St. Mary Parish in Milford reflects on 125 years
Msgr. John Budde shows photos from St. Mary's history, including its original stone church.Dan Meloy | The Michigan Catholic
MILFORD — Every parish in the Archdiocese of Detroit has a history — the older the parish, the richer the history.
Sometimes, the hustle and bustle of peoples’ lives makes it hard for parishioners to contemplate that history.
St. Mary Our Lady of the Snows Parish in Milford used a recent anniversary to dwell on its history and all that makes the parish unique — even if that history is sometimes hard to retrace.
“Even the Archdiocese of Detroit only had one document going back to 1890 for us to look up,” said Msgr. John Budde, St. Mary’s pastor. “We had a celebration in 1999 to learn a bit of our history. But in the last 25 years, so much has happened in the development of our Christian faith in the community.”
St. Mary Our Lady of the Snows staff — the parish isn’t quite sure why it has the “Our Lady of the Snows” title, a tidbit seemingly lost to history — decided to use its 125th anniversary celebration as a chance to reconnect with its history, especially for new arrivals to the parish.
Like many parishes in Detroit’s suburbs, St. Mary’s had many families move to the area in the 1960s and ’70s from the Detroit area, creating a diverse mix.
“We now have a second generation of kids whose parents wanted to move out here and raise them in the country,” said Cathy Gannon, who’s been a parishioner at St. Mary’s for a little less than 25 years. “What I’ve noticed in the years I’ve been here, we’ve done a lot of outreach to the community, which is something me and my family really like about the parish.”
On Nov. 29, the parish officially celebrated its 125th anniversary, with Archbishop Allen H. Vigneron presiding. Throughout the year, the parish has created plaques depicting important moments in its history.
“People are fascinated with history, where we can see where we came from,” parishioner Jim Heinz said. “When putting together materials for our celebration, we realized we didn’t always do a good job archiving history.”
The original St. Mary’s Church was built in 1870 on the summit of a hill on First Street that would be later known as “Catholic Hill.” By 1890, the church had enough families to become a parish.
In 1907, the parish built the iconic stone church on “Catholic Hill” that Milford worshipers called home for the better part of a century. In 1966, the “prototype Church” building was built at the parish’s current location on Commerce Road.
“As the only parish in the area, there is a sense of cooperation with other churches in the area,” Msgr. Budde said. “We’ve seen an influx from people coming into the suburbs. People who moved to the city to the larger suburban parishes that create a nice mixture of people coming together.”
The parish’s rich history and background had created a unique, at-home feel to the parish, with the modern church built to accommodate the growing family and the old stone church still standing as a reminder of the parish’s roots.
“We’re like a little home, some people come every day,” parishioner Cherie Makie said. “There is a real sense of charity and outreach. But it definitely has a hometown feel. We used the anniversary as a chance to rediscover our history and keep it with us. When I come here, there is a feeling this is home, and it’s always important to remember the roots of your home.”
