June 30, 1954, saw the canonical and official establishment of Our Lady of Fatima Parish in Michigan Center, by Bishop Joseph H. Albers of the Diocese of Lansing. The new church and school, to be built on donated land, was named in honor of the Blessed Mother, who appeared a number of times to three children in Fatima, Portugal. On that same day in 1954, Fr Hugh Conklin of St. Mary’s Parish in Williamston was named the founding pastor. At 10:00 a.m. on Sunday, July 18, 1954, Fr Conklin celebrated the first Mass for the new parish. This Mass was held in the basement of the National Bank building in Michigan Center.From that point on, parish unity, a sense of purpose, great excitement, and plans began to emerge.

Fatima’s initial structure was a stone-clad ranch home that served as the rectory. It was finished in the spring of 1955 and Fr Conklin moved in. Funding was limited so a major decision needed to be made: whether to build the church or the school. During several parish meetings, parishioners strongly supported a decision favoring Catholic education for the parish children. The decision was made to build a flat-roofed school building that could serve temporarily as a church (folding chairs and all!). Beginning March 20, 1955, a campaign to raise funds began. The building that still houses Our Lady of Fatima Church was completed and Holy Mass was celebrated for the first time Easter morning April 1, 1956.

In 1959, following the reassignment of Fr Conklin, Fr Paul Donovan became pastor. In 1960, the Our Lady of Fatima Catholic School was opened. In 1968, Fr Donovan moved on and Fr Sylvester Fedewa became the new pastor. In 1970, Fr Fedewa left and a new order of priests, the Oblates of Saint Francis de Sales, took over with the arrival of Fr Paul Gillespie. In June, 1974, Fr Gillespie returned to his home state of Oklahoma and was replaced with Fr Andrew Dunne. With Fr Dunne came a new look for the church with permanent pews, carpeting, cross, steeple, lighting, doors, an enclosed front porch, and finally, air conditioning! All this was just in time for the parish Silver Jubilee in 1979. Fr Andrew Dunne retired in 2009, after 35 years of service to our parish. In July, 2009, Fr Jeffery Robideau became our Pastor for a short period of time. Sadly, after 50 years, Our Lady of Fatima Catholic School was closed in June 2010.

Through all the years, Our Lady of Fatima parishioners still have parish unity and a sense of purpose. They were able to see the fruition of their hard work in June 2012, when the inaugural Mass was celebrated in our new church building. Fr Timothy MacDonald served as Temporal Administrator and the Pastor from 2010-2018.  Fr Satheesh Alphone, SdC is the current Pastor of our parish.  We invite you to join with us as we enter this exciting new period in our church’s history!

 On May 13th, 2024, Our Lady of Fatima celebrated our 70th anniversary with a procession and Mass.  See below to watch the Mass and see a slideshow from that evening.