Parish celebrates 100 years
and plans for merger
Robert Delaney of The Michigan Catholic
Published June 30, 2006
Detroit – "A hundred years of ministry from this place – what a wonderful gift!" Auxiliary Bishop John Quinn said in his homily last Sunday at the Mass celebrating the 1906 founding of Annunciation Parish on Detroit's lower east side.
Several hundred former Annunciation parishioners, and especially alumni of its schools, helped fill Annunciation/Our Lady of Sorrows Church last Sunday to mark the centennial.
They joined current members of the parish, formed in 2000 from the merger of Annunciation and Our Lady of Sorrows parishes.
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Auxiliary Bishop John Quinn chats with Norb Crombe, a 1941 graduate of Assumption High School, and his wife, Sylvia Crombe, after the centenary Mass last Sunday. | The merged parish retained the Annunciation buildings on Parkview at Agnes, near Detroit's Indian Village and Berry Subdivision neighborhoods. The Our Lady of Sorrows property on Meldrum was sold.
And although there was no formal merger, the parish welcomed members of St. Rose of Lima Parish when it closed in 1990.
Now, the parishioners are preparing for another merger, as they unite with members of another historic eastside parish – St. Anthony – to form a new parish to be called Good Shepherd. Good Shepherd's first Mass will be Sunday, July 9, at 10 a.m.
The St. Anthony buildings on Sheridan near East Warren will be sold, and what is now Annunciation/Our Lady of Sorrows Church will become Good Shepherd Church.
Recounting some of the parish's history, Bishop Quinn told how Annunciation had 5,000 families at one point in the 1940s, and how its grade school and high school, which closed in the late 1960s, once had an enrollment of 1,700. (Annunciation/Our Lady of Sorrows currently has about 130 families.)
Looking to the future of the new Good Shepherd Parish, Bishop Quinn continued, "As parishes combine, it's not easy as people come together and you have to blend those traditions." But, if looked at though the "lens of faith, Jesus eases those difficulties," he added.
Bishop Quinn also celebrated the closing Mass for St. Anthony Parish on June 11, and will return to celebrate the first Mass of Good Shepherd Parish.
At the conclusion of the Mass, Fr. Michael Nkachukwu, pastor of Annunciation/Our Lady of Sorrows, expressed appreciation to the Annunciation Alumni Association for their support and for their presence that day.
"Of course, with the merger, Annunciation ceases to be, as Annunciation/Our Lady of Sorrows in two weeks will become Good Shepherd. But the Gospel message continues," he said.
Former pastor Fr. Val Gattari concelebrated the Mass.
The current church, designed in the Romanesque style by the Detroit architectural firm of Donaldson & Meier, was built in 1912.
Annunciation's founding pastor, Msgr. James Stapleton, served the parish until 1942. Fr. Nkachukwu is the seventh pastor to serve at Annunciation Church, and will continue to serve the new parish.
"My hope is that Good Shepherd Parish will be a beacon of Christ's light on the east side," he said after Mass.
Mary Ellen McCaffrey, who joined Annunciation Parish eight years ago and serves on the parish council, said, "I think I speak for all of the people of Annunciation/Our Lady of Sorrows when I say we are very excited to welcome the people from St. Anthony's."
Not only will the additional 75 families (if they all come) help make the new Good Shepherd Parish more viable, but "St. Anthony's has been a community of people with a lot of energy and vision," McCaffrey added.
For more information about the new Good Shepherd Parish, call (313) 822-1262.
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