. Michael Walsh acquired a former Universalist meetinghouse on Main Street as the parish's first church, and the parish's cemetery (just south of the present church) was being organized in the early 1860s with the help of early Irish-settler families. Today St. Bridget is administered in a multi-parish grouping that also includes neighboring St. Ansgar in Blair and is currently pastored by Very Rev. Georgekutty Thayilkuzhottu, MSFS, with a Saturday evening vigil and Sunday morning Mass schedule typical of small rural Wisconsin parishes.
- Established
- 1869
- Patron
- St. Bridget of Kildare
- Rector
- Very Rev. Georgekutty Thayilkuzhihottu, MSFS (Father George)
- Diocese
- Diocese of La Crosse
Why belong here
St. Bridget offers a small, deeply rooted rural parish community where individual families — many multigenerational, like the Crogan family who have cared for the church and cemetery since the 1800s — know one another by name. Visitors are welcomed into a parish that still rings its bell by hand for Sunday worship, holds daily Mass on Wednesday and Friday mornings, a Saturday vigil, and a Sunday morning Mass, and exposes the Blessed Sacrament for Eucharistic Adoration on Friday mornings. Its clustering with St. Ansgar in Blair (and the broader St. Bartholomew + St. Mary family) gives parishioners the benefits of a wider Catholic community while preserving the intimate feel of a single village church.
Mass times at St. Bridget
Weekly Mass schedule
Confession times
- Saturday 3:30 PM – 3:45 PM (before the 4:00 PM vigil Mass)
Adoration times
- Friday 9:00 AM – 10:00 AM (Eucharistic Adoration)
About St. Bridget Parish
St. Bridget Catholic Church is the Catholic parish serving the village of Ettrick and surrounding rural Gale Township in Trempealeau County, Wisconsin. Founded in 1869 and rooted in the Irish-settler community that built farms in the Coulee hills of western Wisconsin in the decades after the Civil War, the parish today numbers around 90 registered families. It belongs to the Diocese of La Crosse, is one of the parishes of the Arcadia Deanery, and is administered in a multi-parish collaboration with neighboring St. Ansgar in Blair (under the umbrella of St. Bartholomew + St. Mary Parishes).
- Founded: 1869 (parish registers begin 1869)
- Diocese: Diocese of La Crosse (Arcadia Deanery)
- Families: approximately 90
- Current Pastor: Very Rev. Georgekutty Thayilkuzhihottu, MSFS ('Father George')
- Current Associate Pastor: Rev. Michael Jacob
- Address: 22650 Washington St, Ettrick, WI 54627-9598
- Phone: 608-525-3811
History
St. Bridget's was founded in 1869 when Fr. Michael Walsh acquired the wooden Universalist meetinghouse on Main Street for the parish. Its cemetery was being organized even earlier — records note burials and cemetery maintenance from 1862 — and the parish historically served as the mother church for St. Ansgar's in Blair, which was treated as a mission of Ettrick through at least the 1960s. The parish was served by an early succession of priests including a Franciscan friar, Fr. Constantin Baron von Droste zu Hülshoff, in 1875, and has had a notable tradition of lay stewardship of the church and grounds, exemplified by the Crogan family, who have cared for the parish facilities for four generations.
- 1869 – Fr. Michael Walsh purchases the Universalist meetinghouse as the first St. Bridget's church.
- 1862 – The parish cemetery is laid out and organized with Father Murphy's assistance.
- 1875 – Fr. Constantin (Ernst) Baron von Droste zu Hülshoff, OFM, serves the Ettrick (Beaver Creek) parish.
- 1968 – Rev. James E. Ennis is assigned to St. Bridget's before being moved to Wilton and then Hillsboro.
- 1969 – Rev. Francis McCaffrey is pastor of St. Bridget's (Ettrick) and St. Ansgar's (Blair); religion classes for high-school students are held in the church basement.
- Twentieth/twenty-first century – Parish served by Fr. Dan Dahlberg, then Fr. Miller as administrator, before today's pastorate under Fr. Georgekutty Thayilkuzhihottu, MSFS.
