Pastor’s Welcome
Dear Friends,
I sincerely welcome you to our parish! Our hope is that you will feel at home and find Guardian Angels Parish to be a great place to worship God and live out your faith.
Our parish is a warm and caring faith community that treasures children and family life, while greatly valuing the talents and involvement of young married couples, the elderly, the widowed, and single adults. All are welcome at Guardian Angels. As disciples of Jesus, we are a family of faith and hope, called to be a beacon of light and joy here in Clawson. You would be a welcome addition to our faith community.
Thank you for stopping by our parish! Please take a moment to stop and introduce yourself to me after Mass. I look forward to personally meeting you and getting to know you. We encourage you to consider joining us as a member. Your membership at Guardian Angels is your commitment to enter into the spirit of our parish. This spirit is one of thanksgiving because God our Father is the giver of all that is good.
At Guardian Angels, there are many services available to you, as well as a host of activities in which you may wish to participate. This website will hopefully acquaint you further with our parish community. You will find some important information about our ministries and parish life. This information may be especially helpful to you as you consider how to live out your baptismal call and share your talents and skills. Your participation is essential to helping our parish continue to grow and flourish as a thriving and active community that shares the good news of the Gospel in the world.
If you not Catholic, you too, are welcome! We invite you to further discover and deepen your relationship with Christ while you are here with us.
Peace,
Fr. Tony Richter
Our History
The history of Guardian Angels Parish goes back almost 100 years. In January of 1920, the Archdiocese of Detroit designated Clawson as a mission of a parish which was later to become known as Holy Name Parish in Birmingham. Mass was initially celebrated in the, now demolished, old Clawson Theatre on Fourteen Mile Road. In the summer of 1922, our first church, a basement church, was built and completed on nearby Pare Street. Soon after, a church hall was built next door.
In 1923 the mission was identified as Guardian Angels Parish and soon thereafter our current property on 14 Mile Road was purchased. In 1929 the Pare Street basement church was destroyed by fire and plans were made to erect a new church. With the time and labor of the men of the parish, our second church building was completed a year later. The basement of this church was later remodeled to accommodate parish social events after a severe storm destroyed the parish hall on Pare Street.
Conceived and built in the mid-1940s, Guardian Angels School opened its doors for the first time in the fall of 1948 with an enrollment of 232 children. Early in the next decade, as the result of the rapid growth of the suburbs and in the number of parish families, two additions to the school and a convent building were constructed.
The finishing touches of the school building were made and the construction of a new, our third, church was completed adjacent to the school building in the fall of 1957. During this same period, the rectory and adjoining garage were built. It was 23 years later, in July of 1980 that the Parish agreed to construct our current church building and convert its predecessor into the Fr. Bretz Activity Center. Construction began in July 1982 and the church was dedicated on September 17, 1983.
In 1961 it was agreed together with St. Dennis Parish to construct a Catholic high school in the Clawson/Madison Heights area. The new Bishop Foley Catholic High School opened the doors to its first freshmen class in 1966.
Over the past 30 years, there have been a number of renovations and upgrades of the parish church and other facilities. Significantly, in the summer of 2013 our worship space was completely renovated which included the installation of modern lighting, a new coat of paint, refinished pews, new carpeting, and a revised sanctuary backdrop. New liturgical furniture was designed and installed a year later.
It is important to note that in recent times many new programs have been instituted for the development of our youth, to be of service to the local community, for the spiritual growth of the parish community, and in the implementation of our Holy Father’s call for evangelization. Significantly our parish elementary school was awarded the United States Department of Education’s “Blue Ribbon School” award.
Today the Guardian Angels Catholic Church is a spiritually strong and financially solvent community. As we face the future, we do so as a people of God called to pray, to celebrate His presence, to work for the coming of the Kingdom, and to reach out to all God’s people.
