Celebrate Christmas in the D!

UPDATED 12-24. See note for midnight Mass at the Cathedral with Apostolic Blessing. Note also that Midnight mass at St. Albertus will be in the ordinary form in English.

Many of the beautiful Churches in Detroit will be celebrating Holy Mass for Christmas. Maybe you could start a new tradition of visiting one of these beautiful Churches.

Christmas Midnight Masses:
St. Joseph: Midnight Mass in the Extraordinary Form (Tridentine Latin) *I will be at this one

Missa Brevis in G by W. A. Mozart
Ave Verum Corpus by William Byrd
sung and performed by the St. Joseph Cappella, Soloists, and Chamber Orchestra
(preludes begin at 11:30)

Old St. Mary's: Midnight Mass in the Ordinary Form (Novus Ordo)

Masses at 5:30 p.m. and 12:00 Midnight.

Music for Midnight Mass begins at 11:00 pm.

Carol Procession & Blessing of the Crib -11:40 p.m.

UPDATE: St. Albertus: Midnight Mass in the Ordinary Form (English) ( Not EF as originally reported. Thanks to AlexB for the tip.)

December 24 2010 - Pasterka - Midnight Mass doors open at 11:00pm

Assumption Grotto: Midnight Mass in the Extraordinary Form (Tridentine Latin)

12:00 midnight Tridentine Solemn orchestral Mass. (The 4:00p.m. and Midnight Masses do fulfill the obligation for Christmas). The Midnight Mass will feature Mozart’s Missa Longa and CPE Bach’s Magnificat.

Sacred Heart (Detroit) will have a 10:30 "Christmas Musical" and Midnight Mass. It says 11:30, I am not sure if that is when mass starts or if there is more music/carols at 11:30 with an actual mass start at 12.

I will update this post with more Midnight Mass opportunities during the week. If you have an suggestions or tips, leave them in the comments.

So I never really updated. Sorry, but here is a BIG one!

After Midnight Mass at the Cathedral, Archbishop Vigneron will impart the Apostolic Blessing!
The Michigan Catholic has the details. We're talking a plenary indulgence here folks, a great opportunity. Remember that the usual conditions apply. It's all in the article.

St. Toribio Icon

I like to check the blogger stats including Google search terms and referring sites. Someone found me by searching Gorman Gillis. (Mentioned in the Holy Redeemer post)

Someone else found the blog because my picture is number one when you search St. Toribio Icon on Google image search. Tucked down on that image search there was a blog post about the writer of the Icon in question. Check it out and make those pictures number 1!

Oh, and how the heck is this one of my referring sites?

One last thing. I enjoy seeing the international visitors. Welcome to the recent Slovenian visitors, or rather I should say dobrodošli!

Church Tour January 7th!

Cyril and Methodius Slovak Catholic Church (Sterling Heights) is running a Detroit Church Tour on January 7th to benefit their Youth Choir. It features many churches about which I have written. I have added the links to the posts to their blurb below.

From saintcyrils.org:

JANUARY 7 * TOUR OF DETROIT AREA HISTORIC CHURCHES
On Friday, January 7th, we will spend a full day traveling to and visiting historic Churches in the Detroit area with our Youth Choir. All of the Churches will especially be decorated for the Christmas Season. The motorcoach will depart from the Shrine Of The Little Flower Parking Lot, located at the intersection of Woodward Avenue and 12 Mile Rd. in Royal Oak, at 10:00AM and return to Shrine Of The Little Flower at 9:00PM. Planned Churches to visit include Shrine Of the Little Flower, St. Albertus, Sweetest Heart Of Mary, St. Joseph, Old St. Mary, Holy Cross Hungarian, Holy Redeemer, St. Anne, St. Hedwig, and Assumption Grotto. There will be the opportunity to attend Holy Mass. Entire cost of the trip including a delicious lunch buffet in Mexican town is $35 per person. Reservation deadline is December 21. For reservations and more information, please call: Michael Semaan at (248) 250-6005.

I picked up a flier after mass today, and on that the deadline is written as December 29th, so you may have more time than written above. Of the 4 churches for which I haven't written a post, I haven't been to Hedwig (came close) or Holy Cross, so I am looking forward to getting to those.

