– One might say the church building of St. Therese of Lisieux parallels the Scripture verse "All of you are Christ's body and each one of you is a part of it." (1 Cor 12: 27)
Many parts of St. Therese of Lisieux Church and its chapel come from other churches and places across the Archdiocese of Detroit and the nation, said Fr. Thomas Sutherland, founding pastor.
The basis for acquiring these items had to do more with saving money than it did with recycling, he admitted, but he's happy his church was able to help the environment in some way. In 1991, once word was out he was building a new church, calls came in from fellow priests and several others to offer some items to him.
While sitting in a pew (from St. Anastasia, Troy) or chair (from St. Thomas à Becket, Canton Township), a parishioner can see the St. Therese statue (from the Cathedral of St. Joseph in Sioux Falls, S.D.) or watch Fr. Sutherland celebrate Mass at the altar (from the chapel for the Xavier Mission Sisters, previously in Clinton Township).
He isn't certain as to how much money the parish has saved, but he gave an example: The pews in the chapel, bought brand new, seat about 75 people, and cost $16,000. All the pews in the church, which came from St. Anastasia, and seat 700, cost the same amount, Fr. Sutherland said.
"We would not have been able to build the church had it all been built brand new," he said.
The statue of St. Therese, which comes from South Dakota, found its home at the church when one of Fr. Sutherland's parishioners happened to wander through their cathedral. "They were redoing the church and he noticed the statue in the vestibule," he said. "He asked what they were going to do with it, and he told them about his new parish, St. Therese of Lisieux, and they agreed to give it to us if we paid for the shipping."
These are just a few of the "gems" in Fr. Sutherland's parish, which has 2,700 families – and growing.
The eight clerestory stained glass windows from St. Thomas the Apostle Church near Harper and Van Dyke in Detroit (closed in 1989) were installed in fall 1994, just before the parish's dedication on Jan. 15, 1995.
Six of the windows depict saints, and were chosen based on their relevance to the spirituality of the parish and to the world today, Fr. Sutherland said. There were plenty of windows from which to choose, he added, as St. Thomas the Apostle Church originally had one saint for each of the 20 centuries.
One of the clerestory windows is of St. Patrick, chosen because of its ties with Fr. Sutherland's own Irish heritage.
He was able to acquire these windows when he heard St. Thomas the Apostle Church was about to be razed, he said. "The archdiocese had a policy that when churches were closed, Detroit city parishes had a first grab if they could use religious artifacts or chalices … then after that, any other parish in the archdiocese had a right to anything needed."
Other stained glass windows, used in the tabernacle and chapel, were given to the church by Linsey McLean, Thomas Green and Joseph Costa, who weren't even members of the parish, Fr. Sutherland added.
Those particular windows have an interesting history, he added. All he knows about them is that, supposedly, they came from two churches: one a church that was burned down in Pennsylvania and the other a church in New Jersey, where Walt Whitman used to worship. Although Fr. Sutherland has tried to find documentation on this, his attempts have been unsuccessful.
In the marble altar, once belonging to the Xavier Mission Sisters in Clinton Township, is a relic of St. Francis Xavier, patron of the missions. A relic of St. Therese of Lisieux, patroness of the missions, is placed next to it. It's only fitting the two should be placed together, he added.
The church's first altar was from St. John's Provincial Seminary, and was used when people first gathered for Mass in a strip mall on Hall Road in 1991, recalled Chuck and Pat Sapiano, two of the of the founding members.
Before the church was even built, its first "home" began with seven people, they said.
"We just came together as one," recalled Pat Sapiano. "We just meshed very well. Everybody knew each other and we were comfortable with each other, including Fr. Thomas."
Her husband agreed. "We were all from different parishes, but we were small enough where we interchanged ideas. It wasn't a parish — it was family," said Chuck Sapiano. The Sapianos now make their home in Florida.
The new church had humble beginnings in its temporary storefront home. "We had pull-out folding chairs and we would sit in a semi-circle around the altar. We formed lasting friendships," including with Fr. Sutherland, "who has a special charm about him," said Pat Sapiano.
