St. Anthony Lithuanian, founded in 1920, is a tiny Lithuanian holdout in mainly Hispanic southwest Detroit. I have never been, but a friend has, and she described it as a small welcoming community who assured her that readings are in English on Sundays (at least at the 9am mass.) Of the 7 masses per week, 6 are in Lithuanian. The pastor is Rev. Gintaras A Jonikas. According to the AOD parish listings he is also pastor of Divine Providence Lithuanian on 9 mile in Southfield. The plan is to merge the St. Anthony community into the Divine Providence community in 2013. The council seeks further analysis on whether the St. Anthony building can be used by Holy Redeemer parish which is 10 blocks west south west on Vernor Highway. Holy Redeemer has recently been entrusted to SOLT who brought 4 priests and 14 seminarians to the archdiocese. Hopefully this building can be retained by the AOD.
St. Luke Parish (brief history on their website) is also recommended for closure. It and St. Mary's of Redford are already clustered under the pastorship of Rev. Tyrone Robinson. The recommendation is to merge the St. Luke community into St Mary's of Redford, but to "maintain an outreach center at St. Luke’s" per the APC document. The APC wants this completed by June 2012.
See also Parish Closures? Who? When? Part 1 and Part 2. Downriver parishes next. Then we will go into what the APC recommendations are for Parishes we have visited on this blog.
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