Residents of the village of Halfway petitioned Bishop Michael Gallagher for a new parish and permission was granted in October of 1926. Construction began on a church near Gratiot, a few blocks north of 8 Mile, but the parish did not have a name at the time.
During construction a young girl named Veronica Rose became ill and died. Her father, a contractor, finished the church for free, in Veronica's memory. The first pastor, Rev. A. W. Soest, named the parish after her patroness. Later, in 1956, the current church was built.
St. Peter the Apostle, established 1953 in Harper Woods, closed three years ago and merged with St. Veronica.
The parish schools closed in 1991. Rev. Stanley Pachla has been pastor since the late 1990s. A new altar was added in August of 2012 and contains relics of St. Francis Xavier, St. Paul of the Cross, St. Catherine of Siena, St. Elizabeth of Hungary, St. Pius X, St. Catherine Laboure, Blessed Mary Angela Truszkowski, and wood from the True Cross of Christ.
A statue of St. Veronica stands in the south transept; a painting of her adorns the apse
The Epiphany of Our Lord is depicted in the choir loft.
The Holy Family stands in the narthex of the church.
A large crucifix hangs above the sanctuary.
The windows in the transepts and above the choir loft appear to be original to the building. The north transept depicts Pentecost.
Resurrected Christ appears in the south transept
Abstract windows line the sides of the nave and appear to be later additions.
Windows in the former baptistry, below the belltower, depict scenes and symbols of baptism.
Today, St. Veronica has about 600 registered households. Saturday Vigil Mass is at 4:30pm preceded by Confessions at 3:00pm; Sunday Mass is at 9:00am & 11:00am. Weekday Mass is at 7:45am on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday in the convent chapel.
The Detroit Mass Mob is scheduled to visit St. Veronica on September 11th of this year, ahead of the parish's 90th anniversary.
For more info: bulletin archive, C & G News, Changing Lives Together
7 comments:
Very interesting. I enjoyed reading about St. Veronica :)
The difference between the ugly abstract windows and the older ones is striking. At least they didn't completely destroy the building!
Nice post...........perfect timing with their 90th anniversary coming up...
Please join us at the Detroit Mass Mob XXVI at St Veronica on September 11, 2016 to help them celebrate ..11:00 am Mass...I will probably "borrow" many of your photographs...
More on the windows. We learned about them, and the artists when I attended school there. http://www.michiganstainedglass.org/month/month.php?month=11&year=2009
I was one one the first groups that made their first Communion in the new church. But when the wrecovations came in the 60' and 70's they did ruin it what. for starters when it was first built all the pews faced the same direction towards the alter and were not turned in the wings. As Far as the Big Beautiful Cruifix that hung above the old alter is now missing. someone had hand carved in Italy and Now i believe it hangs in st. Hugo In The Hills. Recently I saw a picture and the church was so small it look like it was too large for the area it was in It was originally supposed to be hanging in a much larger church. and having a third alter was not necessary either I now looks like there are too many alters a is to crowded. the only thing they did not remove was the communion rail because it was bolted into the floor. the
corner stone was lade in 1959 and My First Communion was not to long after that. My two older sister had to have there in the gym because the church was not built yet.
I was the last class that made my Holy Communion in the old Church.
That is now the gym.
Just would rather not get any
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