Jubilee Year of Mercy

Archdiocese of Detroit's Holy Door of Mercy 

Throughout the jubilee year, Holy Doors will be opened at the major basilicas of Rome, as well as cathedrals worldwide, including the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Detroit. Faithful who make a pilgrimage and pass through a holy door receive a plenary indulgence under the usual conditions. 

"The Holy Door will become a Door of Mercy through which anyone who enters will experience the love of God who consoles, pardons, and instills hope."- Pope Francis, Misericordiae Vultus, 3

When will the Holy Door of Mercy be open to the public?
Opening Mass: Dec. 13 at 11:00 AM
First Friday of every month: 9:00 AM - 2:00 PM
Sunday afternoons: 1:00 - 3:00 PM
More info: AOD.org

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Year of Mercy Devotions
at Mother of Divine Mercy Parish

First Saturday of the Month following the 4 pm Mass at Sweetest Heart of Mary Church ~ Eucharistic Exposition, Divine Mercy Chaplet & Benediction, with Confession available during this time of prayer

First Sunday of the Month following the Noon Latin Novus Ordo Mass at St. Joseph Church ~ Eucharistic Exposition, Divine Mercy Chaplet & Benediction, with Confession available during this time of prayer

Every Sunday following the 9:30 am Tridentine Mass at St. Josaphat Church ~
Divine Mercy Chaplet

Mother of Divine Mercy Parish Mission:
March 18, 19 (St. Joseph’s Day) & 20

Pilgrimage to the Door of Mercy and Mother of Divine Mercy Parish
April 23 - A special morning to early afternoon pilgrimage to the Door of Mercy at the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament and the three historic churches of Mother of Divine Mercy Parish (St. Josaphat, St. Joseph & Sweetest Heart of Mary) in Detroit, including devotions and church tours at each, lunch & more; please email events@MotherofDivineMercy.org for more information.

More info: PDF

Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament

Most Blessed Sacrament Parish was established in 1905 in what was, at the time, the northern edge of Detroit. The building was designed by Cleveland-based architect Henry A. Walsh according to the Norman Gothic style. Financial problems delayed construction until 1913 and it continued slowly. The exterior was built out of Ohio sandstone and Indiana limestone.

 

The original organ was donated by Frederick Fisher in 1925. The interior of the church was not finished until 1930 and the first Mass was held on Thanksgiving of that year. The exterior would not be finished for decades.

 

The Diocese of Detroit was elevated to an archdiocese in 1937. Most Blessed Sacrament replaced St. Patrick, seat of the diocese since 1877, as the cathedral.

Walsh was unable to finish the project so Detroit architect George Diehl oversaw the completion. The towers and spire were not finished until 1951, coinciding with the 250th anniversary of the city's founding.

Much of the statuary was created by local, prominent sculptor Corrado Parducci.

Pope St. John Paul II visited the U.S. in 1987 and Cardinal Archbishop Edmund Szoka convinced him to come to Detroit. The pope addressed a group at Blessed Sacrament Cathedral on September 18 of that year and stayed overnight at the archbishop's residence next door. See video below with Cathedral section starting at 2:21.

The cathedral was renovated in 2001 by local architect Gunnar Birkerts. Changes included a plaza on the north side of the building, a reconfigured sanctuary, new light fixtures, as well as a new cathedra, baptismal font and organ. At that time, the tabernacle was moved to the south transept and a chapel built around it.

The cathedra used by Pope St. John Paul II, along with other artifacts, on display in a breezeway along the south side.

 

A large plaque in the sacristy shows the vesting prayers traditionally said by clergy in preparation for Mass. Each prayer corresponds to a particular vestment (amice, alb, cincture, maniple, stole and chasuble).

As we covered in a previous post, there is a tradition of hanging a cardinal's galero from the cathedral ceiling after his death. Galeros from Cardinal Mooney and Cardinal Dearden hang above each transept. This tradition has fallen from practice and was not done following the death of Cardinal Szoka.

  

A bust of the retired Cardinal Archbishop Adam Maida in the narthex; St. Anne and Child Mary.

The large, ornate rose window above the choir loft; detail of a window in the lower-level of the nave

 

Large, colorful windows line the clerestory. Each features a gospel reference in the middle of the window and images of saints in the bottom.

Inscriptions in the sides of the columns along the side aisles.

The Cathedral is located at 9844 Woodward, just south of Highland Park and near the geographic center of Detroit.

Daily Mass is held at 8:00am in the chapel on Mondays and Thursday-Saturday. Sunday Mass is at 11:00am while confessions are heard on Saturdays at 2:30pm.

Rev. Gregory Deters is Associate Pastor and Msgr. Michael LeFevre is the current rector. However, LeFevre will soon move to St. John Fisher in Auburn Hills and replaced by Rev. J.J. Mech, presently at St. Anastasia in Troy.

For more photos: Flickr & AOD Film Services
For more about JP2's visit: The Michigan Catholic
For more info about the parish: bulletin archive & parish website

Red hats in Detroit

I happened to go to the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament this past Sunday and noticed some things I hadn't before, suspended Galeri. These hats (until the late 1960's) were given to Cardinals at their consistory. As you have probably heard by now, the US has gained 2 Cardinals, Dolan and O'Brien. Our newest US cardinals received the scarlet zucchetto and biretta.

The Cardinal's galero is traditionally hung over his remains upon interment. The popular tradition is that once the hat disintegrates and falls the ground the Cardinal has left Purgatory and entered heaven.

However, Cardinals Mooney and Dearden are buried in Holy Sepulchre cemetary in Southfield, so we veer from tradition there.

Maida and Szoka are the other two Detroit Cardinals, both still living. It is not known whether the current Archbishop Vigneron will ever receive the red hat.

I don't know which Galero belongs to which deceased Cardinal, but one hangs in each transept.

North Transept with beautiful stained glass depicting angels and saints surrounding the throne of Christ the King.

South transept has the Blessed Sacrament side chapel.

Close up of Galero.

External shot of Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament.

Detroit's Blessed Sacramental Cathedral shown to National Audience

There has been a lot of buzz about the Chrysler 200 commercial from Super Bowl XLV, at least on Facebook. For about a second in the video there is a shot of Blessed Sacrament Cathedral as seen from John R. So approximately 110 million people either saw it or were grabbing dip at this time.
There were a few discussions online about which church it was, and thanks to a priest's comment we were able to ascertain that it was indeed the Cathedral



0:48 is where it is.



We get close to St. Aloysius, but we don't get to see it. There is a chance that St. Al's may be in an upcoming motion picture...

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.