Oakville, though originally a largely Protestant area, had its own Catholic Church, St. Andrew Parish, going back to the 1845.  It was not until 1955 that it was necessary to establish a second parish, St. Dominic, and a third, St. James, in 1961. Due to the remoteness of the area north of the QEW, Monsignor Harrigan, Pastor of St. Andrew, in the spring of 1969 began celebrating Mass in St. Michael School. As Mass soon was well attended, and numbers of families living in the area increased,  a feasibility study for a new parish was begun in the fall of 1972, including a door-to-door census. When the results were tabulated, there were at least 700 recognized Catholic families.

On August 29, 1975, Father James Mihm was appointed as first pastor of St. Michael Parish; he used a house directly across from St. Michael School as first his home and parish office. Sections of St. Andrew and St. James Parishes now became the new St. Michael Parish. The parish would cover the area north of the QEW, east of 16 Mile Creek, west of Winston Churchill, and south of the Milton boundary.

The first of many Parish Pastoral Councils started on February 29 of 1976, chaired by Al Troke. The parishioners soon began work for a church building, with lots of fund-raising events (bingo with  Pat O’Brien at the helm, the ‘93 buy a brick ‘94 campaign, bazaars etc.) and  planning with the architect and building committees. The church was designed and built for $651,000. Bishop Paul F. Reding, Bishop of the diocese, blessed the church on April 29th, 1979.The first six recorded baptisms were celebrated on October 12, 1975. To date (Dec ’09) there have been 5193 children and adults received into the faith, and  5280 confirmed in the faith. First communions total 3687.  The first of the 446 recorded weddings was on October 11, 1975, and the first of 577 funerals took place on July 6, 1976.

We have been privileged to be served by capable Lay Pastoral Ministers, including Sister Bernadette Flynn, Franco Franceschi, Marilyn Csefko and currently Kathleen FitzPatrick. Receptionist-Secretaries-Bookkeepers have been: Marilynne Percy, Esther Farley, Doris Ippolito, Martha Devlin, Joanne Matters, Gloria Rodrigues, Marilyn Csefko, Pierrette Aubin, Carol Norris and currently Trish Wiencis. Housekeeping staff has been Mary Donnelly, Emily DiCecca, Ursula Doyle and currently Fran Paret.  Church caretaking was done by Phil Dorval, Jim  Hawkins, Winnie Mullen (Thatcher), Fran Paret, the Guerin family, Tony Ramondino, David  Sasaki, Marcel Aubin and currently William MacDonald. Lawn care was given by Jim Hawkins, Mark McMillan, Geoff Burry, Darren Fitzgibbon, David Sasaki and Paul Philpott. The gardening has been done by Del Evans, Jose, Edna and Christine Silveira, Fran Paret, MaryAnne Levine, David Fisher, Thelma Hooper and others. We have been served by volunteer sacristans, including Audrey Carrol, Rose White, Jim Bruce, Rosemary Evans, Elaine Bullock, Bruce Hazelton and Irene Malinowski and currently by Josephine Micallef. Margaret VanLandschoot for a time regularly provided us with the Liturgy of the Word on Mondays.
 

The Catholic population of the area continued to grow. By 1996 there were about 2500 registered parish families. In the spring of 1996 Bishop Anthony Tonnos divided the area of St. Michael’s Parish and established a new parish, Mary Mother of God on August 15th 1996 to serve the people living in what was St. Michael’s eastern section.  Father Charlie Jordan returned to Oakville as the new pastor of this section of the People of God. After celebrating Masses in St. Marguerite d’Youville School for 7 years the new church of Mary Mother of God which seats around 1,000 people was blessed by Bishop Tonnos on June 13, 2004.

As of Dec.31st 2009 St. Michael’s Parish had 2,385 registered families. The parish has a Catholic Women’s League Council, a St. Vincent DePaul Society Conference, a Charismatic Prayer Group “Servants of the Light” a Development and Peace Committee and youth ministry has two sections (a) Altar Servers and pupils in Grades 7 & 8 and (b) High School Students. The Spanish Community celebrates Sunday Mass here weekly and has support programs some of which are for children preparing for Sacraments, couples preparing for marriage, support for married couples and Charismatic Renewal. Parishioners both English and Spanish are involved in a variety of ministries some with a local focus and others with a global focus.

Four Catholic elementary schools: St. Michael, St. John , Our Lady of Peace, and St. Andrew have a total of 1820 children as of December 2009. St. Andrew School serves families from both St. Michael’s and Mary Mother of God territorial Parishes. Some of the families served by these four schools attend neighbouring territorial or linguistic parishes. For several years the youth of high school age were served by St. Ignatius of Loyola Catholic Secondary School. In September 2002 the Halton Catholic District School Board built another Catholic High School in our parish area, on 6th Line just north of River Oaks Community Centre, called Holy Trinity Catholic Secondary School. It serves families from St. Michael’s and Mary Mother of God Parishes and other Catholic Parishes in Oakville. In accordance with provincial guidelines it is an open access secondary school serving families from the general population.  
           
The boundaries of St. Michael Parish: on the South the Queen Elizabeth Highway from 16 Mile Creek on the west to Morrison Creek on the east as far as Upper Middle along south side of Upper Middle to Trafalgar Rd. along west side of Trafalgar Rd to Glenashton Dr., and along the south side of Glenashton to Sixth Line, and along west side of Sixth Line to Dundas St, and along south side of Dundas St. to 16 Mile Creek.
           
Fr. James R. Mihm, our founding pastor, died after a brief illness on January 3rd 2007. Please remember him and the deceased members and benefactors of St. Michael’s Parish in your prayers.
   
We, members of the Pilgrim People of God which forms the Body of Christ, continue to work together to be conformed to Christ here in St. Michael’s Parish .  We allow the Spirit of God to enliven us to grow in love for the Lord and for each other.