St. Sebastian (Dearborn Heights)

St. Sebastian Parish was founded on June 14, 1949, with Fr. Edmund B. Dommer as founding pastor. At the beginning, the parish consisted of 1,200 families on the border of southeast Dearborn Heights and southwest Dearborn. The first Mass was celebrated on August 28, 1949, in a converted, portable classroom which was donated by another parish. An assistant pastor, Fr. Donald E. Bartone, arrived a few months later. Fr. Joachim Hoffman, a Mariannhill priest, also assisted.
  

Groundbreaking of the permanent church was in March of 1950, construction was finished in August, the first Mass was celebrated on August 27, and Edward Cardinal Mooney dedicated the church on December 3, 1950. St. Mary's Hospital donated the church's bell. The temporary church was later converted into a gymnasium and and social, then again later into Catholic School Credit Union.
  

Also in 1950, three Franciscan Sisters of St. Joseph from Hamburg, New York, began teaching catechesis. The school building, featuring ten classrooms, was completed in November, 1951, but didn't open until September, 1952. At its founding, the school has 378 students in grades 1-6, 7th and 8th grades were added later and the fist graduating class had 42 students. Fr. Dommer died in November of 1954 and was succeeded by Fr. F.L. Van Hout. 
    

Fr. Van Hout paid off the parish debt and made several additions to parish property. The school was expanded in 1965 accommodate 24 classrooms. That same year, fittingly, the convent was expanded to house capacity of 24 sisters. As 26 years as pastor, Fr. Van Hout retired in 1970 and was replaced by Fr. William Brennan.
  

The church saw many renovations in 1985, under the direction of Fr. Brennan. He built a new altar, lectern, candlesticks and celebrant's chair, all still in use today. A decade later, Fr. William Brennan Activity Building was dedicated on April 26, 1997.



Fr. Brennan served at the parish for 33 years until he was forced to retire in 2003. Priests from the Society of St. Paul assisted at the parish for decades. A portrait near the sacristy memorializes one of them, Fr. Joseph Triano, S.S.P., who began ministry at the parish in the 1980s and continued until his death in 2007.
  

The parish organizes an annual gala each spring as a fundraiser for the school, as well as an annual spring festival and Lenten fish fry. Fr. Walter Ptak has been pastor since July. Saturday Vigil Mass at 4:30 pm,  Sunday Masses are at 8:30 am, 10:30 am, 12:30 pm. Daily Mass is Monday-Friday is at 6:30 pm. Additionally, 8:30 am Mass is on Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday. The parish also has First Friday Mass at 11:15 am and First Saturday at 8:30 am.


For more info: parish website + school website + bulletin archive

St. Kateri Tekakwitha Parish (St. Joseph Church, Dearborn)

   

St. Joseph Parish began on December 13, 1942, as a mission outreach of Sacred Heart Parish in Dearborn. Because it was during World War II, and resources were diverted to the military, the congregation rented a store at the corner of Greenfield and Rotunda. Msgr. Sharpe immediately began as administrator and eventually bought ten acres of land for the present church. He left the parish in 1952 and was replaced by Fr. Gerard Brennan who, in turn, celebrated the first Mass in the church on July 19, 1953.

The church was officially dedicated by Cardinal Mooney on September 9th of that year and built at a cost of $130,500 ($1.17 million after inflation). Fr. Brennan was also a professor at Sacred Heart Seminary until Cardinal Dearden relieved him of that office in 1963 and appointed him full-time pastor of St. Joseph.

Fr. Brennan remained at St. Joseph Parish until his retirement in 1990 and a total of 38 years leading the parish. He was replaced by Fr. Adolph Redwick who, in turn, led the parish until his untimely death in March of 2006. Cardinal Maida soon appointed Fr. Terrence Kerner as pastor of both St. Joseph and nearby St. Martha (est. 1954). 

The former St. Martha Church - image source

In 2013, the two parishes merged to form St. Kateri Tekakwitha Parish after the namesake's canonization the previous year. The former St. Martha Church was sold to (now former) Oakwood Hospital and the new parish kept the proceeds.

