At the turn of the 20th Century, residents of southern Royal Oak Township held Mass in a farmhouse and Sunday school was taught in an old chicken coop. The Village of Ferndale was incorporated in 1917 and St. James Parish was established two years later.
The first parish church was built at Woodward and W. Hazelnut between 8 and 9 Mile Roads. A parish school was added in 1924.
The parish high school closed in 1971. In 1999, a charter school took residence in the school building and closed several years later.
St. James soon clustered with St. Mary in Royal Oak. In 2012, after the Together in Faith campaign, St. James clustered with Our Lady of Fatima in Oak Park. The two churches merged to form Our Mother of Perpetual Help in 2014. Fr. Paul Chateau was pastor of Our Lady of Fatima before the merger and has remained so since then.
The baptismal font in front of the Blessed Mother's side altar; St. Joseph's side altar.
St. Michael the Archangel, St. Peter the Apostle and St. Gabriel the Archangel in the south transept.
St. Veronica, the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. Margaret in the north transept.
Saints are portrayed in the lower-level windows of the nave.
Clerestory windows show depictions of Christ.
St. Ambrose, St. Cecilia and St. Gregory the Great appear above the choir loft.
Sunday Mass is at 11:00am. Tuesdays and Thursdays bring 9:00am Mass.
For more info: parish website & bulletin archive
For more history: Ferndale Historical Society
More photos: AOD Film Services & Flickr
Article about the merger: Patch
2 comments:
Very nice recollection of the history of this beautiful church ,congrats !
Re: Paragraph 2: The church was built at the corner of Woodward and W. Hazelhurst (not Hazelnut), and Nov. 3, 2024 was the final Mass at St. James and the church is now permanently closed.
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