St. Raymond – Our Lady of Good Counsel

St. Raymond–Our Lady of Good Counsel is located at 20103 Joann St. in Detroit, near 8 Mile and Schoenherr, less than two miles north of Assumption Grotto.

As the name suggests, this parish is the result of a 2011 merger between the two namesakes. Fr. Robert Kotlarz has been the pastor since the merger and began his St. Raymond pastorate in 2002. 

St. Raymond Parish was established in 1941 and the current church was constructed in 1955. Watch this great video (Flash required) about the parish history, including the groundbreaking ceremony, construction of the current edifice and footage of the first Masses celebrated there.

cornerstone of the former school

cornerstone of the current church

Detroit's Our Lady of Good Counsel, not to be confused with the parish in Plymouth, was founded in 1928. The former OLGC is located at 17142 Rowe Street, near East McNichols and Hoover. For more about the last Mass at Our Lady of Good Counsel, read The Michigan Catholic. 

St. Raymond–Our Lady of Good Counsel celebrates Mass everyday except for Wednesdays. On Saturdays, Confessions are heard at 3:45PM and Mass at 4:00PM. Sunday Mass is at 10:30AM, usually with a coffee social afterwards.

Daily Mass is at 8:30AM at a side altar of the church, also the location of the tabernacle. Bible study takes place on Tuesday mornings and Wednesday evenings.

The stained-glass windows are very colorful and geometric. Few saints are depicted among the windows, instead they show mostly scriptural symbols. 

Nearly all of the windows and doorways have an arched top and the entire church follows the style of Romanesque Revival.

Like many churches more than 50 years old, the communion rail has been removed and the altar extended.

The parish has an active Society of St. Vincent de Paul that serves much of northeast Detroit and nearby suburbs. The former, adjacent elementary school is currently vacant and the parish is actively looking for a tenant to help raise funds. For more about the school's history, read this article (PDF) from the IHM Sisters, the order that taught at the school for decades.

Parish website and bulletin archive: http://saintraymond.com/

More about the pastor and parish: http://www.faithstreet.com/

More photos: https://www.flickr.com/