Upcoming Detroit Church Projects

There are 2 things I found out about today which are of interest to those who like historic Churches.

1st is a book about Detroit Churches: "Detroit's Historic Places of Worship." This is a long term project looking at 37 places of worship in Detroit, 12 of them Catholic. As seen on the Kickstarter page, Catholic Churches to be featured in the book include the following:

Old St. Mary's

St. Josaphat

Holy Family

Holy Cross Hungarian

Immaculate Conception Ukrainian

St. Florian

Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament

St. Aloysius

SS. Peter and Paul

St. Joseph

8 of those 10 have been featured on this here blog. (Links Provided)

I would wager that 1 of the remaining 2 is Ste. Anne.

Based on the images shown of the book, they will be going in great detail on the history and the architecture and providing large glossy photos. I expect this to be of great quality, a great complement to Godzak's book, and a worthwhile purchase at 39.95. It should be available early Fall 2012, since they have reached the $10,000 goal for underwriting the book.

Michigan Catholic has an article with more details on the book. I recommend also checking out the video posted on the Kickstarter page.

2nd is a TV show to be shown on CTND. Only Comcast, Brighthouse, and Wyandotte cable carry CTND, but CTND Streams live on the internet as well. This is all the information I have, but if I find more I will share it.

Building on Faith: The Historic Churches of Detroit – Immigrants who built the churches took inspiration from the architecture in their homeland and incorporated that into their new houses of worship. Artistic expression, celebration of heritage and dedication to the community around them are how these people built on faith and affected the fabric of the city itself.

• Tuesday, December 27^th at 1pm
• Thursday, December 29^th at 10:30am

Our Lady of Mount Carmel Wyandotte: Photograph

As I mentioned in Part 4 of my series
on potential parish closures, I attended a wedding at OLMC. The bride from that wedding sent me a photo from the wedding for me to share. I think it mostly speaks for itself. This church is a gem.

Parish Closures? Who? When? Part 4: Downriver

Part 4 looks at the last of the "Parishes Recommended for Closure," the short list posted on the AOD website. (Parts 1 2 3)

Here we are looking at the Downriver Parishes. One recommendation is to close either St. Stanislaus Kostka or Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Wyandotte. These parishes are clustered and under the pastor care of Fr. Walter Ptak. Between the 2 churches there are approximately 20 masses per week, 8-9 of which are for Sunday (depending on the season). I was able to attend the wedding of a friend at OLMC, and Fr. Ptak officiated the wedding. My friends and I decided to go to Mass before the reception, and we went to St. Stan's for the 4pm mass. Fr. Ptak said that mass as well, and then had to head back to OLMC to help out with (but not celebrate) the 5pm mass. Clearly Fr. Ptak is busy! If he didn't have the assistance of the 2 weekend associates I can see how having both parishes would not be especially viable.

OLMC was founded in 1899 to serve the influx of Poles downriver and St. Stan's was founded in 1914 presumably as the immigration and spread continued. The parishes are about 1.5 miles apart. OLMC's cornerstone indicated that the current church was built in 1915. In typical Polish style it is big and gorgeous. I need to do a picture post on this one. In further typical Polish fashion they hold tightly to their Polish traditions. In comparison St. Stan's is less ornate, but dignified. Someone please correct me if I am wrong, but it looks post WW2, perhaps from the 50's. I guess if I had my druthers both would be retained, but if I had to choose I would choose OLMC. We shall see. The suggested timeline for the closure is 3-5 years, and a lot could happen in that time.

Next we have St. Elizabeth slated to close. This recommendation is more imminent as they suggest a 2012 closure and merger with St. Joseph. These 2 and St. Patrick (1857) are clustered and are currently under the care of Fr. Michael Cremen, SAC (Irish Pallottines). The cluster does have an associate pastor. St. Joseph was founded in 1870 to serve German Immigrants, and the current church building is from the mid-late 50's. St. Elizabeth was founded in 1934; I am not sure when the current building was constructed. I would guess 60's. The APC suggests further merging St. Joseph/Elizabeth and St. Patrick for 1 new parish.

