The present pastoral council:
Rev. Barnabas Gillespie, OSB, pastor
Jane Huber, president
Rob Moskos, vice-president
Lucy Goffinet, secretary
Rosie Rudolph
Darrell Dauby
David Pyle

HISTORY
St. Michael Church, built in 1858-59, was the second Catholic Church in Cannelton and the ninth in Perry County; it is now the oldest Catholic Church in the county. St. Patrick Church, a 40x25 ft stone chapel, had been built in the summer of 1850 to the north of the intersection of Seventh and Madison Streets. It was razed by 1888, four years after the second St. Patrick Church was put into use on Sixth Street near Adams; this second St. Patrick Church was closed in December 1902.

On February 28 1858 the German-speaking members of St. Patrick, numbering around 315, obtained permission from Bishop Maurice de St. Palais to build St. Michael. The cornerstone was laid on June 13, 1858; the first Mass was celebrated on June 19, 1859. The stone for the walls was quarried from the cliffs east of the site. The walls range in thickness from 41 to 30 inches. They are formed of interior and exterior veneer stone with space between filled with stone fragments and mortar.

The dimensions are 125x55 ft with the nave rising 45 ft above the main floor. The frame tower of 156 feet was completed in September 1860 and the cross was mounted on September 30. The first town clock was installed during the following week. This and the later clocks of 1877 and 1981 were owned and maintained by the city.

Rev. Michael Marendt, founder of the church, died on January 15, 1871 and was buried beneath the St. Joseph alter; the grave marker stand besides that altar. The second pastor, Rev. Edward M. Faller (1871-1878), from his own inherited wealth completed the church and sacristy, built a yellow brick rectory (razed in 1981), and paid $4,000 of the $9,000 debt.

The statue of St. Michael is one piece of wood except for the spear; the details are of plaster. The high altar was installed in July 1898, a donation of Peter and Anna Clemens. In 1927 Henry and Anthony Clemens, sons of Anna and Peter, and Henry Bosquet donated the matching side altars. 1926-27 witnessed the greatest refurbishing of the church under Rev. Edward T. Hilger: Slate roof, new windows, new stations of the cross, complete interior decorating, and the conversion of the basement into a chapel with the Lourdes Grotto adjoining.

In 1951 the exterior stone joints were tuck pointed and a new shingle roof was installed. In 1953-54 the wood floor and joists were replaced with concrete and steel. Pews dating from 1905 were purchased from the second St. Paul Church in Tell City upon completion of the present St. Paul Church. In 1958 new light fixtures were donated by sons of Henry M. Clemens when new wall decoration preserved the stenciled ceiling of 1927. In 1977 repainting again preserved this ceiling; the communion railing was removed and the altar with the overhead light-canopy was installed. In 1994 a shingle roof was installed. Father Marendt Hall was remodeled in 2001.

In February 2007 a mixed blessing-disaster of a downdraft from the tower spread chimney smoke throughout the church and Father Marendt Hall. The blessing feature was that the cleaning paid by the insurance was necessary before painting to be done in the long-range restoration project for the sesquincentennial. By mid-July 2008 the church was ready for regular usage in the brighter colors of the restoration decoration. The electrical rewiring for the church was completed by this time. Remodeling the sacristy is next in the planned restoration. Air conditioning remains as the long-range hope.

A stone school had been built near the first St. Patrick Church in 1856. Classes then met in St. John School across Washington Street from the church from 1888 until an abandoned coal mine caused the foundation to shift in March 1914. The convent (present Parish Center) built in the summer of 1914 was ready for use in September. Classes met in the church basement while the new school was built in 1914-15. The school was leased to Cannelton City Schools from 1971 for kindergarten and primary grades until 2005. Any future for the building is yet to be determined.