On behalf of the community of St. Cyril Parish, welcome to our website and our parish.  We are located in Bannister, Michigan and a parish in the Diocese of Saginaw.  

Slovak and Czech immigrants founded St. Cyril Parish, named after one of the two brothers, Cyril and Methodius, who were the apostles of the Czech and Slovak nations.  The parish began as a mission of St Mary Parish, Alma.  The first masses in the Bannister area were offered by Fr. John Mulvey, pastor of St Mary Parish, Alma, in the I.O.O.F. Hall above the Campbell Grocery Store in the fall of 1910.  Often used for dances, the hall was the only facility available to accomodate the religious services.  These first masses were made possible through the untiring efforts of the John and Marie Kral family.  They had immigrated from Czechoslovakia to Cleveland, OH when a friend of theirs had visited the Bannister area.  Informing them that the area was favorable for farming, they Krals moved to a farm between Ashley and Bannister in 1909.

In 1911 plans were made to build a church in Bannister.  With the help of Bishop Edward Kelly, Bishop of the Diocese of Grand Rapids of which Bannister was part, and Bannister's businesses, a centrally located site was selected and purchased from Thomas Moore.  The cost of construction of that first church was about $1500.  The present Church sits on the same property.  

In 1920, the Church was enlarged to accomodate 220 people.  In October 1921, Bishop Kelly established St Cyril parish with Fr. Joseph Nimricheter as the first pastor.  In 1922 the parish purchased a house next to the Church for $1350 to serve as the rectory.  During the 1920's, the Ku Klux Klan members confronted farmers while working in the fields.  The Klan informed then that Catholics were not welcome in the community and advised them against attending mass.  The men, leaping to their own defense, used their pitchforks to drive the Klan from their land.  

In May 1948, the old rectory was sold and a new rectory was built.  The parish continued to increase in size that a new and larger church was needed.  Ground breaking for the new Church took place in June 1959 and on Sunday, March 27, 1960 mass was offered for the first time in the new Church.  

The present church underwent major updates over the years to keep up with the liturgical changes that were part of the II Vatican Council.  In 1987, native son, Msgr. Joseph Adamec was appointed by Pope John Paul II as bishop of the Altoona-Johnstown Diocese in Pennsylvania.  

In 2013, as part of the "Planning Tomorrow's Parishes" program of the Diocese of Saginaw, St Cyril Parish has become linked with St Peter Parish (the new merged parish from Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Chesaning, and St Michael Parish, Oakley), Chesaning.