If you can give up a whole Friday, this is a wonderful opportunity to see some of the History and Beauty for yourself up close. Plus, these Churches will all still be decked out in their Christmastide splendor. (Including St Joseph which I helped decorate :D) Consider attending!

Presentation / Our Lady of Victory

At Meyers and Pembroke (about a half mile south of 8 Mile) is Presentation / Our Lady of Victory. As you might gather the facade as pictured above, it is the Presentation of Mary. The Parish was formed in 1973 when Presentation and Our Lady of Victory merged.

Presentation as I heard was a Caucasian parish, and their edifice was chosen to serve the merged community. The story of Presentation starts in 1941 according to Make Straight the Path, but I haven't been able to find much more information on this part of the merger.

The folks I met with after the Tuesday Noon Communion service (The parish is administered by Deacon Hubert Sanders, but Fr. Michael Byrnes comes for Sunday Mass) were much more familiar with the story of Our Lady of Victory, and some of them were even around during the early years of the community. Deacon Hubert also grew up in the OLV Community.

Our Lady of Victory's story begins in a store front on 8 mile in 1943. The founding pastor was Fr. Alvin Deem OFM. Another key figure in the founding of the Our Lady of Victory Mission was Anna 'Madre' Bates who is honored by having a hall named for her. There is certainly much more of a story to tell, and Shirley Slaughter, a parishioner aimed to tell it in her book Our Lady of Victory: The Saga of an African-American Catholic Community. I have not read the book, but it is probably a good read on the subject of the history of Black Catholics in the 20th century.

The building itself dates probably from the mid to late 40s, probably with a renovation in the 70s. As a result we have a more simple Church building and a different style of artwork than we've seen in my previous entries. The Stations of the cross are nearly identical to those I saw at Holy Family.

On to the pictures:

The Sanctuary is simple and tasteful.


I was a little surprised to see St. Joseph up in the choir loft, but there he was as 12:42.


Stained glass reprentations of the Nativity and the Presentation of Our Lord
Note also the stations.


Station from Holy Family


Plaques and certificates honoring Anna 'Madre' Bates


POLOV on a winter's day.

Their sign on Meyers says "All are welcome." The folks I met there today made me feel welcome, and they will do the same to you as well if you ever drop in. They are small but active community, and I am glad I visited. Thanks for your hospitality and the story of your parish.

St. Aloysius feature in Tridentine Community News

I wanted to bring to your attention, dear reader, an article in the Tridentine Community News about St. Aloysius which I featured recently.

It discusses the Theater-like architecture of the edifice and has a couple nice pictures.

More issues of this weekly page can be viewed here.

Holy Redeemer and El Comal

At Vernor and Junction in/near the area known as Mexicantown, there is Holy Redeemer of the Southwest Vicariate. This is another huge one, and a must see for anyone interested in churches in the city.

The Parish was founded in 1880 to serve the Irish and Germans in the area. Consulting Make Straight the Path, I see that the Parish was first formed with the arrival of Fr. Aegidius Smulders, CSSR on St. Patrick's day of that year. Mass was held at a general store for 6 weeks, then at Paddy McMahon's Saloon, but finally 4 acres at Dix (now Vernor) and Junction were purchased for the parish.

The parish grew quickly, and the current church building (by the Donaldson and Meier Firm which we have mentioned before) was the third edifice built by the parish. It was dedicated in 1923.

Other tidbits regarding Holy Redeemer.

• In the 1930s Holy Redeemer's Fr. Higgins pioneered ministry to the deaf community. By 1941 Bishop Mooney asked Holy Redeemers Redemptorist Fathers to assume the responsibility for all of the Archdiocese's deaf Catholics.
• Holy Redeemer was the setting for the 1987 film the Rosary Murders starring Donald Sutherland and also contained an uncredited John Gillis playing an Altar Boy. John Gillis is better known by his current name Jack White.
• The main altar (I assume they mean the free-standing one) was originally from Blessed Sacrament Cathedral, installed for the 1987 visit of Pope John Paul II. It was given to Holy Redeemer in 2003. For some reason it had no relics in it, but recently the following relics were installed: Redemptorist Saints Alphonsus Liguori, Clement Hofbauer, and Gerard Majella, and St. Toribio Romo, a 20th century Mexican martyr (more on him later). The Redemptorist relics were a gift from Teresa and Gorman Gillis, and yes they are Jack White's parents. The story was in the most recent parish bulletin. That makes Jack White 2 degrees from St. Alphonsus Liguori right?
  

