Robert Delaney | The Michigan Catholic Gathered on the steps of St. Hedwig Church in southwest Detroit April 21 before Mass are (clockwise from left) Sr. Mary Frances Roberts, HVM, Maguerite Maddox, Jerry Burns, Inez Jenkins and Elizabeth Bascomb.

Detroit — When Martyrs of Uganda Parish closed last June, a few of its long-time parishioners decided it was high time they got around to seeing what other Catholic churches in the city were doing as they searched for a new parish to join.

Since then, they have been on a pilgrimage that has so far taken them to 39 Detroit churches as they hit a different one each weekend – and they don't intend to stop until they have visited all 67 parishes in Detroit, including a few in neighboring communities such as Hamtramck, Highland Park and Grosse Pointe Park.

Or as the pastor of one church they visited put it, "You must be those 'Roamin' Catholics' I've heard about."

The Sunday after their parish's final Mass, the pilgrims joined other former Martyrs of Uganda parishioners at St. Cecilia Church, the next Catholic church to the west, and the one that had been suggested as a new church home for them.

"They greeted us very warmly and were very gracious, so it was nothing against them, but we had all been in the same spot for so long — even since Martyrs was St. Agnes Parish — that we just decided we should get around to see other parishes," explains Jerry Burns.

Also, since some of the group, such as Burns, had moved to other parts of the city while maintaining their connection to Martyrs, the nearness of a church to Martyrs — which was on Rosa Parks Boulevard (formerly 12th Street), a few blocks north of West Grand Boulevard — was not a major factor.

One member of their group, Ethel Phillips, dropped out along the way and signed up with St. Cecilia, but the other six – Elizabeth Bascomb, Inez Jenkins, Marguerite Maddox, HVM Sr. Mary Frances Roberts and Roselyn Williams, plus Burns – have continued on their quest.

And what they have found has been a wealth of diversity among the Catholic faith communities in — or just outside of – Detroit, or in Burns' words, "an interesting mix of similarities and differences."

Jenkins remarks, "None of the Masses we've been to were just like our old parish."

With many city churches dating to the 19th century or the early 20th century, the pilgrims report being impressed by the architectural grandeur of some of the ones they have visited. "We've seen some beautiful churches," says Sr. Roberts, adding that her personal favorites have been Sweetest Heart of Mary in Detroit's old Poletown district — the largest church in terms of square footage in the Archdiocese of Detroit — and Holy Cross (Hungarian) Church in the old Delray area of southwest Detroit.

Maddox agrees with Sr. Roberts that those are the most beautiful she has seen so far, but Bascomb casts her vote for St. Josaphat, another old Poletown church now on the edge of the Detroit Medical Center.

Burns says his candidates for most beautiful churches are St. Jude in northeast Detroit and St. Francis d'Assisi in the westside Polish area near Michigan and Livernois.

At Mass in southwest Detroit are (from left) Elizabeth Bascomb, Marguerite Maddox, Inez Jenkins, Sr. Mary Frances Roberts, HVM, and Jerry Burns

The pilgrims say they have been made to feel welcome at all the churches they have visited, but nowhere more so than at Christ the King Church in northwest Detroit's Old Redford area.

"Christ the King was a very welcoming parish; we were greeted so warmly there," says Bascomb.

Burns adds, "Many parishes have been very welcoming, and I'd have to especially mention St. Gregory the Great and Corpus Christi among those, but at Christ the King they even gave us all roses."

Sr. Roberts says the visit to Corpus Christi in northwest Detroit — the parish formed last year by the merger of St. Gerard and Immaculate Heart of Mary parishes — was made all the nicer by the conversation they had with the pastor, Fr. Donald Archambault, and because they ran into a number of old friends from Martyrs of Uganda there.

And Corpus Christi wasn't the only place they ran into former Martyrs parishioners. "That's happened at Gesu, St. Luke and also at St. Gregory," says Burns.

"And then there have also been people I have worked with in the past or known from some other situation, like some archdiocesan committee. I would say at two-thirds to three-quarters of the churches we've visited at least one of us has known someone there," he adds.

Asked if they had found some surprises along their pilgrimage, Burns volunteers, "I was a bit surprised at St. Aloysius, downtown, the church we attended on Palm Sunday, by what a vibrant parish it was. There were so many people, the music was so good, and the spirit of the church was beyond belief. What an inspiring place to be on Palm Sunday!"

And another surprise was Our Lady of Good Counsel Church in northeast Detroit, which has a substantial contingent of Hmong people from Laos among its members, Burns continues.

"It was so neat to see how they incorporated the Hmong culture and language into the Mass; we hadn't anticipated that. And the pastor, Fr. Robert Kotlarz, was great — the lines in his face are etched with joy," Burns adds.

Maddox says she was impressed with the way Fr. Jerome Singer, pastor of Nativity Parish on the east side, is able to proclaim the Gospel without having to read it: "When it's time for the Gospel, he knows it by heart."

Sometimes, it seems, they have hit a particular church on just the right Sunday, the pilgrims say, telling how they visited St. Peter Claver in northwest Detroit on the Sunday nearest Martin Luther King Day and heard a powerful homily by Deacon Wyatt Jones, or how they visited St. Elizabeth Church on the near east side on what turned out to be the late Fr. John Markham's last Sunday before his illness made it impossible for him to preside at Mass.

Although the pilgrims say they have heard a lot of good preaching on their journey through Detroit's churches, they add that they miss the homilies of their former pastor from Martyrs, Fr. Tyrone Robinson.

"He's our gold standard for comparisons. He preached a great homily, and it was never stale," says Burns.

Bascomb adds, "He did it very eloquently, and you remembered his message."

Assessing their experience so far, the pilgrims say it has brought benefits beyond what they expected.

"It's been a visual eye-opener, and it makes me see the Catholic Church in Detroit in a different way," says Maddox.

Burns puts his feelings this way: "I feel part of the bigger Church, and it's a great feeling."

While he still misses his old parish, he says the insight he has gained into the wider Church has been something positive "It has made me honor the Mass more than ever before, because I see the core of the Mass as well as the different ways various cultures or ethnic groups celebrate it," Burns adds.

Losing Martyrs of Uganda was a blow, but Jenkins says their pilgrimage has helped her put it into perspective: "We can still do God's work, regardless where we find we want to settle down to."

Sr. Roberts says she and the other pilgrims "have been visiting our extended family," and that the many "pockets of faith have inspired us, called us forth to live our own faith as fully as we can."

"We have witnessed the Mystical Body of Christ of which we are a part – the whole of us – we have learned new aspects of ourselves, gifts we didn't know we had. We have been called forth to hope that something new is coming to be and that the Holy Spirit is at work in this process of the Church becoming, developing into the fullness of Christ," she says.

Sr. Roberts says she has enjoyed experiencing various cultural expressions of worship, but still prefers the "joyful, spirit-filled" African-American style of worship she came to know at Martyrs of Uganda.

Their pilgrimage has convinced her "the Church is alive and well and living in Detroit," and given her new hope for its future, she says.

Burns adds, "It's going to be a different Church — with not as many church buildings — but what a strong Church!"