In June of 1964, the appointed pastor, Fr. John Gordon, of the newly-named parish, (appointed by then Archbishop of Detroit, John F. Dearden), proclaimed that St. Ephrem was "made, not born!" from the 450 original members. The original property was first acquired by Cardinal Dearden's predecessor, Archbishop Edward Mooney, on January 14, 1957, having been purchased for $28,282.80 from Regis Land Company.

The temporary church's groundbreaking took place on Sunday, July 26, 1964, by the F.H. Martin Construction Company and was finished in time to celebrate Christmas that same year.

As they say, the rest was history! A year later, the rectory was finished, catechism classes were held in the basement and, by 1975, a door-to-door capital campaign was under way to begin construction of a permanent church.

In June 1979, Fr. Robert Blondell became the second pastor of our parish with many new challenges.

Another chapter was added in July 1996, when Fr. Ron Milligan became our third pastor. Through the leadership of the Parish Pastoral Council, its Commissions and the generosity of our parishioners in a capital campaign, we renovated the social hall into our newly refurbished Activity Center.

On Ash Wednesday, February 18, 2015, Fr. Craig Giera was installed as Pastor of St. Ephrem.  Many wonderful and exciting things happened over his tenure. Fr. Craig began his new assignment as Director of Priestly Vocations for the Archdiocese of Detroit in Spring 2020.

The Archdiocese of Detroit announced Families of Parishes on Pentecost 2020. St. Ephrem joined our new family, Saints Among the Saints, beginning on July 1, 2022. Our family includes the parishes of St. Martin de Porres (Warren), St. Blase (Sterling Heights), and St. Michael (Sterling Heights).

On July 1, 2020, our parish welcomed Fr. Arokiaselvam Nithiyaselvam, MSFS, (Fr. Aro, MSFS), as our new administrator. The following announcement was made by Archbishop Allen Vigernon on Sunday, November 7, 2021:

Reverend Arokiaselvam Nithiyaselvam, MSFS, with the concurrence of his Provincial Superior of the USA Vice-Province, Reverend Tomy J. Puliyan, MSFS, appointed Moderator of the In Solidum team of priests who, with the other priests of the team, will lead the newly formed Central Macomb Vicariate Family 4 (St. Blase Parish, Sterling Heights; St. Ephrem Parish, Sterling Heights; St. Martin de Porres Parish, Warren; St. Michael Parish, Sterling Heights), effective July 1, 2022. Father Nithiyaselvam currently serves as Administrator of St. Ephrem Parish, Sterling Heights.  

We look forward to the what the Lord has in store for our parish and family!  Come and join us!