Our Lady of Good Counsel Parish is celebrating its centennial this year. The church's sanctuary was renovated in early 2019 with a new altar and new tabernacle. St. James the Greater, St. John the Apostle, and St. Thérèse of Lisieux.
The Holy Family stands near the sacristy; Resurrected Christ stands behind the altar.
A large depiction of Our Lady of Good Counsel, the parish patron, in a corner.
Madonna and Child (center) are surrounded by American saints and blesseds. On the left: Blessed Solanus Casey, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, and Venerable Fulton Sheen. On the right: St. Frances Cabrini, Venerable Pierre Toussaint, St. Kateri Tekakwitha.
Architectural rendering of the new chapel at St. Mary Mercy Hospital - Source
St. Mary Mercy Hospital has undergone extensive renovations and updates in the last several years. In 2017, the hospital started plans to build a new chapel. The Ann Arbor firm of Ply+ Architecture designed a 2,600-square-foot addition near the north entrance of the hospital. Fr. Gilbert Sunghera, SJ, an associate professor of architecture at the University of Detroit Mercy, served as a design consultant for liturgical spaces.
Granger Construction built the new chapel in 2017-2018 at a cost of $2.5 million, all of which was paid with donor funds. The former Our Lady of Częstochowa Chapel was repurposed as a space for medical education.
Auxiliary Bishop Gerard Battersby, Regional Moderator of the South Region, dedicated the chapel on September 11th of last year.
The chapel is open 24/7. A large revolving door closes during Mass. The regular Mass schedule is 7:00am on Saturdays and 6:10am all other days.
A crucifix, hand-carved in Germany, is suspended above an altar made from Wisconsin limestone. A 16-foot tall dichroic window stands next to the tabernacle
This window refracts light and, at different times of day, different colors will shine on the walls.
Stations of the Cross line the south wall and are salvaged from closed churches in Wisconsin and Ohio.
St. Francis of Assisi stands outside the chapel. A small rock garden is situated in an alcove outside the chapel. The hospital plans to add a prayer garden immediately west of the chapel.
St. Priscilla Parish was established in 1961 and the current church was built in 1974. Our Lady in the vestibule; Madonna and Child in the sanctuary,
The church was designed in the shape of an octagon.
Our Lady of Perpetual Help and Our Lady of Guadalupe hang in opposite sides of the church. Saturday Vigil Mass is at 4:30pm. Sunday Masses are at 9:00am and 11:00am. Daily Mass is at 7:00pm on Thursdays and 8:00am on Monday, Tuesday, and Friday. Fr. John Wheeler, a Basilian priest, has been a weekend assistant since 1999. Fr. Theodore D’Cunha, an Indian Pallotine, has been pastor since February, 2011. For more info: parish website + YouTube channel On the parish's celebration of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary: Daiji World
Cardinal Mooney canonically established St. Robert Bellarmine Parish on June 26, 1953, with Fr. George T. Stromske as founding pastor. The first Mass was celebrated on Sunday, July 12, 1953, with 185 in attendance. In the next several months, the congregation quickly grew to 800 and the parish needed a permanent church. They bought land on the border of Redford and Livonia, at the corner of West Chicago and Inkster Roads, that was previously owned by the Daughters of Charity as an alternate site for the Sarah Fisher Home. The cornerstone of the church was laid on Palm Sunday, April 11, 1954, and Msgr. Walter Hardy led the ceremony. Construction was quickly finished and the first Mass was three months later, on July 18, 1954. On the same day, 50 children received First Holy Communion and a parish school was established the same year. Like many parochial schools, St. Robert Bellarmine struggled with declining enrollment and increasing debt in the 21st Century. They planned to merge and form a regional school along with St. Genevieve in Livonia, St. Damian in Westland, and St. Raphael in Garden City. Those plans did not come to fruition and all four schools closed after the 2014-2015 academic year. St. Robert Bellarmine clustered with St. Hilary and St. John Bosco in 2012. St. Hilary closed in 2014 but the other two remained clustered. Last year, a transition team began the long-term planning process for the cluster. A recommendation was made that the two parishes merge to form the new parish of St. John XXIII, effective July 1, 2018. It is likely that one of the two churches will close soon.
The two current pastors, Fr. Richard Osebold and Fr. Richard Leliaert, respectively, will both retire shortly. Fr. Leliaert has been pastor of St. Robert Bellarmine since 2006 and has been granted senior priest status at the age of 77. Bishop Emeritus Walter Hurley will be administrator and assisted by Fr. Gregory Piatt.
The Paschal candle and baptismal font stand in the middle of the nave; a bust of the namesake at the back of the church.
St. Joseph and the Blessed Virgin Mary at a side altar; BVM and child Jesus stand in a niche behind the side altar. St. Jude, St. Joseph the Worker, and the Good Shepherd in the same niche. Most of the windows are clear, with the exception of eight stained-glass windows behind the altar. More info: parish website + Detroit Free Press
