Fr. Edward Wajda of Chandler was called home last month at the age of 76. A diocesan priest for 45 years, Fr. Wajda founded St. Helen’s Catholic Church in Glendale in 1974.

Former parish manager and St. Helen parishioner Loretta Wilkes said she remembers Fr. Wajda as an excellent speaker.

“He was extremely intelligent and an excellent homilist,” she said. “When he would give a homily you would pay attention, you just couldn’t help yourself.”

His only surviving sibling, Fred Wajda, said his brother was a born scholar. “He spoke Polish because he grew up in a Polish household in Rochester, N.Y., and I know he spoke Spanish. He had a gift for languages.”

A graduate of the University of Toronto, Canada, Fr. Wajda received a master’s degree in English from the University of Rochester and ultimately a doctorate in philosophy from Arizona State University in 1968.

In addition to founding St. Helen’s, Fr. Wajda also served at St. Catherine of Siena Parish in Phoenix, Queen of Peace Parish in Mesa, Santa Teresita Parish in El Mirage, and Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Scottsdale.

He also taught at Gerard Catholic High School in Phoenix, Seton Catholic High School in Chandler, and was a visiting professor at the American University in Cairo, Egypt, from 1966 until 1970.