Journey to the Catholic Churches of Detroit.: February 2014

Our Lady of the Lakes in Waterford is located along Dixie Highway in the North Oakland County suburb.

The church was founded in 1948 and recently celebrated its 65^th anniversary. Inside Our Lady of the Lakes, you enter a medium size gathering space that opens into the main church. There are no doors or windows leading into the church. It is a very open concept.

The pews and kneelers are cushioned and very comfortable. The floors leading to the altar are made of marbled tiles. The altar space itself has an oak wooden floor and a mason brick background. The altar is smaller than at most of the other churches we have been to and is covered with a green flowery cloth.

Over the altar is a statute of Jesus with his hands outstretched on the cross. Behind the statute is a stained glass window in the shape of a circle with different color variations. To the left of the altar is a 3-D image of the last supper hanging on the wall and to the right the musical area is staged.

The pastor at Our Lady of the Lakes is Reverend Lawrence Delonnay. They also have an associate pastor at the church, Fr. Michael Gawlowski. Fr. Mike was the celebrant at the Saturday evening mass we attended. Fr. Mike’s homily focused on the gospel reading for the week in which John the Baptist welcomed the son of God as our savior Jesus. He called John the Baptist the bridge between the Old and New Testament.

Fr. Mike was very engaging in his homily. He came out among the congregation and talked directly to everyone. He made the homily fun and enjoyable and really got everyone interested in hearing the gospel and learning a bit about John the Baptist

Our trip to Our Lady of the Lakes was a bit of a long one; about a 45 minute drive, but the kindness and generosity of the parish members and the enjoyable homily by Fr. Mike made the trip a worthwhile one.

Up Next: National Shrine of the Little Flower-Royal Oak