Planning for the Next 50 Years
with milestone phases of development to meet immediate needs with immediate and permanent solutions

By the Grace of God, we will develop a Flagship Society Parish where it all began in the United States (photo is an AI rendering)
In 2024, St. Joseph's Church celebrated 50 years of defending Catholic Tradition and advancing Christ's Kingdom in Michigan. In 2025, we look towards the future as we build on the momentum of our thriving and growing parish. By the Grace of God, St. Joseph's will become a flagship Society Parish where families from all over the country can put down roots under the protection and in the defense of Tradition.
To accomplish this goal, we must plan for several milestone phases of development to ensure immediate needs are met with immediate and permanent solutions that are part of a longer term strategy. Applying temporary fixes to long term problems results in wasted effort and resources that we simply cannot afford.
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Townhall Presentation from January 10, 2025:
Timeline of Events
12/13/2024 Fr. Fullerton and Fr. McDonald walked the Armada village and surrounding properties.
12/10/2024 Fr. Soos brief the district on the state of St. Joseph's. Stay/go decision information presented as well as the matrix of all possible properties.
12/05/2024 Planning committee visited several locations to analyze the feasibility of building the future vision. After visiting properties, the Pugh matrix was updated with more criteria to determine the best location. Armada location looking to be the most central spot for the parish, several properties available with and around the village of Armada.
11/08/2024 Re-defined the planning committee mission. Drafted facts, constrains and assumptions to inform a stay/go decision process. Due to expanding vision and not being constrained to the Ray Township facility the decision process resulted in an overwhelming "Go" decision. Analysis into various properties, old public schools was conducted and a Pugh matrix with criteria determined by the committee, with Fr. Soos, was setup to help inform the best path forward.
10/02/2024 To inform a stay/go decision and how to address immediate needs the committee researched the following. Leasing portables, market research for property cost in Ray Township, investigation of any commercial buildings, old schools, land parcels of interest, reviewed modular constructed buildings, feasibility of connecting Ray facility to Macomb County sewer system.
-Completed a military decision making process to determine best way to tackle immediate need, rent office, build a second floor in St. Philomena Hall, build a barn style classroom building. New classroom building won by a large margin.
09/06/2024 Fr. Soos discusses the desire to have priory, school and church in one location that is more central to the parish members. Message from the district is do we stay or go? Constraint of completing the vision at the Ray Township location is removed. Discussed church beautification. Began drafting stay/go decision information for a future decision making process.
08/18/2024 In-Brief of past progress and work with Fr. Steven Soos. Reviewed SJA historical demographics. Discussed success of the pavilion project and the revitalized parish spirit it seems to have brought. Reviewed site plan for the third building concept. Discussed vacant land around the Ray Township location. Discussed communication and transparency as well as 2024 goals.
08/03/2024 Due to success of the RBAT the school had funds to refresh the interior of the St. Philomena building. New LVP flooring installed, new paint, new light bulbs. Huge community turn out to complete this effort.
07/17/2024 First meeting in several months due to pavilion completion, summer break and knowledge that a new pastor would be arriving. Everything on hold until Fr. Steven Soos arrives. Planning committee will focus on helping renovate SJA, new floors, new lights, re-paint.
05/04/2024 Installed pavilion ceiling (donated).
04/26/2024 Graded and Hydroseeded pavilion lot.
02/28/2024 Town hall to show the findings on building a third building at Ray Township.
01/23/2024 First meeting in several months due to pavilion build. Defined our 2024 goal (which is still constrained to be completed at the Ray Township location: A plan in place for Phase II efforts that is approved at the SSPX district level. Prerequisite renovations underway. Fundraising requirements laid out and understood.
-Completed a Military Decision Making Process to determine if a third building would be best to build as a school/church combined building or just a school building.
11/4/2023 Pavilion Electrical, culvert and grading completed. Pavilion cost to St. Joseph's Church/Academy = $24,370. Detailed cost report available.
10/21/2023 Pavilion roof installation.
10/14/2023 Pavilion raising day. Pavilion Kit donated by 2 generous parishioners of SJC.
07/22/2023 Work begins on pavilion build. Cleared land N/W of parking lot.
04/29/2023 Drafted a 4 phased approach to accomplishing the vision for the future of St. Joe's with the restriction of staying at the Ray Township property.
-Phase I rebuild parish spirit by being transparent with our vision, improving parish wide communication, building a pavilion to utilize as a parish, holding picnics and sports on location, bringing back Sunday donuts after mass.
-Phase II Build a third building that would be a school building. Expand SJA to k-12
-Phase III Expand the current SJC building to add more space for several years as the parish grows due to the improved school.
-Phase IV Build a new church
4/25/2023 Parish survey sent out. Target topic = rebuilding parish spirit.
03/18/2023 Drafted the vision for the future of St. Joseph's, what we would like to see, what the immediate need is. Brainstormed possible methods to break work for the future into milestone goals. Determined a few easier tasks that could easily be completed to show that something can be done.
02/24/2023 Determined the mission of the planning committee, how we will go about our mission (using military decision making process and other six sigma methods of logical, fact based decision making), defined; near, mid, far priorities, drafted facts, constraints and assumptions. One notable constraint was placed by Fr. Angele and that was to do any of our work for the parish at the current Ray Township location.
01/23/2023 Planning Committee established by Fr. Todd Angele to support our superiors in shaping and executing a vision for the future, while ensuring continuity through pastoral transitions.
Perpetual Novena to St. Joseph

The planning committee has obtained a hand carved and painted statue of St. Joseph from Holschnitzerei Wood Carvers in Germany.
All are invited to join in praying a Novena for the parish and academy by praying a novena to St. Joseph. Our intention is for the development, growth, and sanctification of St. Joseph's Church and Academy. Specifically, we will be asking St. Joseph to be the guide of our community in regards to upcoming projects. Since we are devoted to St. Joseph we implore his intercession as we work to build a home worthy of his patronage. We will be asking for his aid as we embark on the next 50 years to provide us with the grace to obtain our goals and desires for his church and academy.
To aid this endeavor the planning committee has obtained a hand carved and painted statue of St. Joseph from Holschnitzerei Wood Carvers in Germany. This statue will be rotated to each family that will be offering the novena, and will allow us to show our devotion and trust in St. Joseph to be our advocate.