Search
Northern Lapeer Family of Parishes History
-
-
- 1906, Mr. Theodore Heenan bought the Episcopalian Church on the corner of Sherman and Banker Street in North Branch Village and gave the deed to the Most Reverend Bishop John Foley, Bishop of the Diocese of Detroit. The Church was remodeled and moved to it's final location.
- May 1, 1907 Bishop Foley appointed Fr. Peter Esper as the first pastor and dedicated the village church as SS. Peter & Paul Catholic Church.
- September 10, 1913, St. Patrick of Clifford was renamed as a mission and united with SS. Peter & Paul under the direction of Fr. Esper.
- 1942, Fr. Martin Gallagher was assigned as pastor, and worked here the next four years.
- October of 1958, Fr. Henry W. Keenan was appointed pastor and during his years at SS. Peter & Paul, he began the work of implementing many changes decreed by the Second Vatican council. During that time a house and lot east of the rectory were purchased to meet the need of more room for religious instruction and future expansions.
- 1968 the present hall, Keenan Hall, was constructed as a parish hall and catechetical center.
- September of 1970, Fr. Charles Zeeb was sent as administrator to care for the needs of the people of SS. Peter & Paul and St. Patrick Catholic Church in Clifford.
- May of 1972, Fr. Zeeb was assigned as pastor. During his time at SS. Peter & Paul, both churches were remodeled to meet directives of Vatican II. Additional property was purchased to permit the construction of a new church which was deemed needed by the parish council because of the deterioration of the original church and the growth of the North Branch catholic community.
- Dedication of the new church was on march 25, 1979. Fortunately, parts of the beloved Church which included stained glass windows, Stations of the Cross, St. Peter & Paul statues, Sanctuary Cross and wooden pews were able to be used as part of the new Church.
- July of 1986, Fr. Jude Ellinghausen became the pastor at which time additons to Keenan Hall were added in 1993 along with a new pole barn for storage.
- July of 2002, Fr. Richard Treml, Fr. Rich, arrived in "God's Green Acres" as pastor. In 2003 an announcement was made that the three Catholic parishes of Northern Lapeer County, SS. Peter & Paul, St. Patrick, and St. Mary of Burnside, would join together and be known as the Tri-Parish Cluster, in 2020 to be called Family of Parishes, under the direction of Fr. Rich.
- February of 2006, the process of purchasing 3.8 acres of land adjacent to the south side of the church began and the acreage would be used for a larger parish hall and office space to accommodate future growth of the church. The land purchase was completed in 2007 with the generous donation of Msgr. William McKay of Arizona, whose only ties to SS. Peter & Paul are his cousins.
- July 2012, Fr. James F. Arwady is named Associate Pastor and served until his appointment on July 1, 2015 at St. Christopher's in Marysville, MI.
- 2015, Fr. Mark Prill became our famly of parishes Associate Pastor.
- 2017, Fr. Lawrence Joseph Delonnay retired from being the pastor of Our Lady of the Lakes Parish, Waterford (1994,- 2017) and became our family of parishes Senior Priest.
- November 2017, Deacon Pete Lynch a permanent diaconate in the Archdiocese of Detroit began as a Deacon to our family of parishes.
- July 1, 201
-
-
The Churches
-
BackForwardPauseCaption
-