I went to the 11:15 Mass with Perpetual Help devotions and took a few photos after.

The complex is imposing to say the least. Not seen here is the school (Cristo Rey) or convent.


St. Toribio Romo. I can't say I've seen a caution sign in an Icon before.
It is said that he helps Mexicans make the treacherous trek into the US from Mexico.
That probably has something to do with this peculiar iconography.


Some repairs are needed, such as this torn Station.


HUGE image of Our Lord over the sanctuary.

Now that you have yourself in this predominately Hispanic area, you can imagine that you would be able to find some good Latin American cuisine. I stopped into El Comal, and found Pupusas on the menu. A couple friends went to El Salvador, so I had heard of these little treats, and I was eager to try them. Really good! I suggest you go to El Comal and try the Pupusas, especially the cheese and loroco one!

Quick Links:

• Holy Redeemer
• El Comal
• Southwest Vicariate
  

YOU ARE INVITED

I went to Holy Redeemer (and El Comal) today. I'll post more later, but I wanted to extend an invitation!

Holy Family (Greektown)

If you miss the turn onto Lafayette for Old St. Mary's, you'll pass the much smaller, but still quite beautiful Holy Family on the Chrysler service drive. If it is 9:20 on a Sunday morning, you just may be able to find a parking spot in front of the Church. If you can't, be prepared to walk a block or two. Mass is at 9:30 and is celebrated in the Ordinary Form aka Novus Ordo, but in Latin. In an interesting case of cross-pollination that Fr. Z might call the gravitational pull, or the New Liturgical Movement might call "Reform of the Reform" the following was observed:

• The Mass was Ad Orientem (Liturgically speaking. Geographically the altar actually faces West)
  
• During the elevation of the blessed sacrament the servers (2 old men) lifted the chasuble as is done in the Extraordinary Form.
• The posture of the laity resembled that of the EF: Much of the congregation knelt at the beginning of the Sanctus and the Agnus Dei. Kneeling during the blessing as well.
• Reception of the Eucharist was at the Communion Rail.

The first and last example aren't all that extraordinary to me, but seeing the lifting of the Chasuble (which was Gothic, not Roman by the way) was new to me.

Holy Family was officially established in 1908 to serve the Sicilian population in Detroit. Google books has the book published in 2008 for the 100th anniversary. A quick read through the introduction shows that this parish has as interesting a history as many of the others in the city. I suggest you read it or at least scroll through the book to see the many historical photographs.

The Church, currently under administration of the Spiritans who run nearby St. Mary's, is visually stunning. They really packed a lot into a small worship space.


Mass is said at the High Altar, and there isn't much room to add a free-standing altar.


San Giusseppe


There were many Statues of Mary, but this picture of Madonna delle Lacrime (Our Lady of Tears) in the Vestibule turned out the best. The reliquary contains a cloth which I would assume touched the original image in Siracusa, Sicily if not the tears from it.


The Eyes Have it: Santa Lucia, who is also from Siracusa, Sicily.


San Vito, the patron of Dogs and dancers, was also Sicilian.


The Ceiling is painted beautifully with Saints and scenes of the Holy Family.
On the upper right of this photo you'll spot our old friend St. Therese.

Quick Links:

• Holy Family
• Old St. Mary's (My Post)
  

Google searches.

And answers:

"st joseph's church,detroit, christmas eve mass 2010"

Here's what you want, and more!

Saturday, December 25, 2010
Solemnity of Christmas
Midnight Latin Tridentine Mass
Weihnachts-Responsorien with orchestra – Michael Haydn (11:30 PM Featured Prelude)
Mass in G with orchestra – W. A. Mozart
Dominus dixit – Gregorian chant
Laetentur caeli – Gregorian chant
Ave Verum – William Byrd
In splendoribus – Gregorian chant
O Magnum Mysterium – Tomas Luis de Victoria

Yeah, you definitely want to be there, Google user a.