Finally the APC suggests closing either Our Lady of Lourdes in River Rouge or St. Francis Xavier in Ecorse. They were founded in 1893 and 1848 respectively, so there is clearly a lot of history in these parishes. OLL's current church was built in 1978. Some photos of the church are available on their website. SFX's current church is from the mid 1950's. Make Straight The Path shows a brick interior, but not much else. The book also tells the history of SFX which has its roots in a mission dating back to the 1820's.

So these are these first 4 articles are about the parishes most likely to close. I'd like to remind you that Immaculate Heart of Mary from Part 2 has it's final mass this Sunday at 9am.

Parish Closures? Who? When? Part 3: Detroit

There are 2 parishes in Detroit slated to close per the AOD's summary of the recommendations of the Archdiocesan Pastoral Council (APC).

St. Anthony Lithuanian, founded in 1920, is a tiny Lithuanian holdout in mainly Hispanic southwest Detroit. I have never been, but a friend has, and she described it as a small welcoming community who assured her that readings are in English on Sundays (at least at the 9am mass.) Of the 7 masses per week, 6 are in Lithuanian. The pastor is Rev. Gintaras A Jonikas. According to the AOD parish listings he is also pastor of Divine Providence Lithuanian on 9 mile in Southfield. The plan is to merge the St. Anthony community into the Divine Providence community in 2013. The council seeks further analysis on whether the St. Anthony building can be used by Holy Redeemer parish which is 10 blocks west south west on Vernor Highway. Holy Redeemer has recently been entrusted to SOLT who brought 4 priests and 14 seminarians to the archdiocese. Hopefully this building can be retained by the AOD.

St. Luke Parish (brief history on their website) is also recommended for closure. It and St. Mary's of Redford are already clustered under the pastorship of Rev. Tyrone Robinson. The recommendation is to merge the St. Luke community into St Mary's of Redford, but to "maintain an outreach center at St. Luke’s" per the APC document. The APC wants this completed by June 2012.

See also Parish Closures? Who? When? Part 1 and Part 2. Downriver parishes next. Then we will go into what the APC recommendations are for Parishes we have visited on this blog.

Parish Closures? Who? When? Part 2: Immaculate Heart of Mary, Detroit

The Immaculate Heart of Mary Center in Northwest Detroit (Part of Corpus Christ Parish) is being closed soon and the property is to be sold to Michigan Technical Academy Elementary School currently renting parts of the facility. From the RFP:

Michigan Technical Academy leases two buildings from the Archdiocese of Detroit (the Academy also owns a third building in Redford).The Academy is purchasing one of these buildings at 19940 Mansfield, Detroit, 48235, and constructing an addition to that building. The addition will permit the Academy to terminate the lease at the second facility, transfer its students and consolidate operations to begin the 2012-13 school year.

This won't be the first parish to be converted to a charter school, and it probably will not be the last.

The final mass will be at 9am on Sunday December 11, 2o11. Principal celebrant will be Bishop Hanchon. There is a lot more information in the article from the Michigan Catholic. Hopefully I can get to the Mass to document it., but the Michigan Catholic will likely cover it whether I can or not.

Parish Closures? Who? When? Part 1: East, North, and West Suburbs

St. Donald, Roseville is to close following the retirement of its current Pastor Rev. Michael Donovan. The parish opened in 1965, and that's all I know about it! 4 more parishes will remain in Roseville to serve the faithful.

St. Maurice, Livonia is to close at some point in 2012. This parish is already clustered with St. Genevieve in Livonia which has an active school and several active ministries. The churches will merge. The pastor is Fr. Howard Vogan. As far as I know the parishes have worked well together, and I think this merger will ultimately go over well. 5 more parishes in addition to the new merged Parish will remain in Livonia. Full disclosure: St. Genevieve was my boyhood parish.

There may be a bright side when this closes. St. Maurice serves as the home to St. Rafka mission, an outreach of St. Sharbel in Warren. This serves the Maronite Rite Catholics (Lebanese) on the west side. I have no idea what the finances of the Maronite Eparchy are like, but perhaps they could buy the parish? This would keep the land in Catholic hands.

