About this event
The St. Mother Teresa Memorial Golf Outing is St. Paul Albanian Catholic Church's fall fundraiser, named for the Albanian-born saint canonized in 2016. It's a paid outing — registration fees per golfer support the parish's youth ministry and Albanian-language religious-formation programs. Families, parishioners, and business sponsors from across southeast Michigan come out for it. This is a different event from St. Paul's May Albanian Golf Outing; don't confuse the two.
The Essentials
- Date: Sunday, September 20, 2026
- Time: Registration and the day begin at 8:00 AM. The parish hasn't published the exact tee schedule for 2026 — a morning shotgun start is typical for an outing this size, but confirm when you sign up.
- Place: The parish office and main point of contact is St. Paul Albanian Catholic Church, 525 W Auburn Rd, Rochester Hills, MI 48307. The outing itself is played at a metro Detroit golf course. St. Paul rotates the course some years, and the 2026 course wasn't posted at the time of writing — call the parish office before you plan your drive to get the current location.
- Cost: Paid. This is a charity fundraiser, not a free event. There's a registration fee per golfer, usually with single-golfer, foursome, and sponsor options. The parish sets the 2026 rate; ask for the current price when you register.
- Weather: Mid-to-late September in southeast Michigan can swing. Daytime highs are often in the 60s or 70s, mornings can be in the 40s, and rain is possible. Dress in layers for an 8:00 AM start.
Getting There by Car and Transit
Rochester Hills sits in northern Oakland County, off I-75 and M-59. Most attendees drive — it's a golf outing, and players bring clubs. The parish at 525 W Auburn Rd is the address you'll use for any pre-outing parish business, but the golf course itself is somewhere else in metro Detroit and the 2026 venue hasn't been posted publicly. Don't drive to the church on the morning of the outing expecting to play there. Call the parish office first, get the course name and address, and put that into your GPS the night before.
Parking at the course is not specified in any public materials for this event. Golf courses hosting charity outings almost always have on-site parking for players, and there's no indication of a fee, but confirm with the parish or the course when you register.
Public transit to a suburban metro Detroit golf course is not practical for this kind of event, and no transit guidance has been published. If you don't drive, coordinate a ride with another golfer or sponsor — the parish community is the easiest way to find one.
The single biggest gotcha: the course location is not on the website. Every year someone shows up at the church parking lot on Auburn Road with their clubs in the trunk. Call ahead.
What to Expect on the Course
The published details for the 2026 outing are minimal. What is confirmed: it's an annual fall golf fundraiser honoring St. Mother Teresa, registration starts at 8:00 AM, and it closes out the parish's outdoor fundraising season after the September 5 Feast Day weekend. A morning shotgun start is standard for an outing this size, but the exact tee schedule, contests, and post-round program have not been posted publicly. The parish materials don't list named performers, ensembles, or a banquet program for this particular outing.
What you can reasonably expect from a parish golf fundraiser of this type: check-in and breakfast or coffee at registration, eighteen holes with the usual mix of skill contests and hole sponsors, and a meal and awards portion afterward. Sponsor signs line the course, and you'll see Albanian-American families, business owners, and clergy mixed in with parishioners who just love golf. It's social more than competitive. If you want specifics — format, contests, what's included in the fee — call the parish office and ask.
The St. Mother Teresa framing matters here. She was Albanian-born, canonized in 2016, and is the most internationally recognized Albanian Catholic figure in the world. Naming the outing after her ties a regular golf fundraiser to a much larger story about Albanian Catholic identity in the diaspora.
The Food
Honest answer: the parish has not published a food menu for the 2026 outing, and the specific golf course hasn't been announced. Most metro Detroit golf courses that host charity outings serve standard clubhouse fare — sandwiches, burgers, salads, soft drinks, and beer — as part of the registration fee or at the post-round meal. Whether the parish arranges for any Albanian dishes to be added (qebapa, byrek, or similar) is not stated anywhere in the public materials.
If traditional Albanian food matters to you for this outing, ask the parish directly when you register. Don't show up expecting a full Albanian spread — this is a golf fundraiser at a rented course, not a parish festival. The fundraising and the day on the course are the point; the food is whatever the course kitchen and the parish organizers have arranged.
Rochester Hills' Albanian Community and Why the Count Matters
St. Paul Albanian Catholic Church in Rochester Hills is one of the most significant Albanian institutions in the United States — it's described as the largest Albanian Catholic congregation outside the homeland. Metro Detroit has been a center of Albanian Catholic life for decades, drawing families from northern Albania, Kosovo, Montenegro, and Macedonia. An event like the Mother Teresa Memorial Golf Outing is one of the visible markers of that community: parish fundraisers, named for an Albanian saint, attended by sponsors and families whose names tell the whole migration story.
Here's the count problem. The U.S. Census records roughly 224,000 Albanian Americans. The real community is close to a million. The gap isn't small — it's most of us. Mixed-heritage families, second- and third-generation Albanian Americans who marked something else on the form, Kosovar and Macedonian and Çam Albanians who didn't see themselves in the ancestry box, people who never filled it out at all — all of them disappear from the official figure.
The Census stays essential. NAR is the parallel count beside it. Registering with the National Albanian Registry takes about two minutes, it's free, and it doesn't ask you to prove anything — half-Albanian counts, third-generation counts, non-speakers count, Kosovar and Macedonian and Montenegrin and Çam all count. NAR is a 501(c)(3) (filed; IRS confirmation pending). The registration is not an ID, not a citizenship document, not federal anything. It's a count, run by the community, so the next time someone cites a number for Albanian Americans, there's a real one to cite.
Gatherings like this fundraiser in Rochester Hills are where the uncounted community becomes visible. Add yourself to the count.
What to Bring
- Your golf clubs and golf shoes
- Layers for a cool morning start and a warmer afternoon
- Rain jacket — September in Michigan is unpredictable
- Sunglasses, sunscreen, and a hat
- Cash for skins, raffles, mulligans, or 50/50 drawings
- Your registration confirmation from the parish
- The course address (call the parish to get it; don't assume)
- A swing that's at least slightly warmed up