Pews from St. Martha and altar from St. Joseph were given to St. Thomas Aquinas in Detroit. Many other artifacts were moved from St. Martha to St. Kateri including a 3,800 lb. altar, baptismal font, windows, and all other sacred items.

Stained-glass windows, made in Germany during the 1880s, were restored and reinstalled in what is now likely to be their third home in the parish hall.

  

Fr. Kerner remains pastor today and is assisted by Fr. Gary Morelli, a weekend associate. Fr. Morelli is also chaplain at nearby Oakwood Hospital. Saturday Vigil Mass is at 4:00pm preceded by Reconciliation at 3:00pm. Sunday Masses are at 9:00am and 11:00am. Tuesdays bring Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, Noon-6:30pm, followed by Mass at 6:40pm. Daily Mass is also at 9:00am on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays.

  

For more info: parish website + bulletin archive
For more photos: AOD Film Services

Sacred Heart Church (Dearborn)

European immigrants first settled in Dearborn during the 1780s but it was a rural area for decades. Fr. Gabriel Richard, the first priest to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives, petitioned Congress to fund a highway between Detroit and Chicago in March of 1824.  Permission was granted and the route was surveyed the following year. Construction started in 1829, residences were built up along the path, and Chicago Road was finished in 1833.

Dearborn Township was established the same year and the interior Dearbornville founded in 1836. At that time, Fr. O’Kavanaugh, pastor of Detroit's Most Holy Trinity Parish, traveled to Dearbornville and celebrated Mass in the homes of Irish-Catholic immigrants. Locals began the process of establishing their own parish in 1840. Eight years later, with the support of Fr. John Farnam, what was then called St. John's Parish was established.

Fr. Patrick Kelly, previously an assistant to Fr. Richard, was assigned pastor on April 26, 1856. He later changed his name to O'Kelley to distinguish himself from the area's many Kelly families. Father O'Kelley died on October 7, 1858, and Mt. Kelly Cemetery, a mile northwest of the church, was established in his memory. Fr. O'Kelley's remains were interred beneath the cemetery chapel. Fr. O'Kelley Knights of Columbus, representing Dearborn and Dearborn Heights, also bears his name.

Chapel on a hill in the small cemetery - source

In 1874, the church was moved but soon underwent massive renovations to the point that only the original frame and steeple remained. The renovations were completed the following year and the pastor,  Fr. Matthew Schaeken, sought to consecrate himself and the parish to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Bishop Borgess soon came and rededicated the parish as Sacred Heart.
 

Fr. A.X.M. Sharpe began his 37-year pastorate in 1916 and sought to expand the parish immensely. A new convent was built in 1926 but the Great Depression delayed construction of a new church. Finally, after years of sacrifices, the new church was dedicated on the Feast of Christ the King, in 1937, a century after the first Mass in the area.


The church wasn't completed for another two decades until the stained-glass windows were added. A parish high school opened in 1954 but closed in the mid 1970s. The grade school remains in operation today.
 

A medallion of the Sacred Heart of Jesus above the main doorway; an excerpt from George Washington's 'Prayer for the United States' in the vestibule
 

Several plaques in the vestibule remember previous pastors, veterans, and benefactors respectively.
 
 

St. Cecilia, along with other saints and angels, above the choir loft.
 

Images of saints appear in the clerestory and transept windows


      

Painted Stations of the Cross line the walls and are framed by windows depicting scenes from the Gospels.
  

  

At some point, the main altar was moved, the choir and organ are seated where the high altar once stood.



The tabernacle stands at what was once a side altar; a large crucifix and baptismal font on the opposite side.
 


The Blessed Mother stands in the east transept; St. Joseph & Child Jesus on the west side
 

A museum houses artifacts from the parish and is open after most weekend Masses. Daily Mass is offered at 9:00am, Monday-Friday. Saturday Vigil Mass is at 4:30pm preceded by Reconciliation at 3:00pm; Sunday Mass is at 7:30am, 9:30am, and 11:30am.
  
For more info: parish website
News article: AOD Changing Lives Together

More photos of the church: AOD Film Services
More photos of the cemetery: My Michigan Trails