Catholic Churches in Ypsilanti or Ann Arbor

jzoo1980

Hi everyone! I'm looking to join a Catholic church in the Ypsi/Ann Arbor area. I want to join a Catholic church where I would be getting married at. Anyone have any suggestions or is anyone on here getting married in a Ypsi or Ann Arbor Catholic church? I want to know details about the process and also how the priest is before I make a decision to which Catholic church I would join.

Thanks so much!
Jenny

Meg1036

I'm in Ann Arbor, and go to/am getting married at St. Mary's Student Parish.  Since it's a student parish, its pretty liberal for a Catholic parish.  The church isn't that "pretty" as a wedding backdrop, but I like it there.  There's actually a lot of priests, and its pretty low-key.

Other options in Ann Arbor include St. Thomas (gorgeous church, pretty conservative), and St. Francis (sort of middle of the road).

All of them have similar marriage requirements, which are from the Diocese of Lansing.  Each will require at least 9 months before the wedding for prep, probably a FOCCUS test, a communications seminar, a weekend long retreat, and some kind of introduction to natural family planning (St. Mary's definitely has the least Natural Family Planning).  St. Mary's runs the weekend retreat on their own, which the other churches do through the diocese.  I found most of the the marriage prep activities to be fairly valuable, which I was not expecting.  I would recommend trying each one out over the next month or so, but if you have more specific questions about St. Mary's, I'll try to answer them.

rcj2rcd

Ditto Meg. I'd recommend trying the local churches out to get a feel for the community. That is what FI and I did to find our home church (where we will also be married). Think about what you are looking for (community, traditional/liberal, schools, etc) to help you evaluate your options. Are you already Catholic or are you looking into the RCIA program? I completed RCIA last year and the awesome program at my church is what helped us decide when we were looking at different parishes. Good luck

jzoo1980

Thanks for the tips! I am Catholic but moved to the Ypsi/Ann Arbor area. The churches I have visited were St. Thomas, St. Francis, and a very small one by my house St. Joseph in Ypsi. St. Thomas is beautiful but I think very old school and traditional. St. Francis reminds me of the parish I use to belong to in Allen Park but I'm not sure what to think of the pastor at St. Francis. St. Joseph in Ypsi is very very close but very small.

Any other tips would be good! I was thinking about trying out this weekend St. Anthony's in Belleville (Archdiocese of Detroit) and St. John the Baptist in Ypsi.

Meg1036

I've never tried any of the other parishes you are recommending.

As I mentioned before, St. Mary's in Ann Arbor is pretty liberal.  Its technically the "student parish" for U of M, but its actually a huge community with many, many non-students and families, so if you're a more liberal Catholic, I would recommend checking it out. 

gymrat1279

I grew up in the St. Francis parish and I would say it was fairly conservative.  My parents now go to St. Joseph in Ypsi because they got irritated with St. Francis.  They like it a lot better.

jzoo1980

Hello again,

I tried out Holy Trinity Church on Eastern Michigan's campus and LOVED IT yesterday! I went this morning to St. Mary's. I liked it but I don't think as much as Holy Trinity. I could tell St. Mary's was more laid back. I felt that Holy Trinity was laid back but I liked the enviroment and people at the Mass. The priest at Holy Trinity was very friendly and welcomed us in as we were barely making it in to Mass.

I think we are going to try out again Holy Trinity and St. Mary's again just to be sure.

I appreciate everyone's thoughts on the Catholic churches in the Ypsi/Ann Arbor area. You ladies have been very helpful!

Jenny

Meg1036

Jenny - I'm really glad to hear you found something you like!  Come back and hang out with us some more on the board here as you plan your wedding!

maria18

try Old St. Patrick in Ann Arbor. It is a GORGEOUS church, but the liturgy is a bit on the traditional side, so if you don't like that, then you probably wouldn't like it.