St. Michael the Archangel was founded as a mission of St. Chatherine of Siena, located in Kennesaw, in August of 1995.  The mission started the first Sunday with over 300 hundred families and met in the gym of the Cherokee County Recreation Center located on Main street in Woodstock.  St. Michael's parish family has continued to grow to over 2200 families.

     St. Michael's purchased a house at 115 Jay Lane at the end of January 1996.  The house was turned into a rectory for the priest and the basement was converted into offices for Administration and Religious Education.  There was a separate garage on the property which the Knights of Columbus converted into a Day Chapel.  In March of 1996, thirty acres was purchased on Arnold Mill Road.  Because of the growth in the number of families at St. Michael's, the Archbishop changed the status of the mission to a parish on June 15, 1996 and appointed St. Michael's first pastor, Fr. Conor Fitzgerald.  In August of 1996, Deacon Jim Easterwood transferred from St. Catherine's to serve as a Deacon at St. Michael the Archangel.

     As the parish and staff continued to grow, the house on Jay Lane became too cramped.  In January of 1997 five more acres and a house adjoining the property on Arnold Mill was purchased and the house on Jay Lane was sold.  After completely renovating the house, with much help from many parishioners, the pastor and office staff moved into their new home in April.  The Knights of Columbus again renovated the garage and turned it into a quaint Day Chapel.  The storage shed on the property was also renovated and turned into a work space for Religious Education and a meeting room.

     In August of 1997, Fr. Patrick Kingery was transferred to become St. Michael's new pastor.  As the parish flourished, the house on Arnold Mill became cramped again and an addition was added to the rectory for the Pastor.

     St. Michael's was fortunate in finding a large space in Woodstock to hold Sunday masses.  Arrangements were made with the Cherokee County Recreation Center, located on Main Street in downtown Woodstock, to lease the building all day on Sundays to hold masses and conduct Religious Education classes.  By the spring of 1997, the two morning masses filled the Rec Center to capacity and the evening mass was growing.  The Religious Education classes had reached to over 700 students by the fall of 1998.

     The Archdiocese of Atlanta launched a campaign to raise over $50,000,000 to build new churches and schools.  St. Michael's goal was $2,100,000.  Thanks to a very generous parish our goal was reached and the parish was able to obtain a loan from the Archdiocese for over $4,000,000 to build St. Michael's first church!  On February 28, 1998, Archbishop John F. Donoghue and Fr. Kingery dug the first shovels full of dirt at the ground breaking ceremony.  Construction of the new church was completed in mid January 1999.  The first mass was held January 22, 1999 at the 5:30 pm Vigil Mass that had been added.

     The building has a sanctuary that will seat 750 and a Day Chapel that seats 65.  There are 12 classrooms, conference and meeting rooms, a large kitchen and Multi Purpose Room.  There is also office space for the Administrative and Religious Education offices.

     St. Michael the Archangel was dedicated by Archbishop Donoghue March 19, 1999, the feast of St. Joseph.  As the parish continued to grow, Fr. Michael Sherliza was appointed as St. Michael's first Parochial Vicar in July, 1999, and another morning mass was added.

     In September 2000, a Hispanic Ministry was added and Sister Esperanza moved here from Mexico to work with them.  In November, 2001, Fr. Mario Pino joined the staff at St. Michael's to work with the Hispanic Community.  On Sunday afternoons, at 2:30 pm, Fr. Mario celebrates Mass in Spanish.

    In November, 2001, Fr. Patrick was transferred to Christ Our King and Savior in Greensboro, Georgia.  Fr. Paul Flood was transferred from Christ Our Hope Catholic Church in Lithoni, to become St. Michael's new Pastor.

     On February 2, 2002, Bill Heinsch and Charlie Carignan were ordained as Deacons at the Cathedral of Christ the King and assigned to St. Michael's.  In 2005, Deacon Frank Rottienger transferred from New York and became the fourth Deacon at St. Michael's.  Their humble service to St. Michael's is greated appreciated by the Pastor and the parishioners at St. Michael's.    

      In July of 2002, Fr. Michael was transferred to St. James the Apostle in McDonough.  Fr. Terry Crone, ordained in June, 2002, joined St. Michael's as their new Parocial Vicar.

     With three priests in the rectory on the parish property, the house was once again crowed with no space for a seminarian to work with the parish during the summer.  A house in a nearby subdivision was purchased for the Pastsor to live in.

       As the Parish continued to grow there was a need for a larger nursery and a Parish Hall. The Parish Hall was built in 2002 as a multi-purpose room  that is used for large meetings, social events and for Life Teen meetings on Sunday evenings.  There is also a large nursery in the building with a large murial of Noah's Ark on the wall.  It was designed and painted by one of the parishioners.

     In June of 2004, Fr. Paul was transferred to St. Benedict's in Duluth and Fr. Larry Neise was transferred to St. Michael's as the new Pastor.  Fr. Niese was the Pastor at St. Joseph's Church in Athens, Georgia before taking a sabatical to study in Rome, Italy.  In June of 2005, Fr. Terry was transferred to St. James the Apostle in McDonough.  Fr. Casmir Madukar was transferred from St. Benedict's to be our Parochial Vicar.