Our Lady Queen of Peace, Harper Woods is proposed to be put up for sale in 2012 and to be closed upon sale. Fr. William Herman is currently the pastor. I know very little of the parish other than that it is near the Morross exit of I-94 and was founded in 1946.

There are 3 recommended closures in the Downriver area and 2 recommended in the city of Detroit. There is also a quickly approaching closure in Detroit which I will cover separately.

The list of recommended closures is here.

Archdiocesan News

It has been a big news week for Catholicism in Detroit. (Going back to last Friday)

Friday: Brother Rice High School defeated Lowell for the Division 2 State Championship

Saturday: Detroit Catholic Central fell to Cass Technical High School in the Division 1 State Championship (more on this later).
Just after 4pm the faithful in churches across the archdiocese responded "And with your spirit" as the third edition of the Roman Missal was unleashed across the United States.
Later in the evening Orchard Lake St. Mary's defeated Mt. Pleasant for the Division 3 State championship.

Sunday: The Catholic Television Network of Detroit (CTND) changed their major content provider from EWTN to Catholic TV (CTV) of Boston.

Tuesday: A letter started circulating around the internet filled with stupid comments about Cass Technical High school and the Detroit Public School system. The letter was alleged to have been written by someone who attended the game and delivered to Coach Wilcher of Cass Tech. The undersigned does not appear to be attached to the CC family, but the damage is done. Fr. Ranalletti, the president of CC issued a statement. Here is an article on the subject.

THE BIG NEWS:
The big story for this Blog however came out today. The recommendations of the Archdiocesan Pastoral Council have been posted on the archdiocesan website. Several parishes have been suggested for closure. There are further recommendations for clustering and mergers throughout the diocese. I will be writing on this as it develops and make efforts to feature parishes scheduled for closure before their closure.

Upcoming Events Sept 30 - Oct 2

Solemn First Vespers for the Feast of St Therese of Liseux at Shrine of the Little Flower Royal Oak
Auxiliary Bishop Arturo Cepeda will be in attendance and giving a homily.
7pm Friday Sept 30th. A reception will follow.

St. Hyacinth Banana Festival! I've never been to this one, but I'm sure it's awesome based on this cut and paste flyer.

St. Joseph's Oktoberfest 2011 (and other upcoming events)

I'd like to let you all know about an upcoming event which promises to be fun and will help support historic St. Joseph in Detroit: Oktoberfest 2011

What can you do at Oktoberfest?

Enjoy delicious German food (various sausages, saur kraut, pickled beets, strudel, etc), beer, and wine. There will also be pop and cake and other delights.

Enjoy diverse styles of music.

• Brazil and Beyond http://www.brazilandbeyond.com/
• 60's pop hits performed by the Liras.
• German Accordian music (and some Polkas too) by Herb Langegger
• German Folk Dancing (Carpathia Dance Ensemble)
• Choral Festival in the Church featuring Renaissance Voices, Assumption Grotto Choir, and the St. Joseph's Men's Schola.
• David Zakria Band

Tour the church and/or go to Holy Mass

• 10am Sunday Mass in German
• 12pm Sunday Mass in English
• 5pm Saturday and Sunday Guided tours of the church
• 

There is also a raffle with some nice prizes including an Autographed Miguel Cabrera Jersey and dinner for 2 at any Restaurant in the area! Tickets are $1 or 6 got $5. Ask a parishioner if you would like to buy some.

And now, more bullets and links!

• Facebook event for Oktoberfest. Invite your friends!
• While you are in Detroit you can go to Holy Mass in the Extraordinary Form at St. Hyacinth (FB event) on Sunday at 1pm.
• St. Joseph Blog posts from Oktoberfest 2010.
• THIS Sunday the 18th of September there is an EF Mass at St. Albertus.
  

Greetings from Santiago de Compostella

you might wonder what Santiago de Compostella has to do with Detroit. well today it just so happened that former auxiliary bishop of Detroit, Daniel Flores, celebrated mass at this 800 year old Cathedral. His excellency is now the bishop of Brownsville, TX. Here is a picture.