St. Anselm (Dearborn Heights)

St. Anselm Parish was established in June of 1954. The parish boundaries were previously part of Sacred Heart, Divine Child and Our Lady of Grace Parishes. Fr. Arthur M . Reckinger celebrated the parish's first Mass on July 11, 1954, at Clara B. Ford School, with 580 in attendance. Fr. Reckinger was the first Sacred Heart parishioner to be ordained to the priesthood. In addition, he was a professor at Mercy College for a decade and St. Anselm's first pastor. 


The first Mass in the current, 800-seat church was on May 8, 1955. Edward Cardinal Mooney dedicated St. Anselm Church on December 4th of that year. The parish also established a parochial school in 1955 and, five years later, a convent was built. For many years, St. Anselm School was the only parochial school in the Archdiocese of Detroit that was tuition-free.
 

A fire severely damaged the church on January 19, 1969. The front section was a complete loss and the fire caused $200,000 damage.


Msgr. James Moloney was installed as Pastor of St. Anselm Parish on January 25, 1978, and remains pastor today. In addition, he was National Vice President of Society of the Propagation of the Faith for three decades.



Daily Mass is at 8:30am Monday–Saturday. Saturday Vigil Masses are at 4:30pm (preceded by Reconciliation at 3:30pm) and 7:00pm. Sunday Masses are at 8:00am, 10:00am, and Noon.


St. Anselm's Shrine, the first shrine in the Dearborn area, is a statue of St. Anselm chiseled from a solid block of white Italian marble. The patron stands in a raised garden in front of the church.


More info: parish website + school website
More photos: AOD Film Services

Christ the Good Shepherd (Lincoln Park)

Cardinal Mooney established Christ the Good Shepherd Parish on June 11, 1947, with Fr. Joseph Michael Torzewski as founding pastor. Two days later, an existing house was bought and that became the rectory. Lincoln Park City Council allowed the parish to temporarily worship at Hoover School. A month after the parish was formally established, 275 faithful attended the first Mass. Confessions, weddings, and baptisms were initially held at St. Henry Church, est. 1924, a few miles north.


Ground was broken for a temporary church on Sunday, October 5, 1947, and construction was completed eight months later. The first Mass in the church was a nuptial Mass on June 12, 1948. The official dedication of the church took place September 28, 1948, with Cardinal Mooney presiding. By 1955, the parish grew to 2,000 families and needed a larger church.


For the first few years of the parish, seven sisters from Our Lady of Victory Missionary Sisters taught catechism at the parish. Every Sunday, they drove from their convent near the cathedral to teach 150 children. In April, 1950, construction began on a parish school and five Sisters of St. Joseph of the Third Order of St. Francis would soon arrive. Despite construction delays, the first day of class was held on September 13, 1950, with Sisters Irmina, Aquinata, Angeline, Perpetua, and Virgianne, along with two lay teachers and 330 students. Aquinas High School was established in 1966; it was sponsored by Christ the Good Shepherd as well as St. Aloysius (Romulus) and St. Pius X (Southgate).


Fr. Torzewski retired on October 1, 1973, and was replaced Fr. Adolph Redwick. In 1990, Fr. Redwick was succedded by Fr. David Buersmeyer. For these first three priests, Christ the Good Shepherd was their first assignment as a pastor. Aquinas High school closed in 2001 and Fr. Kevin Thomas became pastor the following year. Fr. Anthony Richter succeeded him in 2009 and remains pastor today.


The parish grade school closed at the end of the 2009-2010 academic year. However, John Paul II Catholic School, a regional school, opened at the same site the following fall. It is one of only two Downriver Catholic elementary schools. Christ the Good Shepherd sponsors the school along with the Wyandotte parishes of Our Lady of the Scapular and St. Vincent Pallotti.


Painted Stations of the Cross, reclaimed from the now-closed St. John Cantius Church, were installed and dedicated in May of 2012.
 

In 2013, Fr. Richter was also assigned administrator of St. Henry Parish. St. Henry Church closed the following March and merged with Christ the Good Shepherd.  A statue of St. Henry stands outside of the church and in front of a prayer garden. Christ the Good Shepherd stands in the center of the garden.
 

Another St. Henry statue stands in a corner of the vestibule, under the Infant of Prague. Another Good Shepherd stands in the opposite corner.
 


The Last Supper is depicted on the front the altar which once stood at nearby Our Lady of Mt. Carmel. A depiction of Psalm 23, created by Jean Charlot, frames the tabernacle and crucifix. There may have once stood a high altar where there is now a gold, recessed area.


Like many mid-century churches, there are no side altars but the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. Joseph depicted on either side of the sanctuary.



The Baptism of Christ and the Last Supper are depicted on the back wall of the nave.
 

Also on the back wall are the Good Shepherd and crosses engraved with the names of recently-departed parishioners.


A statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary stands in front of the school. Another depiction of Christ the Good Shepherd, on the facade of the church, references John 10:11
 

Saturday Vigil Mass is at 4:00pm preceded by Confessions at 2:30pm. Sunday Masses are at 9:00am and 11:00am. Tuesdays bring Perpetual Help devotions at 6:50pm, followed by 7:00pm Mass. Morning Mass is celebrated on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday.

Welcome to Christ the Good Shepherd from Christ the Good Shepherd on Vimeo.

For more info: parish website
About the parish merger: The News Herald
Photos of Christ the Good Shepherd: AOD Film Services
Photos of St. Henry: AOD Film Services + Facebook
About John Paul II Catholic School: school website

St. Raymond – Our Lady of Good Counsel

St. Raymond–Our Lady of Good Counsel is located at 20103 Joann St. in Detroit, near 8 Mile and Schoenherr, less than two miles north of Assumption Grotto.

As the name suggests, this parish is the result of a 2011 merger between the two namesakes. Fr. Robert Kotlarz has been the pastor since the merger and began his St. Raymond pastorate in 2002. 

St. Raymond Parish was established in 1941 and the current church was constructed in 1955. Watch this great video (Flash required) about the parish history, including the groundbreaking ceremony, construction of the current edifice and footage of the first Masses celebrated there.

cornerstone of the former school

cornerstone of the current church

Detroit's Our Lady of Good Counsel, not to be confused with the parish in Plymouth, was founded in 1928. The former OLGC is located at 17142 Rowe Street, near East McNichols and Hoover. For more about the last Mass at Our Lady of Good Counsel, read The Michigan Catholic. 

St. Raymond–Our Lady of Good Counsel celebrates Mass everyday except for Wednesdays. On Saturdays, Confessions are heard at 3:45PM and Mass at 4:00PM. Sunday Mass is at 10:30AM, usually with a coffee social afterwards.

Daily Mass is at 8:30AM at a side altar of the church, also the location of the tabernacle. Bible study takes place on Tuesday mornings and Wednesday evenings.

The stained-glass windows are very colorful and geometric. Few saints are depicted among the windows, instead they show mostly scriptural symbols. 

Nearly all of the windows and doorways have an arched top and the entire church follows the style of Romanesque Revival.

Like many churches more than 50 years old, the communion rail has been removed and the altar extended.

The parish has an active Society of St. Vincent de Paul that serves much of northeast Detroit and nearby suburbs. The former, adjacent elementary school is currently vacant and the parish is actively looking for a tenant to help raise funds. For more about the school's history, read this article (PDF) from the IHM Sisters, the order that taught at the school for decades.

Parish website and bulletin archive: http://saintraymond.com/

More about the pastor and parish: http://www.faithstreet.com/

More photos: https://www.flickr.com/