Parish Staff & Clergy
St. Bridget is currently served by a priest of the Missionaries of St. Francis de Sales (MSFS), Very Rev. Georgekutty Thayilkuzhihottu ('Father George'), as Pastor, with Rev. Michael Jacob serving as Associate Pastor. The combined Ettrick–Blair parish website also lists Fr. Zacharie Beya among the priests serving the cluster. Lay staff and volunteers play an outsized role — most famously the Crogan family, who have provided multiple sextons and maintenance directors across the generations.
- Very Rev. Georgekutty Thayilkuzhihottu, MSFS — Pastor (Diocese of La Crosse parishes listing)
- Rev. Michael Jacob — Associate Pastor
- Fr. Zacharie Beya — listed as priest serving St. Bridget on the Ettrick–Blair parish page
- Bill (William) Crogan — longtime Director of Maintenance and bell-ringer
- Donald Crogan — parish sexton / cemetery-lot records
Parish Cemetery
The parish cemetery is one of St. Bridget's most distinctive community assets — older than the parish's formal records, organized in 1862, and still maintained by parish families. Early monuments were made of wood (many lost to fire and rot before being replaced by stone), and the grounds have been kept by the Crogan family across generations. The parish's most recent cemetery maintenance building was designed and built by Bill Crogan using funds donated by the Walter Wall family.
- Established: 1862 (predates the parish's 1869 sacramental registers)
- Early monuments: wooden, replaced over time by stone
- Long-standing caretakers: the Crogan family (Vilas → William 'Bill' and Donald)
- Maintenance building: designed and built by Bill Crogan with funds donated by the Walter Wall family
- Records / lot sales: maintained today by Donald Crogan
Parish Buildings & Maintenance
St. Bridget's present church stands on the parish's long-held Washington Street site in the village of Ettrick. The church still has a working bell that is rung by hand from the steeple each Sunday by Bill Crogan, who also serves as the parish's director of maintenance. The church basement has long served as a gathering and catechetical space — high-school religion classes for both Ettrick and Blair students were held there as early as 1969.
- Hand-rung Sunday bell (still operated by a parish volunteer)
- Church basement used for parish events and religious education
- Parish maintenance directed by Bill Crogan under his grandfather's motto: 'Fix it up and make it do'
- Roughly 90 parish families actively involved in upkeep
Combined Parish Grouping (Ettrick–Blair)
St. Bridget in Ettrick is currently administered together with St. Ansgar in Blair as part of a broader multi-parish grouping led by St. Bartholomew + St. Mary Parishes. This collaboration allows the small rural parishes to share clergy and ministry resources while preserving their individual Mass schedules, parish identity, and historic buildings.
- Cluster: Ettrick–Blair (St. Bridget, Ettrick + St. Ansgar, Blair)
- Combined parish umbrella: St. Bartholomew + St. Mary Parishes
- Shared clergy across the cluster
- Combined parish website: saintbartholomew.net
Pastors & rectors through the years
- Rev. Michael Walsh1869
Founder of St. Bridget's; in 1869 purchased the wooden church on Main Street from the Universalist Society for the parish.
- Father Murphylate 19th century
Assisted parishioners in organizing the parish cemetery and building the first cemetery maintenance building.
- Rev. Constantin (Ernst) Baron von Droste zu Hülshoff, OFM1875
Franciscan friar who served St. Bridget's (then listed as 'Beaver Creek') in 1875 before being reassigned to Rising Sun and Dellona.
- Rev. James E. Ennis1968–1969
Assigned to St. Bridget's, Ettrick in 1968; previously associated with St. Ansgar in Blair (1961–1968), which was a mission of St. Bridget's.
- Rev. Francis McCaffrey1969
Pastor of St. Bridget's, Ettrick and St. Ansgar's, Blair in September 1969 (per Winona Daily News).
- Rev. Dan Dahlberglater 20th century
Former pastor of St. Bridget's Catholic Church.
- Fr. Millerrecent
Administrator of St. Bridget Parish (Ettrick) and St. Ansgar Parish (Blair); now pastor of Sacred Heart and Immaculate Conception Parishes.
- Very Rev. Georgekutty Thayilkuzhihottu, MSFS (Father George)current
Current Pastor per the Diocese of La Crosse parishes listing.
- Rev. Michael Jacobcurrent
Current Associate Pastor per the Diocese of La Crosse parishes listing.
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