     In August of 2004, St. Michael's added a Preschool program with Teresa Wilson as director.  In the first 2 years the school reached capacity with over 120 students.  The school operates Monday through Friday from 9:00 am till noon.

     With over 2200 registered families (over 8000 members) and over 1200 students registered in Religious Education classes, St. Michael's now has 7 Masses during the weekend.  Saturday Vigil at 5:30 pm, Sunday Masses at 7:30 am, 9:00 am, 11:00 am,  12:45 pm, 2:30 pm (Spanish), and 5:30 pm (Life Teen Mass).   Daily Masses are also held Monday through Saturday at 9:00 am, and Monday through Thursday evening at 7:00 pm..

    Fr. Larry started 72 hours of Adoration, beginning at 9:30 am on Wednesday morning till 8:30 am on Saturday morning.  Everyone is invited to join us for silent Adoration during these times.

     In the fall of 2005, the parking lot was expanded to hold 200 more parking spaces.  There is now a turn around in front of the Parish Hall with a covered awning.  In order to complete this project, 12 acres of land at the rear of our property was purchased. 

     January of 2006 brought more building projects.  The rectory located in a neighboring subdivision was sold and a new rectory was built in the woods at the rear of the property.  The new rectory has a suite for each priest and serveral guest rooms for seminarians, visiting priests and family.  The new rectory was blessed on August 26, 2006.  The old rectory on the property has been turned into a space where meetings and adult education classes are held.

     Another building project, the Prayer Garden, was sponsored by St. Michael's Choir as a fundraiser for the choir's trip to Italy in October where they will be performing at the Vatican for the Pope.  The Prayer Garden is  located between Trickum Road and the parking lot.  Parishioners purchased memorial bricks that were used in building the garden.  The Prayer Garden feataures a large white cross in the middle of the garden and is surrounded by beautiful landscaping that enhances the area where one can come for prayer and quiet meditation.  The Prayer Garden was dedicated on June 3, 2006, as part of St. Michael the Archangel's 10th Anniversary as a parish.  The Prayer Garden is an ongoing project with many volunteers who tend the garden.  Memorial bricks may be purchased at any time. 

         June 3 - 4, 2006, Pentecost, St. Michael the Archangel celebrated their 10th anniversary as a Parish. There was a high Mass at the Saturday Vigil Mass with the Knights of Columbus as Honor Guard and concluded with benediction.  The Prayer Garden was dedicated following the 11:00 Mass on Sunday. To continue the celebration, the annual Parish Picnic was held on Sunday aftenoon.

     On June 10th, at the Vigil Mass, a new tabernacle, donated by a parishioner  was dedicated for the sanctuary.  Mass concluded with benediction.

     In July 2006, the new rectory, located on the back portion of the property, was completed and all three of St. Michael's priests were able to move in.  Located in a beautiful wooded setting, the rectory has a suite for each priest as well as two guest suites and common areas.  There house also has a private chapel for the priests to use.  The old rectory was turned into meeting spaces and storage for some of the ministries. 

     On September 30, 2006, the Memorial to the Unborn was unveiled and dedicated by the Pastor, Fr. Larry Niese at the Saturday Vigil Mass.  A project sponsored by the Knights of Columbus and with funds donated by St. Michael's parishioners, the memorial has a tombstone dedicated to the Unborn with a statue of Mary, Our Lady of Grace overlooking the memorial.  The 60 year old stature was donated by one of the families from the parish.  The memorial is located beside the Day Chapel and has benches for quiet meditation and prayer.

     In October of 2006, St. Michael's choir took a pilgrimage to Rome, Italy where they performed in several concerts, including Mass for the Pope at the Vatican.

   2007 and 2008 have brought several guest speakers including Imaculee Ilibigiza, author of "Left to Tell", an Advent concert by Tatiana and a Lenten concert by John Michael Talbot.  As the parish continues to grow in size and spirit, many more activities will be planned.

   May 20, 2008, a tornado touched down at St. Michael's.  Fortunately St. Michael the Archangel, our patron saint, was protecting us.  No one was injured!  An estimate of over 400 trees were downed on the parish's 35 acres.  No trees fell on any of the main buildings.  The next day many of the parish's parishioners came out and helped with the clean up.  During the next month cleanup and repairs took place with all the roofs being replaced on the main church, parish hall, the old rectory and the new rectory.  As summer came the leaves that had been stripped from all the leaves were replaced with a new growth.  The Prayer Garden that had been bare was replenished with beautiful flowers and shrubs. 

   God blessed St. Michael's and the drought of 2007 was broken in late August with an abundance of rain (due to hurricane Fay) and the parish grounds and walking paths were refreshed with fresh grass,
flowering shrubs and roses.

   June of 2008 brought more changes to St. Michael's.  Fr. Casmir was transferred to Holy Family Catholic Church in Marietta.  Fr. Jamie Riviera, a seminarian at St. Michael's several years ago, was transferred to St. Michael's as the new Parochial Vicar.  Fr. Mario Pino, the Parochial Vicar for the Hispanic community, was transferred back to his home in El Salvador.  Fr. Jamie is now also serving the HIspanic community.

   With over 2400 registered families and 1200 and growing students in Religious Education, there is sure to be more building projects in the future.