Dominion Family Services (Dominion) is a 501 (c) 3, not-for-profit, faith-based human service organization. Its founder, Rev. Fr. Michael Orr, saw the need to develop a response to Family Violence from the viewpoint of working with perpetrators to reduce the incidence of violence. Violence against women and children by intimate partners or past partners, violence against children by parents, or violence against the elderly cannot be tolerated in our society.

Since having discovered that statically most of the violence in these areas, though not all, is perpetrated by the men in our society, Dominion focuses on educating men on their need to develop non-violent relationships with their intimate partners, their children, and with society in general. The agency provides individual, group, and family counseling services to the Tri-County area.

Dominion Family Services receives referrals from the Michigan Department of Corrections (MDOC) i.e. probation, parole, tether, juvenile agencies, various District Courts, Family Independence Agency (FIA), various family agencies, Police Departments, Churches, employers, and out-of-state agencies.

Dominion Family Services, in the future, according to its founder, sees the critical need to develop programs for Fathers (The Fathers' Network), teens & young men (The Male Accountability Project), and for women (The Women's Network). Programs that promote virtue, integrity, self-respect, and accountability that reflect the purpose of Dominion, which is to reduce the incidence of violence.

Fr. Michael's vision also includes a radio broadcast to both warn and educate the public on this growing epidemic of violent behavior. He also envisions building an institute dealing with violence prevention in the community.

In 1995 Fr. Michael Orr founded Dominion Family Services, a 501 (c) (3) not-for-profit, faith-based human service organization whose mission is to educate our families by raising their consciousness to the measurable harm that is being done by allowing violence to exist and flourish in our families and communities, while volunteering to be a change agent in the community at the grass roots level and creating programs that change that paradigm.

Fr. Michael conducts weekly batterer intervention classes for men convicted of domestic abuse charges and shares his wisdom and insight with couples contemplating separation and/or divorce. Also, he advises persons who experience domestic violence in both dating and marital relationships. He speaks of conflict resolution and family restoration from a Christian point of view. He holds gender equality and basic trust as foundational pillars in any successful relationship. He has expanded the services of Dominion Family Services to include drug screening, marijuana insight classes, morality program, mentoring and life skills coaching. He also has expanded the agencies collaborative base, partnering with such agencies as, EVAY, Inc., On the Wings of Love, the Detroit Police Department’s domestic violence unit (DVU), various probation offices of the Michigan Department of Corrections and various Churches in Metro-Detroit.

Fr. Michael is a member of the Wayne County Council Against Family Violence, the Oakland County Coordinating Council Against Domestic Violence, the Governor’s Task Force on Batterer Intervention Service provider standards, as well as various clergy sub-committees on domestic violence. He also serves the Southfield Police Department as one of its Chaplains and is a member of the International Conference of Police Chaplains.

Licensed as a minister in 1975 and Ordained as an Elder in 1980, in the ‘Church of God in Christ’ (by the late Bishop John Seth Bailey of the Southwestern Jurisdiction) and again in 1983 (by the late Bishop C. L. Anderson Jr. of the Great Lakes Jurisdiction). Reverend Fr. Michael Orr has served in various facets of ministry for over 25 years including: Liturgical ministry, preaching, catechesis/teaching, administration and music ministry.

Fr. Michael Orr was ordained a deacon March 5, 2005 by Bishop Frederick G. Fick, Diocese of the Great Lakes. He was ordained a Priest, January 15, 2006 (on the commemoration of Martin Luther King’s birthday) by Bishop Fick. He now works as a founding clergy with Bishop Fick in the Missionary Society of St. John the Evangelist. Whose call it is to establish parishes, missions and various places of worship and prayer; to the end that God’s people may be gathered into green pastures, wherein evangelical zeal for the proclamation of the Gospel of Christ may be clearly demonstrated in Word and Sacrament. He is also the Pastor of a mission parish, Church of the Most Holy Trinity which offers Liturgy for Christians in the Metropolitan Detroit area.

Fr. Michael is married to a wonderful woman, Mrs. Tanya Orr. They are the parents of three children and five grandchildren. The couple believes that family violence is a plague on our society that must be eradicated. ‘If not us, then whom? If not now, then when?’ is their collective philosophy.

Copyright 2003-2004 Dominion Family Services All rights reserved.