"when is a good time to go to christmas eve mass at old st marys in detroit mi"

Well, Google user b, according to the events calendar on the OSM website, Carols will be at 11:30 pm, blessing of the Crib at 11:45 pm, and Mass at Midnight. I've never been, but I would imagine getting there at 11:15 would be a good idea. Or get there at 11 and pray the Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary in preparation. Or put a coat on your pew at 10:30 then play some Roulette next door. (I think the Rosary plan is better.)

I'm glad you found this little blog, and I hope you come back and find the answer for which you were looking!

Lame non-post post (plus Ste. Claire! )

So... St Hedwig's canceled their first Friday Mass this month. Thankfully we were able to catch Mass at Sweetest Heart of Mary with several Deacons of the AOD.

So, no new material to post. Hopefully I can get up early enough to see something new tomorrow!

Check out this picture of Ste. Claire from the Detroit Public Library on Woodward across the street from the DIA.

Notes and News 12-03-2010

St. Elizabeth does NOT have a 7:45pm Mass on Thursdays. AOD, please update your internets!

Here is a nice little blog about St. Josaphat and other Extraordinary Form mass news. Nice pictures.

Next post should be about St. Hedwig. Judging by the photos on the website this parish should be a treat. I plan on attending their first Friday Mass at 5:30pm. Can't come? Check out the virtual tour!

Old St. Mary's (Greektown) and Golden Fleece

Considering the dearth* of churches named for St. Andrew in the Archdiocese, I decided to go to Old St. Mary's in Greektown on November 30. They have a daily 12:15 Mass. (Confessions are heard before every Mass as well.) Andrew is a name of Greek origin, so it made sense to go to Greektown.

St. Mary's is another historical beauty in the Renaissance Vicariate of the Archdiocese of Detroit. The parish is celebrating its 175th anniversary this year. The current Church building is celebrating its 125th. I really appreciate the fact that they put a pamphlet in the back of the church which a short history and a numbered guide of the sights in the Church. Statues aren't always labeled and sometimes we have no idea at whose image we are looking. If you go to OSM, be sure to pick up the white and blue pamphlet. It goes into great detail into the history of the parish, the building and its effects, and the organ. I used it as a reference for the historical information within this post.

The story starts in 1834 when Fr Martin Kundig founded a parish (the third in the city) to tend for the Catholics arriving from Neustadt, Germany. The first Church was consecrated in 1843 under the title of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Fr. Skolla, a Franciscan, was in charge at that time. In 1847, the Redemptorists took over the care of the parish, but were replaced by Franciscans in 1872. The Holy Ghost Fathers (Spiritans) began administering to the parish and still do to this day.

The current Church building was completed in 1885. It is a massive structure now in the shadows of the Greektown Casino Hotel. I managed a few pictures during and after Holy Mass.

During the Homily. The High Altar is situated to the East.


It's the ceiling. Fresco of our lady at the intersection of the transepts and nave.


St. Anthony Altar with St. Rita and St. Therese of Lisieux


The Sacred Heart altar was rebuilt after a fire on Good Friday of 1994.
SS. Philomena and Barbara flank our Lord, and to the left is Good St. Joseph.


High Altar again. Communion rail is in use, by the way.
St. Stephen and St. Elizabeth of Hungary flank Our Lady.

I would be remiss if I did not mention the three Grottoes at this church. I'll provide a picture from each.

Gethsemane Grotto


Lourdes Grotto (Remember that the Church was founded under the Immaculate Conception, which was dogmatically defined in 1854. In 1858 Our Lady of Lourdes introduced herself to Bernadette Soubirous as the Immaculate Conception)


Grotto depicting the Baptism of Our Lord.

There are plenty of options in Greektown for food. I stopped at the Golden Fleece, mostly because of the name. Who doesn't like a place named after Jason's quest? The souvlaki was decent, but kind of pricey for what it was. For a cheaper meal, go to Plaka which is more like a Coney Island. There are also Pegasus, Pizzapapalis, Fishbones, etc. etc. If coffee and a pastry are more your thing, you might want to go to Astoria Bakery.

*There is 1: St Andrew's in Rochester whose mass was too early for when I woke up. There is also SS. Andrew and Benedict which most likely refers to St. Andrew Svorad and his disciple Benedict and St. Andrew Kim who is also not the apostle.