Our Parish - About Us - Parish History - The Good Work A parish is at once a local church, an institution of the diocese, and member of the universal People of God. Parish history is, therefore, both local history and salvation history. Locale is a particular determinant of the history and character of parish life. St. Francis De Sales parish, Muskegon, Michigan, thrives on the western shore of Lake Michigan; it is separated from these great lake waters by dune barriers and stands mid-way between Muskegon Lake and Mona Lake. As a parish, the "prime institution around which Catholics in their ordinary lives gather," St. Francis De Sales both receives from and contributes to the life of the Greater Muskegon and the country. If one could see spirits, one would see within the great church rising on McCracken Street the shades of all who have made Church in Muskegon - Native Americans; French explorers, missioners and fur traders; east coast land agents and homesteaders; lumber barons and merchant mariners, industrialists and professionals, machinists and shopkeepers; French Canadians, Irish, Germans, Poles, Hungarians, African Americans, Hispanics, East Asian refugees; European priests and native Michiganders; charter members and those most recently washed by Easter waters; mobile Americans and those long here. One would watch an apostolic procession of amazing diversity and duration, one so far surpassing the calendar years of St. Francis De Sales Parish.
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